Saint Charles Borromeo School

Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic School is a faith community committed to sharing the responsibility of life long faith formation and preparing students for the future with relevant and authentic experiences in a nurturing, Christian environment.

Note...Several times a month, the Pawprints Newspaper will publish an article about happenings and people at our school. All the articles are written and edited by our junior high Pawprints staff. Look for previous articles in the "Pawprints Archives"-just click the "ECOMMUNITY" tab above.This week's latest article is about a recent Power of the Pen competition, written by  Staff Writer Karissa Williams-Kuzmikas.

      The Power of the Pen competition season started off with a bang! The first competition for the St. Charles Borromeo team was on December 8, 2018 from 8am-3pm at Heights Middle School, in University Heights, Ohio. Twenty schools competed, with 100 students at each grade level. Seventh grader Karissa Kuzmickas placed fourth overall with her writing, and eighth grader Darcy Burke placed eleventh. The eighth grade team got the second place team award, and the seventh grade team placed fifth!
      Power of the Pen is a writing team for any seventh and eighth graders, and competes against schools across our state. Every Monday after school until 3:30 we practice to improve our writing, and we meet in groups once a week during lunch and recess to share our stories in Mrs. Seguin’s room, or the library. It’s a great opportunity to express creativity, show a love of writing, and have excitement from competitions.
     Anyone who wants to compete has to try out for the team by writing a story during practice. This year’s Saint Charles Borromeo competition team is made up of eighth graders Emily Humbel, Callie Naso, Darcy Burke, Isabella Munoz, Meghan Gaughan, and Kathleen Grundel. The seventh grade team members are Karissa Kuzmickas, Kaiden Bruno, Kendall Ziegler, Jazlyn Stanton, Sydney Boots, and Cecilia Suszko.
     At each Power of the Pen competition, writers arrive at the school between 8 and 8:15 in the morning. We eat donuts and chill until around 9:30. Then it’s on to the auditorium where everything is explained  and we get our schedules and folders.  Then it is time to find our first room for writing round 1. In each round, students get a prompt with forty minutes to write. Then this process is repeated for rounds 2 and 3. This is followed by a lunch break, and a talent show. At 2:30, the awards are finally ready to be announced, and we find out how we did!
     Seventh grade team member Jazlyn Stanton states, “I am nervous and excited for the upcoming competition. Last time was fun, and now I have another chance to place and improve my writing.” She’ll be one of many Saint Charles Borromeo students headed to the regional competition.  Qualifiers include eighth graders Callie Naso, Darcy Burke, Meghan Gaughan, Isabella Munoz and Kathleen Grundel and seventh graders Karissa Kuzmickas, Jazlyn Stanton, Sydney Boots and Cecilia Suszko.  Congratulations, writers!   
     If any kids have thought about joining, do it! You may be nervous about writing on the spot or having a time limit, but Mrs. Seguin is there to help us improve. “The fact that Power of the Pen challenges your writing to be greater is probably what I like so much about it,” says Kaiden Bruno, seventh grade team member. Power of the Pen is a fun way to practice writing and storytelling, and has been a wonderful experience for me so far this year. Thank you Mrs. Seguin for this great opportunity!

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A New Role for Mrs. K!, by Jaycee Schulte

Do you notice something different about E.L.A class in the fifth and sixth grade? I think most of us do! Mrs. Kwiatkowski (aka "Mrs. K") does not seem to be in her normal homeroom, but rather in her office by the gym, or her health room. Our “new” P.E. and health teacher, Mrs. K., used to be a fifth and sixth grade E.L.A. teacher. This past summer and start of the new school year, she took on a new position as our school’s health and P.E. teacher. The reason she did this was because the new opportunity was offered to her and she was very excited and wanted to change things up. Her favorite thing about teaching these two subjects are that she enjoys how her day is always changing and how she is not constantly in the same place.

     Mrs. K. only taught the fifth and sixth graders, but this year she teachers all grades. She loves the fact that she can teach the younger kids and spend time with them. “They are fun and make me laugh,” she says. Her favorite things about teaching at Saint Charles Borromeo are being able to pray at any point throughout the day and being with her kids. She also loves how we are grounded in our faith and focus a lot on our faith. Anyone who has ever had her as a teacher should know that one thing that always made Mrs. K. happy was when her students were reading. She always pushed her students to read their books every night and reach a certain goal every quarter throughout the school year. Knowing that, I bet you are wondering what book she is reading right now! Mrs. K. is currently reading a book about the life of Saint John Paul. The book is called Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves and is written by Jason Evert.

Lastly, one piece of advice Mrs. K. would like to give to all Saint Charles students: always be kind to everyone, even if they are different than you, and to make sure you have fun while working hard. Thank you Mrs. K. and congratulations on your new job!

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Washington, D.C., by Liam Hatgas
 

     From November 3 to November 5, the eighth grade had the privilege of visiting our nation's capital, Washington D.C. This trip was made possible by Mrs. Ungvarsky and the 8th grade parents who organized the entire trip for us. The eighth grade got to see many sights. When the Saint Charles Class of 2019 arrived in Washington D.C., we first went to the Ford Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.  Next, the eighth grade went to the National Archives building to see the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Eighth grader Zach Cuglewski asked the docent why the Articles of Confederation were not on display. The docent then explained that the Articles of Confederation are about 300 pages!  Zach was really surprised to learn how long they are.  After that, the class got to see the White House. Dennis Keeler said that he will always remember the White House and its “majestic appearance.” After the White House we saw the Jefferson Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
    The next morning we went to The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and participated in the Mass. After Mass and a tour of the Basilica, we went to Virginia to see Arlington Cemetery, a very somber and respectful place.  Kevin Williams said that Arlington Cemetery made the biggest impression on him of anything we saw. He said it was “one of the most somber places I have ever been to.”  At the cemetery we got to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Luke Schill said seeing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was the thing he had most been looking forward to, and he was “very excited to see all the ceremonies, such as the guard change and the wreath presentation.”


At Capitol Hill 

     After that we got to choose what museum we wanted to go to. These museums included the Holocaust Museum, the American History Museum, and the Air and Space Museum. After going through the museum of our choice, the eighth grade saw the World War II Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. The class of 2019 then ended the day with a cruise.
    On day three of this trip, we took our bus to Gettysburg, where we received a tour of the battlefield. After Gettysburg, we went to the Flight 93 Memorial. We then headed home to Saint Charles. Eighth grader Antonio Briggs had some advice for future classes visiting Washington D.C.: “Pay attention to all the memorials and the museums and take advantage of your situation. It could be a once in a lifetime opportunity!”
   On behalf of the class of 2019, I want to thank all the parents who helped make this trip possible. It was very fun and we learned a lot, so thank you!

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SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO CHURCH

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• The enrollment for the 2018-19 school year in  preschool through grade eight is 368.
• All employees and volunteers who have contact with students undergo thorough screening, including background checks through the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation & Identification (BCI&I). For complete information on screening policies, see the revised Policy for the Safety of Children in Matters of Sexual Abuse, section 1.2 (p. 3).