St. Wendelin Catholic School

SWHS Robotics Team Finishes Near Top
Review Times - Monday, April 02, 2012

St. Wendelin Catholic High School's robotics team is awaiting official results to know exactly how they fared in the Institute of Navigation's 'Mini-Urban Challenge' at Wright State University in Fairborn Saturday.

Eighteen teams from across Ohio and surrounding states converged at Wright State University in Fairborn Saturday to demonstrate their skills and ingenuity at the fourth annual event.
According to Ron Bowerman, advisor for the SWHS team along with Chris Camm, the Fostoria group finished somewhere in the top five.

"The team that took third place believed we had a higher score than they did, however they did win third place. We are most likely one of the top four or five teams," he said, adding the team will receive a result breakdown via e-mail in the near future.

"This is not bad for total rookies!" Bowerman stated, explaining this year's first place team -- from Columbus Westerville Schools -- has been at this competition for the past four years and took second last year, placing fourth in Washington at The Smithsonian.

"We learned a lot and are looking forward to next year. This type of robotics is a lot more cerebral than the radio-controlled robotics," he wrote in an email to the Review Times. "The robot can only do what it has been programmed to do and is not driven by person holding an RC radio transmitter. We had some difficulties, but believe they are solvable problems."

The robotics at St Wendelin is also offered to elementary students, Bowerman explained. There will be a robotics class offered at SWHS during the 2012-13 school year and the elementary component will continue.

"This is in keeping with our pledge to become more of a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) school," he said

Rock Solid Spiritually --

Exploring Faith Traditions
Written by Zach Miller ’13

On March 21, the World Religions class taught by Mr. Matthew Kettinger went on a field trip to the Islamic Center in Perrysburg and the Congregation B’nai Israel in Sylvania. At the Mosque, we were given a tour by Imam Farooq, and at the Synagogue we were showed around by Rabbi Moshe Saks. We learned many things about these religions - both the similarities and differences between their respective faith traditions and Christianity.

The synagogue was very interesting. All men who enter the temple are obligated to wear a head covering called a yarmulke. I wore one, they are actually very comfortable, and you forget they are on your head. The centerpiece of the Jewish worship service is the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament. The written languages of both faiths – Hebrew and Arabic – are read from right to left. I learned that both are considered to be Semitic languages.

The holy book of Islam is the Koran. The Mosque was a huge building that housed a daycare, a primary school, administrative offices and a large worship space. One thing that really surprised us is that there is a room in the Mosque where dead bodies are brought to be cleansed immediately before burial. The worship space in the Mosque had no chairs, only a real plush carpet. There was a small rail or wall within this space that separated men from women while the worship service was going on.

Our class really enjoyed this trip because it gave us a better perspective of other religions.

SW student heading to national 4-H event in Washington

By ALEX ASPACHER, Review Times Staff Writer 3/24/2012

A St. Wendelin student has earned recognition for accomplishments outside the classroom that will give her the opportunity to add to an already impressive resume by attending the 2012 National 4-H Conference in Washington D.C.

Junior Ali Mowrey is one of three student delegates who will represent Ohio at the March 24-29 conference, a leadership convention for 4-H members between 15 and 19 years old that's built around discussions, workshops and educational briefings.

Attendees will also spend a day touring the National Mall area that contains many of Washington's government offices and speaking with several U.S. representatives and/or senators about 4-H.

Mowrey said she's excited to potentially have an impact on the way 4-H is seen by legislators as well as the opportunity to meet other members from around the country.
"We might have students come from the Caribbean, so it would be interesting to learn about their culture and how they do 4-H in their region," she said.

Mowrey is accomplished in 4-H as well as other extracurricular activities. She enjoys cooking and clothing projects with the club in addition to leadership and personal development activities, she said. Mowrey plays volleyball, basketball and track, participates in the school choir and band, volunteers at her church and is a member of the National Honor Society. She credits 4-H with helping to develop the drive within her that's led her to accomplish so much.

"It broadens education of young students and prepares them for their futures," she said.

"Through 4-H I have achieved goals I never thought I would."

Principal Mike Amlin said Mowrey personifies exactly what teachers and administrators at St. Wendelin hope to encourage their students to become. "Ali challenges herself academically and in extracurricular activities ... so I was not surprised at all to find out that her hard work carried over into (4-H) and resulted in this accomplishment," Amlin said. "It's a prestigious honor and we're very proud of her."

