Catholic Highlights: April 2020

april 2020

Catholic

HIGHLIGHTS

A New Norm in Learning

IN THIS Issue

3 CLASS NOTES 4 MONTHLY FEATURE:

Digital Learning Thriving Since Day One

6 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Denzel Inspires

8 A LOOK INSIDE DIGITAL LEARNING 10 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: The Summit of a Lifetime

IN THE NEWS:

12 Broadcasting Class Blooms Away From School 13 Pair of Students Earn Academic Praise 13 With Musical On Hold, Star Shines 14 Parent Feedback 15 Advice from Alumni Cover Photo: Ms. Dana Kinsey’s new “Virtual Classroom”

Class Notes Anna Gemind ‘14 was named to the President’s List for the fall semester at LIM College in New York City.

Annaliese Schreder ‘16 was named to the Liberty League All-Academic Team for the third-time in her basketball career at William Smith College in New York.

Roslyn Talbert ‘17 was named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Digital Dress Code Check

On the first day of our digital learning, Mrs. Howe did a daily dress code check on Instagram!

Caught a few out of code!

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MONTHLY FEATURE

Digital Learning Thriving Since Day One

Mrs. Tanya Mason and her teaching buddy (left) and Ormari Perez-Abreu display the new normal learning.

Lancaster Catholic faculty and staff began preparing to offer all classes using virtual mediums long before the news broke that Governor Tom Wolf was shutting down schools due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We were laying the foundation for a seamless transition to online learning for our students since the school year began, having sought permission from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education to offer virtual instruction starting in the 2019-20 school year.

Therefore, Catholic High was ready, on the first day when schools were being shut down across the Commonwealth, to have its students log into their classrooms digitally to continue their education. In a program set up by the school’s administration, initially for extended snow days, students were taught how to check in with their 4 | Catholic Highlights

teachers’ virtual classrooms for either live or recorded lessons, and complete the tasks assigned for each of the four classes that they would have been attending that day.

Students were given an 8 p.m. deadline to finish all assignments for the day before doing it all over again, with their other four classes, the next day.

“We chose to order our classes following the same A/B daily rotation as always to provide a sense of routine and familiar rhythm to our students, and to do so asynchronously, to allow faculty and students maximum flexibility,” Tim Hamer, LCHS President explained. “As a 1:1 school, each of our students was equipped with a Chromebook to use tools including Google Meet and Google Classroom to interact with their teachers and access their lessons.”

MONTHLY FEATURE Starting in September with in-services and training, students were instructed on how to log into their school accounts and receive classroom instruction, and faculty were guided by the school’s technology department on tricks and solutions to transforming their teaching methods to the virtual environment.

“We were able to get the faculty and staff ready to launch these virtual instruction classes on the Thursday before the first big announcement from the Governor,” Kevin Carver, LCHS Director of Strategic Communications said. “We informed the students the next day to take all of their books home with them, anticipating a statewide shutdown.”

Currently in our second week of instruction, teachers and students have been surpassing expectations set during this difficult time. Our broadcasting class, which typically records a daily morning news show for the school community was able to compile a Friday show, with stories recorded separately, while the students are practicing social distancing. Some teachers even had students send in photos of them with their dogs for extra credit on National Puppy Day.

Alexis Lenhart

Knowing this is a new situation, the administration requested feedback from faculty, students and parents after the first week. Their overwhelmingly positive response resulted in minor tweaks that have improved an already successful launch.

Here are comments from parents: “I cannot thank you enough for having the foresight to have a plan in place for the students to continue their studies during this time,” “We love online instruction. It allows the kids to stay a little in a routine and continue using their minds. I know that they have voiced that they are happy to have that learning and contact as well,” “Communication is excellent and the continuation of the learning process is invaluable. At this time, the routine of school work and the connection to teachers and classmates is so wonderful and we appreciate it so much!”

Keeping school going has been wonderful.

I am so proud of LCHS & its teachers! I know it’s hard but we all appreciate their persistence. Especially love the morning show. Spanish teacher had Spanish 3 do a video. Great way to engage the kids!”

According to Lancaster Catholic President Tim Hamer, “with no clear end in sight for this shutdown, our faculty is committed to continuing to support our students for as long as it takes.”

“I am so proud of how our community has come together during this unprecedented crisis,” Hamer continued. “We are able to conduct business as usual in every aspect of our normal day, just digitally. We still pray the Rosary on Facebook every morning at 9 a.m. We still are educating our students.

Our mission continues!”

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STUDENT

SPOTLIGHT

Denzel Kabasele Inspires A School Community

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Our Students & Faculty have been experiencing Virtual Learning for the past month.

