Monthly Archives: March 2017

MSM Forensics Team Earns National Charter Status

Mount St. Mary Academy recently received the prestigious national charter member status in the National Speech & Debate Association along with three other Arkansas schools: Crossett High School, Har-Ber High School and North Little Rock High School. This is the highest school membership honor you can achieve in the National Speech & Debate Association.

“Charter membership reflects sustained commitment to speech and debate,” said J. Scott Wunn, Executive Director of the National Speech & Debate Association. “We are extremely proud of our charter schools, coaches, and students for their hard work and passion for speech and debate.”

Schools earn charter membership status after receiving at least 50 degrees within a three-year period. Students and coaches earn points in the Honor Society through speech and debate competition, community service, public speaking, and leadership activities.  The more points earn higher degrees of recognition.

Every school within the National Speech & Debate Association is designated a provisional chapter, member chapter, or charter chapter. Each status determines voting privileges, a district’s strength of chapters, and number of qualifiers to the annual National Speech & Debate Tournament.

About the National Speech & Debate Association

The National Speech & Debate Association is the largest interscholastic speech and debate organization serving middle school, high school, and collegiate students in the United States. The Association provides competitive speech and debate activities, high-quality resources, comprehensive training, scholarship opportunities, and advanced recognition to more than 150,000 students and coaches every year. For 90 years, the National Speech & Debate Association has empowered more than 1.5 million members to become engaged citizens, skilled professionals, and honorable leaders in our society. For more information, visit www.speechanddebate.org.

Fathers and Daughters Compete at Family Feud

The first-ever March Madness Father-Daughter Family Feud event created quite a stir in the McAuley Center on Saturday, March 4th at Mount St. Mary Academy. Presented by the Belle Booster Club, the event benefited Mount St. Mary student clubs, organizations and athletic teams. Following rules of the popular game show, teams of dads and daughters faced off to answer popular survey questions and try for their chance to enter the final round.

 

Congratulations to the Clark/Wahlgreen/Crow team, winner of this year’s March Madness Family Feud! And thank you to the extremely creative and hardworking event chairs, MSM parents Kelly and Roy Snook, and the student committee for all of their vision and planning for this event.

 

 

Mock Trial Team Comes Close at State Competition

Five Mount St. Mary Academy students joined forces with nine Catholic High boys to compete in the annual Mock Trial State Tournament hosted by the Arkansas Bar Association on March 3-4, 2017.

 

The two teams have been practicing twice a week since shortly after school began last fall.  The Junior Team (Freshmen Sarah Meeks and Naomi Moreland) made the semi-finals but lost to a team from Springdale Har-Ber High School. Senior Team (Juniors Clara Cordell, Sydney Eagan and Katie Strickland) lost in the second round to another team from Springdale Har-Ber High School, who competed against the other Har-Ber team for the state championship title.

 

The Arkansas Bar Association Mock Trial Competition gives high school student teams from across the state the opportunity to act as lawyers and witnesses in simulated civil trials before actual judges and panels of juries. Lawyers volunteer to assist students as team advisers, scorekeepers and regional coordinators. Each year, the winning team goes on to represent Arkansas in the national competition.

Students Celebrate Grandparents Day at MSM

Hundreds of grandparents joined their granddaughters for a special Grandparents Day celebration held on March 3rd at Mount St. Mary Academy.

Granddaughters gave their grandparents personalized tours, introducing them to teachers and friends and showing them around the campus. Grandparents participated in activities and demonstrations with different classes and school organizations, such as Quiz Bowl, Forensics, Odyssey of the Mind, Family and Consumer Science, Robotics, Latin Club, and they even were able to take part in a Chemistry Lab making “fake snow.”

Thank you to LeMay Photography for the photo booth keepsakes and to all of the grandparents and their granddaughters who made this such a special day!

Photos of the event:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskVk6p7y

Another Superior Rating for MSM Concert Belles

It is no small feat to continually earn Superior ratings at the annual Choral Performance Assessment, but leave it to the Mount St. Mary Academy Concert Belles to do it again! They earned Division I (Superior) ratings in both performance and sight-reading and received some incredibly humbling comments from the judges, who said they were highly impressed and blown away by their performance.

 

Beginning in late February and early March, the majority of secondary school choirs in Arkansas participate in one of the region Choral Performance Assessments sponsored by the Arkansas Choral Directors Association. Concert Belles consistently earns a superior rating at the annual assessment, and they will again advance to the State Festival in April. The ensemble sings a variety of choral repertoire at a number of concerts and events throughout the year and is well-known throughout the Central Arkansas region.

 

Congratulations to the Mount St. Mary Academy Concert Belles: 
Raehana Anwar, Megan Brown, Annalise Bush, Lexi Caruthers, Clara Cordell, Rylee Gibson, Maya Giuffria, Chloe Harper, Cameron Heslip, Emily Hester, Lexie Holley, Christina Kaufman, Anne Lashbrook, Mary Chandler Lindsey, Anna Kate Manchester, Regan Moss, Maricarmen Negrete, Amelia Ochoa, Rosemarie Ochoa, Leah Paige, Emma Parker, Olivia Parker, Daniela Ramos, Hannah Smith, Carol Stover, and Ana Thompson

 

Choral Director: Chelsea Daughety

 

Belles Basketball Team Competes at State Tournament

Congratulations to our Mount St. Mary Basketball Belles for an awesome season. The Belles won four conference games this season and competed at the State Tournament in Van Buren this week. This season marks the first conference win for the Belles since 2012-2013. We are proud of all these young women, Coach Ramsey, and Athletic Trainer Mr. Stotts. #GoBelles