Amlin said he thinks Mowrey was selected to represent Ohio because of her "passion and determination."

"When she does something she puts everything she has into it to sure it's her best work," he said.

Mowrey plans to become a teacher someday and said the leadership and communication skills she'll refine at the 4-H conference will help.

Amlin said he has no doubt in Mowrey's ability to achieve anything she wants to accomplish in her life.

"I see her future being limitless," Amlin said. "Whatever she chooses to do, she'll be a success at it."

MODEL UNITED NATIONS COMPETITION

The St. Wendelin Catholic School Model United Nations team took second honors at the Mid American Model United Nations (MAMUN) conference this past week. This team represented the Holy See (the Vatican) in the General Assembly portion of the competition. Junior Anthony Halstead was awarded second honors individually for his work representing the Holy See in the Science and Technology committee event at the competition. The St. Wendelin Catholic School team was to represent the Holy See in the topics that were discussed. It was a great marriage between the stellar academic preparation at St. Wendelin Catholic School as well as the importance of our Catholic Identity. At one point during the conference, the Lebanese delegation (represented by another school) used the debate floor to complain about the religious zeal in which our students spoke. The fact that others were discussing the work we were doing indicated we were doing our jobs.

There were about 80 teams (400 students) in the General Assembly portion and about 80 individuals in Anthony’s committee portion of the competition.

Two teams were awarded highest honors in the General Assembly portion and two delegates were awarded highest honors in the committee portion of the competition. Five teams were awarded second honors and five individuals were awarded second honors for the committee portion.

The other Model United Nations team members were senior Nate Marugg, and sophomores Lindsay Weaver, Morgan Hay, and Maddie Statham.

Brian Shaver, Director of St. Wendelin Parish and School is the Model UN Advisor.

St. Wendelin Drama Dept. to Perform “AIDA”

HIPSHER ADVANCES TO NATIONALS

St. Wendelin Catholic School 7th grader, Spencer Hipsher and 6th grader, Patrick Castillo, participated in the Northwest Ohio Blade Spelling Bee held at Owens Community College on March 13.

Patrick moved to the second round before he exited the competition. After more than ten rounds, Spencer won the event and will be headed to an all expensed paid trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. the week of May 27. Spencer also received a Merriam-Webster Third New International Dictionary, a $100 savings bond and a championship trophy.

Spencer spelled lenitive (alleviating pain or acrimony) as his final word to take top honors. St. Wendelin Catholic School was one of approximately three schools present to have more than one speller in the competition.

We are so PROUD of Patrick and Spencer, congratulations to both.

St. Wendelin STEMMs curriculum

By ALLISON WINGATE, Review Times Staff Writer

St. Wendelin Catholic School plans to implement curriculum with an emphasis on the STEM fields in the 2012-2013 school year. The acronym is used by the U.S. government to describe the fields of study of science, technology, engineering and math. The local school district will also emphasize medicine in its curriculum.

St. Wendelin Parish and School Director Brian Shaver said the school plans to introduce a speaker series for high school and junior high students next year.

The series will allow students to interact with engineers, doctors and others in the STEM fields on a weekly basis, who will explain to students what their jobs entail and what classes students need to take to enter these fields.

The school will also introduce STEM-based electives that will better prepare students for college and future careers in those fields.

"We're willing to bring in more staff if we have to, but we have capable teachers that can handle it," Shaver said.

Another aspect of the plan is to include technology in daily lesson plans at the school. Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, freshmen will receive a tablet computer for daily use. The program will be phased in over four years.

Every teacher will be asked to incorporate the use of "apps," or software applications, to correspond with curriculum. "There are programs out there that with the swipe of a finger a kid can dissect a frog. It becomes an endless tool for discovery," Shaver described.

Students will be able to take these tablets home with them every night and will keep them permanently upon graduation. "This will allow us to keep up to date with technology and hopefully give them a hand up when they go to college," Shaver said.

The initial $40,000 in seed money for the project was raised at the 28th annual Action Auction on Feb. 4, Shaver said. "In five minutes, we raised over one hundred percent of our goal. We were humbled by the generosity of our donors," he said. Once the program is completely phased in, it will be self-sustaining, as a technology fee will be assessed to students annually.

