This year is flying by so quickly! It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating starting the school year in our beautiful, newly renovated, school building and offices. Teachers were decorating their classrooms with the promise that comes with the beginning of a brand new school year. Today we realize school year 2013-14 is drawing to a close. The month of May is filled with many events and special occasions that make a month feel like a minute.

Over Easter break I began reading a book by Rob Berger, who will be a guest speaker at The Martin Institute that many of us will be attending this summer. His book is titled An Ethic of Excellence. The focus of his book is how to build a culture of excellence. He does quite a bit of consulting in a variety of school systems both inner city and rural on how to create this culture of excellence in a school. Every teacher here at St. Louis will be getting a copy of this book and we will focus on this premise for our fall in-service. The good news for us is that unlike many of the schools that Mr. Berger talks about in his book, we already have a culture of excellence started here at St. Louis. Parents and parishioners value the mission of Catholic education so much that they are willing to sacrifice time and treasure to make our facility up-to-date, beautiful, clean, and inviting. Home and School volunteers put in endless hours planning fundraising events like the Auction, Cardinal 5K, and other events to raise money so that students can use the latest technology and study materials available. Teachers work long hours planning, assessing, and working with their students.

April 4 is a memorable day for us all! That morning the entire school was able to participate in the celebration as Cole, Jacob, and Kyle Frasure became members of the Catholic Church. We all looked on as Kyle, Jacob, and Cole along with their parents and godparents processed to the narthex of the church and were baptized by Monsignor McArthur. Kyle and Jacob also received the sacrament of First Holy Communion. As Monsignor commented, we are all so proud of the Frasure boys. Their desire to join our Catholic faith is a testament to the St. Louis community. Mr. and Mrs. Frasure joined the church at the Easter vigil Mass

This April the eighth grade students went on one of two new adventures! Thirty-five of the students went on a trip to Washington D.C. while twenty of the students participated in a week of exploring Memphis. This week marked the beginning of the eighth grade’s season of graduation events.

Highlights of the Washington trip included the honor of four of our students Mary Madden, Claire Heimbach, Chip Davis, and Cameron Boyer placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery marks the epitome of tradition and reverence toward our military heroes. From viewing many of the national monuments, such as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials to exploring three of the Smithsonian Museums the trip was an action packed four days of fun. We were also able to attend Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and witness history in the making as Albert Pujols hit his 499 and 500 homeruns. Just ask any of the students who went on the trip, it is a trip to look forward to during your eighth grade year.

Those who did not go to Washington spent the time exploring Graceland, the Civil Rights Museum, and several of our jubilee schools during the Memphis field trips. The week began with a trip to Elvis Presley’s home, Graceland. There was no need for a tour guide as our own Mr. Walker is an expert on Graceland! Following an exciting trip to Graceland the students spent the afternoon at one of four jubilee schools mentoring to the students. The visits at St. John, Resurrection, Little Flower, and De LaSalle were a highlight of the week. The students shared quality time with each of their new friends. Wednesday marked an engineering project as the students built ferris wheels out of pasta. The Civil Rights Museum and lunch at a Mexican restaurant rounded out the week of field trips. It was a week of fun for all.

Winners of the St. Louis Science Fair were asked to compete in the Memphis and Shelby County Science and Engineering Fair hosted by Christian Brothers University in late March. All of our participants were ribbon winners at the competition. In addition, Ellie Navarre placed in the top ten percent of projects for all middle school students and has been named a 2014 Broadcom MASTERS nominee! Ellie’s project “Does the Design of a Golf Ball Affect Its Performance?” also earned a Gold Ribbon; she will compete through an online application to progress in the national competition.