Now it’s your turn to see what it’s all about at the

Virtual Gala April 24th & 25th

A Silent Auction for Everyone COVID-19 Family Assistance Fund

T he

Mission C ontinues

Lancaster Catholic High School With Stay at Home and Social Distancing joining our vocabularies in the past few weeks, we were all asked to adjust our everyday lives.

The Sixth Annual Purple & Gold Gala was originally scheduled for April 25, but LCHS was forced to shift gears and offer a Virtual Gala with our Silent Auction now available for everyone, not just the normal 300 ticket holders.

We also moved up our One Day of Giving campaign and changed it to a COVID-19 Family Assistance Fund to help our families that are in need of tuition assistance since the virus has affected so many of us.

We invite you to join us,

Virtually

for these two special events.

April 24th & 25th Details: www.lchsyes.org/virtualgala/

IN THE

NEWS

A Look Inside of Digital Learning

New Music Teach Mr. Michael Adams.

The Fertal Family, Bernadette ‘20, Jacob ‘21 and Matthew ‘23.

Miss Lakeisha O’Keiffe on a Google Meet with Gabrielle Kambouroglos ‘21.

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IN THE

NEWS

A Look Inside of Digital Learning

Kelixa Rivera ‘21

Science Teacher Mrs. Anne Bleisteine

Kameron Garcia ‘20 Catholic Highlights | 9

ALUMNI

SPOTLIGHT The Summit of a Lifetime

Moira Patterson ‘10 at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Seven thousand five hundred and eightysix miles from her hometown of Lancaster, Moira Patterson, a 2010 Lancaster Catholic graduate, began a seven-day journey up the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, Mount Kilimanjaro.

Armed with the inspiration from her brother Tim, who summited the mountain previously, and the love of travel, Moira joined 30 other women from across the globe through the travel group WHOA (Women High On Adventure) with the hope to reach the peak of Mount Kilimajaro.

Arriving in Tanzania, with the fear of being physically underprepared compared to the rest of the group, Moira was intimidated at first. However, once she got into the groove of things, the only way to climb was up.

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“The guides would only take you down from the mountain if you had altitude sickness or were injured,” said Moira. “I always tried to stay in front of the group and kept telling myself that I could do it.”

While the distance to the top of the mountain from the Machame route is only about 27 miles, with the altitude adjustment, group pace and weather, it became a slow climb to the top. The group traveled one of the harder routes to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

“We moved as fast as the slowest person,” said Moira. “Sometimes, it felt as if we were walking backwards.”

While the days were spent climbing, the nights held dance parties in some of the nicest camps that could be found hanging off the side of a cliff.

ALUMNI “Our Kilifighters (porters who carry the luggage and equipment) were the best,” said Moira. “They made camp feel like a retreat after each day of hiking and the food was some of the best food I have ever eaten. We even had flushable toilets!”

To begin Day 7, the women started their journey at midnight with the goal to reach the summit. On International Women’s Day, after 12 hours of hiking, Moira reached the top of Africa and her first emotion was pure exhaustion.

“The first thing I did was sit down and eat a pack of M&Ms,” reflected Moira. “I was so exhausted that it took a few minutes for the reality of what just happened to sink in.”

After spending some time on the top of the mountain, Moira faced her toughest part of the journey, the descent. Climbing down from the summit to base camp, the women had a two-hour break to nap and eat, and then they began the hike off the mountain.

“My pack, even though it was the lightest it has ever been, was digging into my shoulders,” said Moira.

With the pain she was experiencing in her shoulders, her legs and the exhaustion she felt from the lack of sleep, Moira pushed through and experienced her favorite memory of the trip at the base of Kilimanjaro.

“When we got off the mountain, all of the Kilifighters surrounded us and started singing in Swahili and dancing,” said Moira. “We began dancing with them and celebrated our journey.”

One of the missions of WHOA is to give back to the local community and that starts with the porters receiving high-quality training and a fair wage. Another way that WHOA gives back to the Tanzanian

SPOTLIGHT

community is by visiting a non-profit, which was one of the last things scheduled for Moira’s entire group.

“We had the chance to visit a non-profit that was started by a woman to help people who are deaf or with disabilities get jobs,” said Moira. “We had the opportunity to see where they make handbags, clothes, and fabrics.”

But her trip in Africa did not end there.

Moira opted in to spend her final two days on a safari with some of the women from her group to the Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro Crater.

“This experience was something right out of National Geographic,” said Moira. “We were pretty lucky to see four out of the five big game animals in Africa. . .even a rhino and lions!”

“Looking back, it made me more appreciative of what I have in life and to realize how much I can go without.”

Moira is looking forward to her next adventure and plans on adding another one of the seven summits to her belt by climbing Mount Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak in Russia, with WHOA.

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IN THE

NEWS

Broadcasting Class Blooms Away From School Despite not being able to meet every other day like they would normally in Ms. Catherine Smith’s ‘67 Broadcasting Class, the students are amazing their classmates, teachers and those who have been lucky enough to follow along over the past three weeks.