Shaver said administrators had originally considered a similar program with laptops, but determined tablets would allow the program to stay current with technology.
"We almost see the tablet as what Texas Instruments did with the calculator 20 years ago," Shaver described.

STEMM Series Speakers click on picture to open the PDF file
Speaker 1	Speaker 2	Speaker 3

Williams Wins 2nd Straight League Title

By MATT NYE
Review Times Sports Writer

SYCAMORE -- Winning can be even sweeter the second time around.

St. Wendelin's Cole Williams, a year after winning the Midland Athletic League championship at 103 pounds, made it two in a row on Saturday by taking the 113-pound title in this year's tournament at Mohawk High School. The Mohawks sophomore pinned Seneca East's Forrest Gurney 1:23 into their title bout, bringing St. Wendelin rooters to their feet in support of the two-time champ.
Carey won the team championship for the second consecutive year, far outdistancing Seneca East 236-122. Hopewell-Loudon was seventh with 65½ points, while Lakota finished eighth with 61½ and St. Wendelin was ninth with 28½. Calvert's Joe Brodman was named the MAL Wrestler of the Year while Carey's Ryan Pratt was voted the league's coach of the year.

St. Wendelin's Williams said he was nervous going into his championship match and couldn't underestimate Gurney. "I knew it was going to be tough and I just gave it my all," Williams said. "Being champ feels great. Being number one and being MAL champ two years in a row, not many people can say that."

Few people questioned Williams' ability to win another championship from the beginning of the season, including St. Wendelin coach Bill Hrabak.

"We went in with the expectation that he could be a two-time champ," Hrabak said. "He has been consistent all year. ... We fully expect him to go on to districts coming up."
St. Wendelin's only other placer was Austin Turner, who was fourth at 182 pounds.

"Some of our guys just had really tough guys in their class," Hrabak said. "Sometimes you think coming into your match, 'I feel good about my chances,' and then you look at your class and they all have 20 wins on the season. I thought Austin Turner in the 182 class has had a rough year, and having him having the chance to place fourth is something for him to hang his hat on."

Hopewell-Loudon had a champion in freshman Chet Swartzmiller, who took the 106-pound title by pinning Carey's Kyler Dyer in 2:20.

"I told the team early in the week I thought we would finish middle of the pack, and that is pretty much where we finished today," Chieftains coach Joe Hoelzle said. "I thought we wrestled hard and we had two injuries, which is always hard to deal with. Overall, our guys wrestled really hard and now it's about trying to get guys out of sectionals."

Andrew Bickford placed third at 138 to lead six Lakota placers. Returning state placer Ben Timmons did not compete because he was taking the ACT exam.

"We didn't wrestle well today," Raiders coach Rick Whetsel said. "We wrestled last night (in a triangular meet) and I don't know if that bothered them or what, but we had one third, which isn't bad. I wasn't happy and the kids aren't happy, but as I told them, this doesn't really count. Next week (in the sectional tournament) is the big time and we have to get going again. We are better than what we showed today."

