Taking Top Honors Mary Angela Ricotta ’16 has qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association's National Tournament. She will represent St. Agnes Academy at the tournament held in Kansas City in June. She qualified by placing in the top four and beating out 60 students from 30 schools. Above L-R: Kelsey Siegler ’14, Caroline Sage ’14, Maggie McGuffee ’15, Sully Garnett ’14, Hartini Margot ’14
Learning to Lead H
artini Margot ’14 was only one of about 30 juniors and seniors from St. Agnes who traveled to Boston in February to attend Harvard Model Congress, the largest government simulation conference in the world. Run entirely by Harvard students, the nonprofit organization is dedicated to teaching and inspiring the leaders of tomorrow. Just how did she get there? She wrote a briefing on the role of media coverage in the George Zimmerman trial. Each year, HMC hosts up to 1,400 students who get to participate and role play as members of Congress, candidates in elections, and as members of the media.
Standing L-R: Dominic Baula (Strake Teacher), William Smith, Ana Baleva, Hunter Werlla, Sam Erickson, Ryan Ogilvie, Justin McAuliffe, Yan Yao, Allen Gregory (SAA Teacher), Matthew Skolaut, Jamie Smith, Meron Wonderad, Chase Hildebrandt, Cody Yao, Mary Jo Maciejewski Front Row L-R: Jacob Cherek, Sara Baltz, Tiffany Au, Mary Nguyen, David Culbreth, Sara Colburn, Samsara DavalosReyes
Through my preconference assignment, I learned the extreme affect the national media has on how we perceive current events. The event I chose to write on, the George Zimmerman trial, emphasized how public opinion can be swayed by news reports. I loved trying to mirror the real media by incorporating subtle biases into the articles I wrote as a member of HMC Media. This was especially fun because I got to see both parties’ sides of many controversial issues. For half the conference I wrote for a conservative newspaper and the other half I wrote for a liberal newspaper. —Hartini Margot ’14
TPSMEA All-State Choir: Front row (l-r) Shannon Lewis ’16, Andrea Miranda ’15, Han Nguyen ’14 and Maddy Delgado ’16 Back row (l-r) Madeline Garvis ’14 and Erin Miller ’14