Detroit Cristo Rey trivia event
Detroit Cristo Rey High School on Detroit’s southwest side is hosting its second annual Sports Trivia Challenge, featuring local sports celebrities and media personalities, at 7 p.m. Jan. 29. The “who’s who” of local sports experts includes Detroit News writers John Niyo and Bob Wojnowski, the Detroit Free Press’ Jamie Samuelsen, 97.1 FM The Ticket’s Mike Stone, Oakland Press beat writer Paula Pasche and Fox 2 reporter Jennifer Hammond, as well as others on the local scene who will captain teams in the trivia event at Dino’s in Ferndale.
An entry fee of $50 will allow participants to compete for the first prize of Red Wings tickets on March 20. Call (313) 402-0081 for more information.
Rockwood school embraces technology
St. Mary School in Rockwood is diving head-first into the 21st century, with a new website and mobile “app” designed to keep parents and students up to date on school news and events.
St. Mary’s principal, Theresa Stager, who arrived at the school in July 2013, also has developed the school’s social media presence through videos and podcasts available to download through iTunes, and is planning a 1:1 iPad program for all students at the prekindergarten through eighth-grade school.
“(Stager’s) experience, not only as an educator, but also in the fields of music and business, makes her uniquely qualified to lead our school into its exciting future,” said Michelle Foster, a parent and advisory council member at St. Mary. “With Catholic Schools Week approaching, I would like to recognize her as an outstanding Catholic grade school principal.”
St. Mary CC aids the poor
For Thanksgiving, students at St. Mary Catholic Central in Monroe provided 21 families with food baskets worth about $150 each and containing a complete Thanksgiving meal and enough food for an entire week. The school-wide drive asked each student to contribute $1 and a non-perishable food item to be added to the baskets, which were delivered to St. Joseph’s Food Closet in Erie.
In addition, students in the school’s Social Justice class learned firsthand how poverty can affect families in the Metro Detroit area. Through an interactive “Poverty Awareness Program,” students watched videos presentations of families struggling to survive on low wages and were asked to balance a sample budget for a family that would be considered the “working poor,” said Theresa Theisen, communications coordinator for the school. Students were asked to make choices between vital necessities and visited social service agencies in Monroe offering help to those in need before making presentations to their classmates about what they’d learned.
De La Salle all in the family
Warren De La Salle High School invited all alumni fathers of current students to join their sons for a special liturgy Jan. 22 . The third annual Mass celebrates the tradition of Catholic education and the family bonds it brings, said Vicki Granger, director of communications for the school.
Students at the school also participated in a toy drive for the Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (MCREST) and Children’s Hospital over the Christmas season, Granger said.
Shrine honors Msgr. Easton
Students at Shrine Catholic Grade School in Royal Oak will honor the memory of the school’s late pastor, Msgr. William Easton, with a coin collection for Sacred Heart Major Seminary on Jan. 26. Msgr. Easton, who died Dec. 29, graduated from Sacred Heart and once served as its vice rector.
Students also will participate in a “saint/virtue” project and decorate doors honoring particular saints, write “thank-you” letters to school support staff members and participate in workshops during Catholic Schools Week.
Guardian Angels School’s “Art Angels” make fleece blankets for a local animal shelter.Becoming Guardian Angels
Students at Guardian Angels School in Clawson are learning to be like their namesake during Catholic Schools Week, as students prepare to collect hats, gloves and socks for a local shelter.
In addition to the weeklong service project, students will write thank-you letters to parents and guardians, dress in career-appropriate attire for “Occupation Day” and participate in a host of games, activities and events throughout the week.
School spirit to the full
Every year for Catholic Schools Week, the young students at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs participate in a “Pillow Polo” game and pep rally, said principal Joseph Vincler.
“During the pep rally, the school band plays the school fight song and the cheerleaders cheer on the crowd,” Vincler said. “All CYO teams affiliated with OLQM are honored, and at the end of the day two classes are awarded that best displayed school spirit.”
Fruits and quilts
Fourth-grade students at St. Patrick School in Carleton earned 1,306 inches of ribbon for their “Good Deed Quilt” as part of their study on evangelization and the fruits of the Holy Spirit, said principal Ruth Meiring. For each good work of the Spirit the students performed at home or at school, they earned one inch of ribbon to be added to the quilt, which they sewed themselves along with patches depicting the fruits of the Spirit.
Thanking outside the box
For students at St. Regis School in Bloomfield Hills, gratitude isn’t just reserved for parents and teachers. During Catholic Schools Week, students in preschool through second grade will make appreciation cards for seniors at a nearby nursing home, while students in grades 3-5 will make cards for shut-ins from their own parish. Not to be outdone, academy students will send thank-you cards to U.S. soldiers.
And of course, no one will forget to thank their parents for sending them to St. Regis — all students will also make thank-you cards for Mom and Dad.