February 03, 2012

SW set to serve during Catholic Schools Week
By John Montgomery, Focus Reporter

St. Wendelin Schools students will focus on serving others during this year’s Catholic Schools Week.
The event runs Feb. 5-12 for St. Wendelin’s K-12 students, with daily activities planned.
“The national theme is faith, academics and service, and we’re going to put a strong spin on service,” said Sister Teresita Richards, who’s heading up this year’s event.
“Faith, we’ll be mindful of that, and academics,” she said. “Service is something we don’t normally do during school time. Normally it’s something that’s done outside of school.
“This should give them plenty of ideas of places they could then choose to go [to serve others],” Richards said.
The event kicks off today, Sunday, Feb. 5, with alumni speaking about service during Mass at church.
Monday’s events include kindergartners through second graders visiting St. Catherine’s Care Center, while junior high students will bake rolls and bread as a thank you for area organizations that support the school.
Principal Mike Amlin will also visit each classroom to thank the students for choosing to attend St. Wendelin and give them each a treat.
On Tuesday, the fifth and sixth graders will visit Good Shepherd Home.
Wednesday will offer a full schedule for students.
The high school choir will provide the music ministry during a school Mass for the Carey Our Lady of Consolation students, and while there will interact with the students.
The high school will host a service fair for students from 8:15-9:15 a.m. Some community organizations will attend to talk about what they do, and others will send information. Richards said the fair will allow students to see what options they have for community service hours.
Students must complete service hours each year and have three categories from which to pick: church, school and community
“Often the students find that last category tricky,” Richards said, “so we went out shaking the bushes to see what is out there that a student could do so we have an answer when a student asks ‘What could I do?’”
Scheduled visitors include former missionary and current Habitat For Humanity of Wood County member Ruth Shaver, as well as representatives from the Geary Family YMCA, Good Shepherd Home, St. Catherine’s Care Center, Independence House, Circle of Mercy, Fostoria Habitat For Humanity, migrant ministry and Knights of Columbus.
Other organizations will send information, such as the Humane Society, Sharing Kitchen, Kaubisch Memorial Public Library, Safety Town and Relay For Life.
Richards added several city- and Chamber of Commerce-sponsored events also seek volunteers.
Seventh through 12th graders are required to do service hours each year. The freshmen through seniors are required to do 25 hours per year for 100 hours in their high school career, but Richards said many go well beyond that.
She said several students over the past few years have topped 200 hours and a few have even completed more than 300 hours. One student even has a goal of 500 hours during high school, Richards added.
After the service fair, the junior high students will take a field trip to visit an exhibit, titled “Little Ones That Lived,” by an art teacher from the school.
The seventh graders will then return and create their own art on the subject.
Meanwhile, the high school students will have a choice: visit Sterling House in Findlay, City Mission in Findlay, Blanchard Valley Industries in Findlay, Sharing Kitchen to serve breakfast and lunch, Caring Hands Pregnancy Center, DayBreak of Fostoria Inc.; or do school service projects.
The seniors will also deliver the baked goods created earlier in the week by the junior high.
The St. Wendelin Parent Association will hold a teacher appreciation lunch that day.
St. Wendelin’s all-school Mass is Thursday. Family groups — groups composed of one student from each grade level who gather regularly for activities — will sit together.
On Friday, the third and fourth graders will visit Independence House.
The high school choir will sing during Mass on Sunday, Feb. 11.
Richards said the annual event is quite popular with students and shows them several ways they can serve others.
“Part of the goal, I should think, is you try different things and you find out what you’re good at, and you find the joy in serving,” Richards said.
“The younger ones are pretty excited about it. They’ll come in and ask [what they can do],” she said. “They’re real happy when they bring you in a packet [documenting their community service]: ‘Here are all my papers.’ They’re proud of themselves for meeting their goals.”

St. Wendelin kindergarteners

St. Wendelin kindergarteners have been writing letters to their pen pals at Bishop Hoffman Catholic School in Fremont. On January 27th, the students had the opportunity to talk to their pen pals in a special way. They communicated via Skype. The children were so excited to see and talk with their new friends on the computer and the big mimio screen. Their faces lit up, as they saw the other kindergarteners talking them. Yes, this activity was incredibly fun, but it was also educational. This activity supports the Ohio Technology standard by participating in learning activities using technology communications. We also connected to Social Studies by comparing daily life in the past (letters) and present (computer communication). We are so pleased to bring this technology to the students and are excited about more communication in the future.

Catholic Schools
Faith. Academics. Service.

St. Wendelin Catholic School recognizes the strong bond it has with Fostoria and the surrounding communities and is appreciative for the support and resources that have enhanced our success.

Administrators, teachers, staff, and coaches are empowered and encouraged daily to make faith a real part of our students’ lives.

Academics are held to the highest standards, so students can reach their highest potential. Academics enrich our students’ abilities to make an impact in the world in which they live. At St. Wendelin Catholic School, academic programs are evaluated often to maintain the high academic tradition that has been a hallmark of St. Wendelin Catholic School for over 100 years.

Service involving the giving of time, talent and effort to help others is an expression of both faith and good citizenship. It is the prayerful hope of St. Wendelin Catholic School that students learn the value of helping others and this virtue follow them into adulthood.

Catholic schools believe this combined focus on faith, academics and service will prepare students for full and meaningful lives.

“Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.”