We are proud of all of our SLS winners:

• Sarah Grace Price- Does Stress affect the Performance of Students on Tests? Green ribbon
• Marc Anthony Marconi- Do Younger People have a Better Short-Term Memory than older People? Green ribbon
• Hughes Raiford- Does Music Affect Memory? Red ribbon Sam Goodman- Do All Liquids Evaporate at the Same Rate? Red ribbon
• Maggie Montegut- Do Dogs Prefer a Distinct Color Bowl to Eat their Food? Green ribbon

The fourth grade participated in the Made by Milk art contest. This contest promotes the healthy aspects of milk as a builder of healthy teeth and bones and the repurposing of the milk cartons. Over 70 % of the milk carton is made from trees and is recyclable as well. Students in all grades recycled their milk cartons from lunch and break for the project and the fourth grade made the creations. This year’s theme was “storybooks”. The students picked two storybook characters Elmer the elephant and Glory the dragon. The students in 4A designed, built, and decorated Glory out of milk cartons, cardboard and paint. The same type of materials were used by 4B to build Elmer.

You may vote for these creations online at http://madebymilkcontest.com/searchentries through May 9. Winners will also be selected by a national panel of judges.

Please drop by the library to see the entries.

4th Grade: Caroline Baker, Fontana Cary, Justin Ross, Madeline Tonole, Jacob Ward
5th Grade: Matthew Durden, Joshua Jones, Brendan Phelan, Nicholas Quarles, Jack Scherson, Caroline Senter, Rachel Ward, Celia Watson, Chloe Webster
6th Grade: Phillip Benedict, Taylor Brenner, Jackson Deneka, Jackson Lyons, Marc Anthony Marconi, Andrew Martin, Elizabeth Navarre, Sarah Price Sarah Reno, Brittain Ross
7th Grade: Karen Benedict, Bridgette Groben, Patrick Koch, Gerard Tavoleti
8th Grade: Ethan Ferguson, Lee Griesbeck, Jack Herring, Austin Martin, Anna Nieman, Nick Scherson, Fiona Toomey

4th Grade: Auden Brummer, Hudson Carr, Anna Grace Cervetti, Grace Cestaro, Anthony Cestaro, Ben Evangelisti, Jane Fracchia, William Gossett, Alex Grusin, Michael Novarese, Jefferson Schmitt, Ethan Soefker, Sophie Spencer, Gabby Spiotta, Ginny Tavoleti, Andrew Wade, Sam Wallace, Kaylie White, Connor Whittington, Jacob Wildman, Thomas Wilson, Maggie Wood
5th Grade: Ella Almand, Emily Arangino, Embry Bird, Nora Burton, Cecilia Carney, Mia Cervetti, Maria Cremerius, Mikala Decker, Drake Dunaway, Cade Fick, Grace Goughnour, Mary Hatley, Richard Hauser, Grant Herring, Ben Jones, Oliver Jones, Clay Kirkland, Lydia Koch, Amelia Madden, Hayden Meadows, Kaitlin Moore, Sean Mullen, Knox Perry, Michael Price, Collin Roberts, Dylan Smarra, Jaden Stanley
6th Grade: Kaitlyn Broughton, Ethan Cary, Alexis Connor, Zoie Couch, Katie Cunningham, Cecilia DiMeglio, Sam Goodman, Aidan Johnson, Kevin Kane, Maddie McGee, Charlie Moore, Sarah Moran, Hughes Raiford, Aly Sloka, Emma Soefker, James Strickland, Hunter Stroud, Mary Helen Weirich, Zachary White
7th Grade: Allison Bryant, Michael Buchholz, Anna Kate Cremerius, Alyssa Donato, Catie Grusin, Mason Hall, Kara Kane, Gracie Kitchens, Zach Lucchesi, Anna Riley Pieroni, Connor Saig, Jeff Walker, Christian Ward, Robert Ward, Tee White, Emily Wilson
8th Grade: Max Carroll, Grace Gage, John Daniel Goodspeed, Campbell Johnson, Katey Grace Jones, Finn Mullen, Sam Sampietro, Tim Sauser, Kate Spencer, William Thiel, Henry Ward, Sarah Ward Ross Wills, Dylan Wilson