While being quarantined, the class as a whole has still produced a Friday Morning Show, under the guidance of their longtime mentor.

Each student has been able to film their own segment and then send them into the class for editing purposes by Mr. Chris Ruch, our new Media Arts Teacher.

“My students are doing an amazing job in presenting their videos,” Smith boasted. “Chris is a superhero for editing everything. And I’m experiencing such pride in all their efforts.”

Take a peek at their episodes from home, and join me in applauding them from afar. https://www.lchsyes.org/apps/pages/morningannouncements

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IN THE

NEWS

Pair of Students Earn Academic Praise While the news brokewhilewewere adjusting to the shutdown, Lancaster Catholic announced that junior Maddi Lewis and sophomore Joseph Martin were recognized for their work.

Lewis merited a National Gold Medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her poem “Dear Virgil. . .” Her poem was written to honor Virgil Ware, a 13-year-old boy murdered the same day as Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and an “unsung hero” of the Civil Rights Movement. She will now be considered for national publication and invited to a week of celebration in New York City this June.

Martin won second place in the Optimist Essay Contest, missing first place and a chance at the Nationals by three points! This year’s theme was “Is Optimism the Key to Achieving the Dreams you Imagine?” Joseph’s essay was based on the life of magician Dorothy Dietrich who was groundbreaking in the field of magic, and inspired by Harry Houdini.

Congratulations Maddi & Joseph!

With Musical On Hold, Star Shines Senior Kameron Garcia was featured on Fun 101.3 last month, singing one of the songs from the musical “Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. With themusical scheduled during the first week of the shutdown, cast members were put in limbo on when/if the show would happen. The local radio station allowed the stars of the show to sing on air.

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CRUSADERS

CORNER

Connecting w/ the Crusaders: Abby Henry ‘07

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CRUSADERS

CORNER

Advice from Alumni The Lancaster Catholic High School Alumni Association is proud to launch the newest section in our regularly scheduled Catholic Highlights newsletter, “Crusaders Corner”! You will benefit by receiving extremely relevant advice and recommendations from our distinguished Alumni in their particular fields of professional knowledge and expertise. Lancaster Catholic Crusaders truly make our local, national and global communities better places in which to live.

Nick Boyer ’98 - Chief Investment Officer & Executive Vice President of RKL Wealth Management LLC - 1800 Fruitville Pike, Lancaster, PA 17601 “As we all readjust our personal and professional lives amid the COV-19 global pandemic, it can be difficult to sort through all the deluge of information to focus on what truly is most beneficial for you and your family as well as for your business. In an effort to provide individualized advice for your unique situation, RKL Wealth Management has created a “Coronavirus Resource Center” on our webpage. Some of the information you will find includes FAQs on business and personal implications of all the legislation that’s been passed, along with articles, insights, etc. from our experts at RKL. As a proud member of the Lancaster Catholic High School family and Alumni Association, I would be honored to speak with you with any further questions you may have. Thank you!” ~ Nick Boyer ‘98 Involvement Opportunities We need you! The Lancaster Catholic High School Alumni Association has many involvement opportunities for which we are actively recruiting passionate Alumni leaders, even during this time of quarantining in order to combat the Coronavirus. Below are just a few ways you can get involved and help strengthen the entire Lancaster Catholic Alumni family!

• Information within specific sections of Lancaster Catholic’s regularly scheduled Catholic Highlights newsletter: · “Crusaders Corner” – Submit advice and recommendation within your professional field of expertise so that we can proudly share with our entire LCHS Alumni community · “Class Notes” - Provide milestone highlights within your personal life/children’s lives (i.e. marriages, births, anniversaries, etc.) and/or professional careers (i.e. degree, new job, promotion, publication of book, etc.)

• Vacant leadership positions within The Lancaster Catholic High School Alumni Association: · Alumni Council – Governing board of the Alumni Association charged with Strategic Planning as well as overseeing committees and establishing & promoting Alumni programs, services and events ◊ Goal: Two Alumni from each decade • Current Alumni Council Members – Joe Sahd ’01 and Nick Boyer ‘98 · Crusader Class Agents ◊ Alumni leaders who represent their class and assist in the planning, communication and participationand of all Alumni engagment endeavors • Goal: Three to five Class Agents per each LCHS Alumni class. Current Crusader Class Agents To serve on our Alumni Association, provide “Class Notes” information, share professional advice for “Crusaders Corner”, update contact information or for questions/more information, please contact Joe Sahd ’01 in the Office of Advancement by calling 717-509-0313 or emailing jsahd@lchsyes.org!

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Now excepting applications for all grades for the upcoming year.

Email Kyla today: khockley@lchsyes.org