In celebration of Catholic Schools Week, St. Wendelin students in grades K-12 will be performing outreach service projects each day in the community. Activities throughout the week include:

Monday - Grades K-2 will be visiting St. Catherine’s Manor. They will be singing songs, doing actions to a poem, and making Valentines with the residents. A treat and special blessing will be given to all students, grades K-12, by Principal, Mr. Amlin

Tuesday - Grades 5-6 will be visiting Good Shepherd Nursing Home. The children will be playing bingo with the residents. Prizes will be Valentine gifts specially made by the children for the residents. Grade 7-8 will be baking bread that will be distributed to many community businesses in appreciation for their support of St. Wendelin Catholic School

Wednesday - A service fair will be conducted where students in grades 7-12 will have the opportunity to talk with many organizations and learn of ways they may volunteer within the community. The high school choir will be traveling to Our Lady of Consolation in Carey to provide the music ministry for the parish and the OLC School Mass. Some of the seniors will be dropping off rolls and thank you cards to businesses throughout the community. Other students in grades 9-12 will be involved in different service projects throughout Fostoria and the surrounding communities. Faculty and staff will enjoy a luncheon sponsored by SWPA

Thursday -Celebration of Thanksgiving for God’s Blessings at an all-school Mass

Friday - Grades 3-4 will be visiting Independence House. The children will be working side by side with the residents in making a Valentine craft, and will have the wonderful opportunity of interviewing residents about what school was like when they were young.

Sunday - St. Wendelin Catholic School students will be participating in the various ministries at the 11AM Mass.

NCEA Distinguished Graduate Award

Mike Amlin, principal, has announced that the school is seeking nominations for the National Catholic Education Association’s Distinguished Graduate Award. The winner will receive a gold lapel pin and be honored at a future all-school Mass.

To be eligible, the nominee should have graduated from St. Wendelin Elementary School at least 10 years ago. The award recipient will be selected based on his or her contribution to the American society and the Catholic Church.

Include the following details with your nomination: (1) year of graduation, (2) additional education, (3) present occupation, (4) three achievements of the graduate that reflect the characteristics of education received in a Catholic elementary school, (5) the person's beliefs about Catholic education, (6) and your name, address and phone number as well the candidate’s. Nominations must be received no later than February 29, 2012 . Please mail information to St. Wendelin Catholic School, c/o Mike Amlin, 533 North Countyline St., Fostoria, Ohio 44830 or email to mike.amlin@stwendelin.org.

Students go robo at St. Wendelin

by Alex Boroff, Focus Reporter
Story reprinted with permission of the Fostoria Focus Newspaper

Legos might be fun and games to some, but at St. Wendelin, the favored children’s toy is a way of teaching students math and science.

St. Wendelin science teacher Ron Bowerman has been working with sixth and seventh graders on a Lego Mindstorms robotics project in which students learn how to build and program Lego robots. Students meet on even-numbered Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during their lunch and homeroom periods. Students sacrifice their recess time to learn skills related to math and science. “What American kid gives up recess for science? I think it’s awesome,” Bowerman said.

Lego Mindstorms is a line of Lego products that users can assemble and program to do various tasks. Each Mindstorms kit came with parts such as servo motors, wheels, touch sensors, and a light, sound, and ultrasonic sensor. These pieces of the Lego Mindstorms kits can be assembled into different robots suited for different objectives.

The most important part of the kit is the NXT brick, the “brain” of Lego Mindstorms creations. Students plug the NXT brick into a computer, where they use NXT software to program different commands for the robot. “They’re only as smart as what you tell it to do,” Bowerman said.

St. Wendelin purchased a Lego Mindstorms robotics kit last spring, and Lego Education recently donated two additional $300 kits to the school.

For their first task, students were required to build robots that could complete the task of moving on a straight line for a specified distance towards a battery. Students were divided into four competing teams—The Red Branch, Lego Aliens, Bot Boys, and Wallis—that competed against one another to complete this assignment. The team whose robot got closest to the battery without knocking it over was declared the winner.

To program the robots, students had to first build the machines, then calculate things like the circumference of the robots’ wheels and the number of centimeters per rotation of the wheels to come up with a set of instructions to plug into their machines. One team got their robot as close as 4 millimeters from the battery, Bowerman said.

Now that students know how to build and program their robots, Bowerman is going to throw another challenge at them. He’s going to have students figure out how to get their robots to move and turn three times without leaving the inside of a circle.

Students, who started working with the project at the beginning of the school year, said the idea of working with Legos piqued their interests. “I thought it was really fun and I would learn a lot,” said sixth-grade student Madisen Crites-Kline. “I like Legos and thought it would be cool to make some cool stuff with them,” added seventh grader Luke Volkmer.

