Monthly Archives: January 2018

Catholic Schools Week 2018: Dozen Reasons to Choose

Today marks the beginning of National Catholic Schools Week 2018! This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.” We’re proud of to be a part of Catholic education and the many contributions to our church, our communities and our nation.
Read below a dozen reasons to choose Catholic schools. #CSW18

 

  1. We offer an education that combines Catholic faith and teachings with academic excellence.
  2. We partner with parents in the faith formation of their children.
  3. We set high standards for student achievement and help them succeed.
  4. We provide a balanced academic curriculum that integrates faith, culture and life.
  5. We use technology effectively to enhance education.
  6. We instill in students the value of service to others.
  7. We teach children respect of self and others.
  8. We emphasize moral development and self-discipline.
  9. We prepare students to be productive citizens and future leaders.
  10. We have a 99 percent high school graduation rate. 85 percent of our graduates go to college.
  11. We cultivate a faculty and staff of people who are dedicated, caring and effective.
  12. We provide a safe and welcoming environment for all.

 

The National Catholic Educational Association

NCEA.org/csw

Close Up gives an up-close look at Washington, DC

A group of eleven Mount St. Mary students spent the week of January 15-19 in Washington, DC, with the Close Up program. In addition to touring famous monuments and memorials in the nation’s capital, students were able to visit with Arkansas’ U.S. Representative French Hill while on a private tour of the Capitol Building and present a Mount St. Mary Academy wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Arlington National Cemetery. This year they also enjoyed the special privilege of spending MLK Day with a visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

 

Close Up’s High School Programs are designed to give students and educators an inside look at their democracy in action. Each year the program welcomes students from schools around the country to Washington, DC, to learn more about government and their nation’s capital.

 

 

 

 

Belles seniors share lessons of teamwork

Members of the Belles varsity basketball team recently shared with Arkansas Catholic the highlights and challenges they have experienced as a team and the friendships they have formed after growing up as rivals in the parochial basketball league.

 

 

 

 

This column was first published in the Jan. 20 edition of Arkansas Catholic.

 

 

No ‘I’ in team: Mount seniors’ bond endures adversity

 

Four years ago, Payton Grice, Anne Moellers, Abby Bing­enheimer and Sarah Sagar walked into the Mount St. Mary gym for their first basketball practice.

 

It was summer before freshman year and, with the exception of Bingenheimer and Sagar who grew up in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in North Little Rock (Marche), none of them wanted anything to do with the other.

 

It’s amazing what off-season workouts can accomplish. Run enough lines, lift enough weights, withstand enough of Coach Lauren Ramsey’s blistering sermons and it changes you. And in the case of this foursome, that bond has been unshakable.

 

For the full article, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belles Birthday Bingo Joins Founders Week Celebrations

This year a “new” event invites parents, alumnae, faculty/staff, volunteers and friends to come together for a traditional favorite – BINGO!  Mount St. Mary Academy invites the entire school community  to come together on Friday, February 9, to honor the school’s 167-year tradition of excellence during Founders Week and celebrate with food and games. The Dads Club and Birthday Bingo Committee will be providing hot dogs on the grill and a chili toppings bar. Tickets are $30 for individuals/$50 for couples and include dinner, beer and wine, and 10 bingo play cards per person with additional cards available for purchase.

 

BELLES BIRTHDAY BINGO

Friday, February 9

MSM McAuley Center

Dinner 6 to 7 p.m., Bingo 7 to 9 p.m.

must be 21 years of age to attend

 

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE! 

 

 

 

 

MSM student dances in IDO world competition

Christmas came early this year for Mount St. Mary junior Sydney Kellam (center), the Rockettes team manager and former MSM dance team member who was one of 19 dancers picked to be on the first-ever Team USA for a competition known as “the Olympics of dance.”

 

In early December, Sydney traveled with her coach and teammates from the Rock City Dance Center and other states across the country to the International Dance Organization’s World Jazz & Modern Championships in Warsaw, Poland. There they competed against more than 4,000 dancers from 32 nations and 4 continents.

 

Sydney received fifth place for Team USA for her group’s Adult Jazz Dance Formation and Adult Modern Dance Formation routines and sixth in the Adult Division for Small Group Modern.

 

“I loved it. It was a lot of hard work and hours,” Sydney said, explaining that the team practiced six days a week leading up to the competition. She said it was well worth the extra time to hear their country announced as placing fifth and to know they were the first ones in modern and jazz to compete in their division at the IDO World Championship.

 

Sydney described the experience as one she will never forget. “The different styles of dance from all of the countries were so amazing. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”