SCHOOLS NEWS
LIBBY STUPICA
A STUDENT SPEAKS
Third World Feast
Two months ago my friend Katie invited me and our fellow "color run" planning crew to a "Third World Family Feast" she and a group of students at St. Ursula Libby Stupica Academy were hosting. The goal was to heighten awareness for world hunger, poverty, and social injustice. I was intrigued, not knowing exactly what the night would entail, and when she told us that all donations made will benefit Tent City 2016 (a weekend-long event that provides medical and employment services, clothing, and food to the unhoused, and is run entirely by volunteers), I was all in! On the night of the “Feast,” my sister (home from college) and I arrived at St. Ursula and headed up to the gym, where we were greeted by Katie and other students who had planned the dinner. Upon arrival, Schuyler and I were handed nametag. Mine was the generic “Hello, my name is...” kind and Schuyler's had a blue border. It didn't occur to me then that the difference in nametags would be of any significance, but when the dinner began, we were told to split up into three groups. “Those with the teal borders on their name tags are the upper class, and will sit at that table,” Katie said, referencing a long table, adorned with a fancy tablecloth and flowers. She then proceeded to explain that everyone with the blue borders on their name tags were the middle class, and would sit at average popup tables and that those given the “Hi, my name is...” tags represented the lower class, who could find a spot on the floor to sit. I watched as my sister went to sit with her fellow middle class citizens as I situated myself on the ground. “Mommy, why do we have to sit on the
SOPHIA YAKUMITHIS S O U T H V I E W S AY S
After a long five months, my academic extracurricular has reached an end and I can finally eat, shower and sleep like a regular human being. Academic extra-curriculars are often overlooked by sports and the arts. While I have participated in all three, I find academics to be the most demanding. Aside from having to be mentally alert all the time, physically, it’s critical to apply survival skills to various challenges. If you’re tired or sick, you have to keep moving forward because it’s so easy to forget information or procrastinate, especially procrastinate. Mock Trial is specifically exhausting because it requires so much preparation. The Southview Mock Trial season reaped nothing but success this year. Three out of four teams qualified on a regional level, and one team qualified for the state competition in our state’s capitol. March 10 and 11, we endured four trials in various Columbus judicial buildings. Two of my teammates, sophomore Lark Yan and
SYLVANIA ADVANTAGE | FIRST APRIL 2016 | 5B
floor? We’re rich!” Sitting next to me, two little kids struggled to understand the simulation. Their mom began to explain that the dinner was a learning experience when another announcement was made over the mic. It was time for dinner. I looked to the gym doors, where St. Ursula students walked out, pulling food trays. “The upper class will enjoy a dinner of salad, salmon and butternut squash from Mancy’s Bluewater Grille. The middle class will be eating pizza,” Katie said as more students came out with pizza boxes in tow. I anxiously awaited my fate. “And the lower class can get a bowl of rice,” Katie referenced a crock pot with styrofoam bowls next to it. At that moment, the little girl sitting next to me burst into tears. Although her mother did a beautiful job explaining how people all over the world live with hunger each day, the little girl and her brother had trouble grasping the concept. After eating my rice, I went to fill up my cup with water and noticed that the pitcher that the lower-class had been using now had trash and rice mixed in the water. Despite my slight disappointment at being denied the opportunity to quench my thirst, my thoughts immediately flickered to the current water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and to every place in the world that struggles with a lack of safe and clean water every day. It even brought back memories from two summers ago, when all of Toledo struggled to obtain clean drinking water for a couple days. This exercise made me much more conscious of just how difficult it is for people who constantly lack access to simple daily necessities. Near the end of the evening, everyone in the lower-class was offered pizza to enjoy when the simulation was over. I chose to decline that offer, because I truly wanted to get the full experience the night offered. As I walked out with my sister, despite my slightly empty and grumbling stomach, I was not bitter or upset. Instead, I left with a new perspective and awareness on the importance of access to food and clean water for everyone, along with a deep sense of gratitude for all of the blessings I regrettably take for granted each day. junior Billy Jiang and I won individual witness and attorney roles. Overall, Southview was awarded fifth place out of over 350 Ohio teams, including the 37 teams that competed in Columbus. Along with Mock Trial, Speech and Debate requires a great deal of focus, dedication and cooperation from competitors. I compete in Public Forum debate, so I have a partner. That means I am not alone in this energy-guzzling activity. Southview did exceptionally well at the Notre Dame-hosted National Qualifying tournament held Feb. 19 and 20. With five students qualifying for nationals, senior Sara Young and juniors Angie Bittar and Omair Hasan, were in speech events and my partner Nathan Podolsky and I, were in Public Forum debate. At Nat Quals, we sacrificed both our Friday night from 4-10 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. In between debates, debaters try to stay awake and sharp. While I do recognize the hard work that is put into sports and arts, I think that academic extracurriculars deserve more limelight and credit than they get.
SUA teachers fix lunches for food bank BY CHRISTINE HOLLIDAY
Teachers and staff members at St. Ursula worked their last day before their Easter break preparing food for local food banks. Each volunteered to bring a part of the makings of a delicious lunch (lunch meat, chips, fruit, candy, juice boxes and/or the bags to pack them) and put together an assembly line to make more nearly 300
bagged lunches for clients at the Helping Hands food bank at St. Louis Church in East Toledo. The group also made and boxed 50 pizzas for Helping Hands. Campus Minister Kevin Shannon noted that the project is a traditional part of the last teacher and staff work day before the spring break. “At this holy time, this is a great way for us to live our faith,” he said. “We enjoy it and we know those who receive the meals are grateful.
NASA researcher visits SUA BY CHRISTINE HOLLIDAY
With the return of astronaut Scott Kelly from nearly a year in the Space Station, Americans are paying attention to the work of the National Space and Aeronautics Administration. Students in Jackie Kane’s honors physics class at St. Ursula Academy learned about the role of women in the space program when NASA research scientist Dennis Stocker visited her class. He also conducted several “what would happen if I did this?” experiments to introduce the girls to the world of NASA science from their own classroom— using falling water, popping balloons and experiment models for the space station. As a follow up to Stocker’s visit, the students will participate in the NASA 2016 Poetry Activity. The activity invites students in grades 4-12 to choose a photograph from the Women of the International Space Station Facebook page and write a short original poem or haiku to go with the photo. NASA will share selected poems through the Facebook page. The activity marks the 15th anniversary of astronaut Susan Helms becoming the first female crew member to serve on the International Space Station. Students will also develop their own experiment that will be constructed and run in the Portland State University microgravity lab as part of the NASA/PSU Capillary Effects on Liquids Exploratory Research Experiments program. In this program, students study the behavior of liquids in capillary channels in a microgravity environment created here on Earth in a two-second, six-story drop tower. Junior Maggie Finn enjoyed the presentation. She said, “Learning about
NASA scientist Dennis Stocker asks, ‘Will the black balloon attached on the top beam pop on the tack, which is attached to the bottom beam?’ as he lets the elastic joint fall. women astronauts overcoming the gender boundaries and achieving their goals was utterly inspiring. Women today have even more opportunities than back then, and it truly makes me believe that I can achieve anything.”