Bowerman and his students plan to show off this project at the Fostoria Innovation Fair, currently scheduled for Feb. 10 and 11 at Fostoria Intermediate Elementary.

Bowerman said he is impressed with the students work so far, and that all of the students who signed up for the group are still involved. “These guys are truly interested, that’s what I want here,” Bowerman said.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medical (S.T.E.M.M.) are being enhanced at St. Wendelin. Sixth and seventh graders have been building robots and recently started to program them to complete a task. The crews meet during lunch and homeroom on even Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The team names are The Red Branch (7 th grade), Lego Aliens, Bot Boys, and Wallis, (6 th grade). The first task the crews had to accomplish was to program the robot to move a specified distance. A battery was placed on a table sitting upright. The robot closest to the battery without knocking it over won the contest.

The young ladies (pictured right) won the first round stopping only 8mm from the target. There were three target distances programmed into the robot and teams did not know which target to use until informed by Mr. Ron Bowerman.

Senior Physics students will be working with robotics in the spring. Stop by and visit us! Lego Education recently donated two $300 robot kits to the school and St. Wendelin purchased a kit last year.

Other S.T.E.M.M. offerings past and present include building an airplane, which was completed in the spring of 2011 and will be sent to Kenya this spring or early summer. Prior to leaving for Kenya, in flight Biomedical and Physics data will be collected. These computer based Vernier peripheral probe experiments are open to all grades.

The Physics class will be building, installing and testing an electric wind generator this spring. Mr. Camm’s Environmental Science class will be using handheld Lab Quest electronic devices to test various water parameters in the west branch of The Portage River.

If you have questions about any of these programs, call Mr. Bowerman at
419-435-8144, ext. 1105, or e-mail ron.bowerman@stwendelin.org

St. Wendelin School is thankful to our students, faculty, staff, parents, and parishioners who so willingly contributed to the Caring for Kids Project. This K-12 project, sponsored by the St. Wendelin Chapter of the National Honor Society, involved collecting and shopping for food, toiletry items, cleaning supplies, and gifts for 13 area families. The students, with the help of staff members who volunteered to drive, delivered the baskets and children’s Christmas gifts to each family on December 20, 2011. Enough was supplied to our adopted families to assist them through the Holidays.

A special thank you goes to Mr. Terry Hoening for donating the 2012 calendars. Proceeds from the calendars were used to purchase additional items for the Caring for Kids family baskets.

The St. Wendelin Elementary Leadership (SWEL) team coordinated a mitten tree that was displayed in the school lobby. Gloves, hats, scarves and mittens were collected and given to the NHS to distribute to our adopted families. Many, many items were donated by St. Wendelin students, faculty, staff, parents, and parishioners.

The second grade students worked in pairs to knit nine scarves using a loom. The scarves were then donated to the SWEL mitten, hat, and scarf tree. They worked hard to learn this new skill and were quite proud
to give them to the community. Lots of little hands and heads will be warmer this winter due to the generosity of our St. Wendelin parish and school family. Thank you, thank you!!!

The Holiday season can be a lonely time for many. We are thankful for the gifts of our K-6 students who helped to bring sunshine into the lives of many of Fostoria senior citizens. Kindergarten, first, and second graders visited St. Catherine’s Manor in December to spread Christmas cheer and God’s love through song. The students gave each resident a bookmark they made special for the occasion.

Third and fourth graders visited Independence House. Students sang a variety of Christmas carols, made snow-flakes with the residents and left them for their enjoyment. As a thank you for allowing the students to visit, the children made Christmas placemats as well.

Our sixth graders constructed containers filled with goodies that were used as prizes when the children visited Good Shepherd Nursing Home to play bingo with the residents. The 6th grade also made over 200 Christmas cards for soldiers in the war and SW parish shut-ins.

These acts of kindness were wonderful opportunities for our children to learn the gift of giving of their time and talent to others.

St. Wendelin School would like to thank all our school and parish families that assisted in helping us to make the Holiday season special for others.

The St. Wendelin Plane Project is on YouTube. The Challenger II Open House in June was a huge success with many attendees having hands-on fun with the flight simulator. The Challenger II was highlighted in a video by the Catholic Chronicle along with Physics teacher, Mr. Ron Bowerman. St. Wendelin graduating seniors, Katelyn Schiefer and Sarah Walas were also interviewed.

YouTube Link

Article on Lindbergh Foundation Website

Dear Parent or Student,

Get your pictures in the yearbook! The Yearbook Staff invites students and parents to submit photos for the yearbook. If you've got great photos of school and community events or you and your friends just having fun, we'd like to see them. Our photographers can't be everywhere. Help us get as many photos as possible to create a terrific book everyone will want to have.

Here is how you can submit photos online:
• Go to: https://images.jostens.com/login
• If it does not automatically log you into the site, enter username:400112821 and password:GoMohawks
• Browse to select the photo(s) you wish to upload.
• Enter information about the photo and provide contact information in case the staff needs additional information.
• Click "Save Details".

It's that easy! Submit your photos today! The last day to submit photos is 5/31/2012.

Thank you, and we cannot wait to start our new school year!

Sincerely,
Mr. Erford and the 2012 Yearbook Staff.

By CHANDRA NIKLEWSKI

STAFF WRITER

St. Wendelin School students survived poverty, falling trees, avalanches and wildfires, all in the safety of their school gymnasium.

The event was Global Shopping, a way for K-12 students to mingle together and learn about the unequal distribution of money in the world and what sacrifices need to be made depending on income and priorities. Students were separated into family groups, with older high school students serving in the parent roles while the younger students took on the child roles. The groups were modeled to simulate a refugee family coming to a new country.

"Welcome to Opportunis! You have nothing," Sr. Teresita Richards, director of Faith Formation and the organizer of the event, said to welcome the students.

Father Mayhem, usually known as Fr. Matt Rader, periodically made an announcement in the gymnasium to let students know about a variety of natural disasters which affected the groups, depending on where they were situated in the gym.

"I'm having tons of fun," Rader said after issuing the news of an avalanche in the "mountainous region of the bleachers" crushed a few family cars.

Students began the exercise with money called Blippos. The amount each group was given determined whether they were well below the poverty line, extremely rich or somewhere in between.

Junior Haley Wolfe had nothing to worry about. Her group was far from rich. Once they received their money, they had to buy a house, which was actually nothing more than a shack. All family groups had to pick the type of home to live in and then figure out a way to afford utilities, furniture, transportation, insurance, food and clothing. They also had to decide whether to buy electronics and put the children into public schools or Catholic schools. Once they bought everything they could, they sat down to draw a picture of their house with all their belongings.

Rader also forced them to learn to financially survive a variety of disasters, including flooding and broken bones.

Groups also had "shepherds," or adults to help the groups keep on track and discuss what they were learning.

Family Groups

With students ranging from ages five through 18, Richards explained she understands there were some concerns about younger children becoming lost in the shuffle of the larger students getting to class. St. Wendelin has worked to make class changes and lunch times work around each other so older and younger students are rarely interacting.

"Actually, I usually forget (the younger students) are even here," Duncan Campbell, a senior, said.

But, the school does contain the range of students and Richards said this is one of the ways the school can put the children together on a quarterly basis so the older children can positively influence the younger.

"They actually know my name now," Campbell said of the children in his "family."

Campbell said now when he sees the students who were in his group, he can say hello to them in the halls and call them by name.

Campbell said he enjoyed the chance to spend time and do a project with the younger students, explaining they "kind of listened" to him.

"It was interesting buying stuff for my kids," Campbell joked.

Ann Wedge, a high school English teacher, said she saw her students being very "gentle and caring with the little ones."

"I saw my students in a whole new light," Wedge said.

She explained the older students were holding the hands of the younger ones and guiding them throughout the activity. Wedge said the sense of caring and commitment exhibited by the high school students made her feel like they really were a family.

Shopping

Once the students had their money from the Human Services table, they were asked if they wanted insurance. Insurance covered such things as health, car, home and floods. But, once they bought those, the money left was for the material things their family members wanted and needed. A table was set up for food and the type of food depended upon the amount of money the family had to spend.

Jennifer Hartley, the parent in charge of selling furniture to the students, said the type of food also affected other buys. A family who could only afford rice chose to buy a microwave instead of a stove because it was cheaper and was just as capable of heating up what food they had.

Another family chose to eat "Japanese style" and not bother buying chairs, Hartley explained. Others pointed out they could fit three people in one bed.

"It's funny to see that they're negotiating," Hartley said.

Jana Reiter, a parent and grandparent, was in charge of selling new and used clothing and explained the negotiations were difficult for some families. Many didn't have shoes and some couldn't afford any clothing at all. She said some families let the lesson of financial responsibility trickle down and younger children were given an amount of money and told to choose their own clothes. Another family could only afford two pairs of shoes. The decision was made for the adults to take them and carry the children as much as possible.

Reiter said the lesson regarding clothes sunk in because not one piece of new clothing was sold to anyone in the school during the exercise.

Arlene McCarty, the parent in charge of the garage sale table, said students realized too late they should have come to her first for many household items. Many would compromise by buying a washer, but not a dryer.

"I only had one group that bought a dishwasher. I was kind of impressed," McCarty said.

Unfortunately, some students forgot the basics and McCarty had to turn a few away who wanted devices that needed electricity before they had managed to afford the utility.

Richer or poorer

The students continued to make choices and the differences in wealth became clear quickly. While one child was telling a parent, "I don't want to be naked!" another was begging the parent for a scooter.

Rader said some students were stunned at the injustice of the unequal wealth in the world.

"All of their income was less than what a Catholic education costs," Rader said.

At least one group during one of the sessions made Catholic education work for them. When they raised their hands as the only group giving their children that form of education, they were asked where they lived. The adults expected the family lived in a mansion, but instead they admitted they were all living in their van. The other students erupted in applause at the sacrifice.

Lesson learned

Richards said this is the first time she's done this program with high school seniors as the oldest. In other schools, she had sixth graders as the oldest and in another, the oldest were eighth graders. Richards said the groups took away different lessons. While the sixth-grade students went home and began asking their parents if they had health insurance, the eight-grade students determined they would never have children.

Wolfe said she realized how much her parents provide for her and the experience made her think of everything she has that other's don't and that she takes for granted. The amount of suffering in the world was also a lesson learned for Wolfe.

"Everyone in the world suffers and God is the only one who can really help," Wolfe said.

Wolfe managed to have one celebratory moment during the exercise. Rader announced an avalanche had flattened the cars where Wolfe's home was located. Instead of groaning in disappointment like many of her classmates, Wolfe lifted her hands in victory while her family members cheered. They were too poor to have a car so they hadn't lost anything.

"We didn't ask to be born in North America and other people didn't ask to be born in Haiti," Richards pointed out.

Other activities during the day involved learning words and phrases in German, Norwegian and French or write their names in Korean. Students also sat through a presentation from a missionary who has spent time in Nicaragua.

The activity, which was also to help students understand a broader view of what it means to be Catholic, was originally scheduled for Catholic Schools Week, but was snowed out.

Williams Wins 2nd Straight League Title

St. Wendelin kindergarteners

Catholic Schools
Faith. Academics. Service.

NCEA Distinguished Graduate Award

Students go robo at St. Wendelin

FootballScoop.com announces that Greg Studrawa a St. Wendelin Graduate has been named Offensive Line Coach of the year!

HB 136 and Vouchers for Students

Unlike existing voucher programs, HB 136 allows funding to truly follow children into the schools of their parents’ choice

It creates ways for parents' tax dollars to follow the education of their children, regardless whether they have attended public or chartered nonpublic schools;

It reaches out to working poor and lower-middle income families;

It provides for Catholic school families to be phased into the program if their families meet the bill's household income levels;

It complements Ohio's other school-choice programs

Williams Wins 2nd Straight League Title

St. Wendelin kindergarteners

Catholic Schools Faith. Academics. Service.

NCEA Distinguished Graduate Award

Students go robo at St. Wendelin

FootballScoop.com announces that Greg Studrawa a St. Wendelin Graduate has been named Offensive Line Coach of the year!

HB 136 and Vouchers for Students

Unlike existing voucher programs, HB 136 allows funding to truly follow children into the schools of their parents’ choice

It creates ways for parents' tax dollars to follow the education of their children, regardless whether they have attended public or chartered nonpublic schools;

It reaches out to working poor and lower-middle income families;

It provides for Catholic school families to be phased into the program if their families meet the bill's household income levels;

It complements Ohio's other school-choice programs

Catholic Schools
Faith. Academics. Service.