Festival of Arts Offers Valuable Student Experience

Before the written word was developed, our ancestors communicated with pictures, music and oral recitations to convey the important truths about their world to the next generation. Yet, with the advent of the written word, art and music continued, but the practice of recitations slowly diminished as people preferred the permanence of written communication.

However, for the second year in a row, the St. Joseph Catholic Academy revived the tradition of recitations at its Festival of Arts in March. In addition to over 500 fine arts projects and several musical selections including voice choirs, handbells and recorders, there were recitations of Bible verses, poems and prayers.

Teachers selected pieces for students in each grade level from kindergarten through high school. The three elementary schools collaborated, and each grade level performed the recitations together at the festival.

“The festival recitations are especially fun because it showcases skills that not all children learn at a young age,” said Natalie Newville, Academy president.

Krystyn Schmerbeck, director of the graduate programs in classical education at Benedictine College, said she was happy to see recitations added to the festival last year and continued this year. She said recitation and memorization are a large part of students developing a deeper understanding of the world around them.

“When they recite important works, the goal is to understand what they are reciting, not just memorizing it,” she said. “It also equips children with confidence in speaking.”

Krystyn noted that recitation also expands students’ vocabularies and develops their public speaking skills. Additionally, it helps students connect with their own experiences and stretches their abilities.

“It is a fundamental part of the curriculum for a Catholic liberal arts education,” she said.

Some of the festival recitations included “One Solitary Life,” Psalm 23, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, the Nicene Creed, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue.”

“It takes a lot to memorize a recitation, and then get up on stage to recite it,” Natalie noted. “The students all worked so hard at it.”

Brianna Kostick, teacher at St. Francis Xavier School, had memorized the poem, “One Solitary Life” by James Allen Francis when she was a Catholic school eighth-grader. She remembered that the piece had an impact on her, and suggested it for the fifth-graders to perform at the festival. “It all came back quickly,” she said with a smile.

Brianna noted that the first step in the month-long preparation before the festival was to read the poem in class and discuss it so the students could understand it. Then they broke the poem up in sections, and students worked with a partner to recite it separately several times, then with their partner, and then as a class. Brianna also tested the students where they had to write out sections of the poem, and encouraged them to practice it at home.

“I told them they had to practice in front of an audience, whether that was a family member, a mirror or a dog.”

Brianna said she sees a lot of value in memorization and public recitations, but believes schools have gotten away from both, even since she started teaching 12 years ago. She is happy it has become an annual component of the Festival of Arts.

“It was great seeing the students so excited to share the recitation and their proud ‘lightbulb moments’,” Brianna said. “Some of them said they were nervous before they went on stage, so it was good for them to get out of their comfort zone for a moment.”

Dr. Karen Hopson, associate superintendent of schools for the diocese, said the first festival of arts in the spring of 2023 was created as a way to bring the entire Academy together for an event, but it did not include every student. The next year, she said, they wanted to include all students and decided that recitations would also be a valuable addition.

“The Festival of Arts was wonderful,” Natalie said. “I love seeing our entire student body and their parents come together for an Academy event. The students like doing projects with students from the other campuses, and it gives our community an opportunity to support our students in the arts.”

2025 Courtwarming

Lea Pinkelman, Class of 2025

As high school students, courtwarming week is always a time we look forward to. During Courtwarming Week, we get to dress up in all kinds of fun outfits based on the theme, and we really go all out! This year, our theme was the Courtwarming Games, inspired loosely by the Hunger Games series. 

The first day we got to dress up was called district day! For district day, we split the classes so we can see who is really willing to come out and show their school spirit. The seniors were hunters, juniors were farmers, sophomores were lumberjacks, and finally, the freshmen were animals. It’s a ton of fun to see what kind of outfits people are going to come up with for these kinds of days, and tons of people always surprise you with their creativity. On Tuesday, the theme was President Snow Day. There were a lot of snow pants and ski gear, and it turns out that a lot more of our students like to ski and snowboard than anyone would ever know. Wednesday was called Capitol Day. There wasn’t any dressing up, and everyone wore their uniforms because it was a mass day, but of course, we still gave the day a fun name to go along with the theme! By the time Thursday came around, everyone was super excited because it was Mockingjay Day! For the day, everyone was supposed to match or pair up with someone, and many people had some awesome ideas that would have been great to see. Unfortunately, it snowed Wednesday night into Thursday, so we’ll never know who the best-dressed duo would have been. Our final day was called Tribute Training Day; this was our opportunity to wear our purple and gold and show our finest school spirit. On this day, the Courtwarming Royalty visited elementary schools to speak with the children and engage with other parts of the Academy community.

The royalty also paid a visit to the Saint Gianna Early Childhood Center, which ended in tears, but was still a lot of fun. For lunchtime, the seniors got to go to the Senior Luncheon, where Chipotle catered, to everyone’s pleasure. On Friday, we also had our big Courtwarming Pep Rally, where we made a special addition to the Eagle family. During the pep rally, there was a lovely retirement speech read for our dear mascot, Eddie, and a big, warm welcome to our new mascot, Edgar. I was lucky enough to be asked to read the speech for Edgar, and thanks to his flashy personality, everyone was super excited to meet him, and interviewing him turned into a lot of fun. The pep rally game was a lot of fun as well, as six people from each class got to participate in a sort of relay, where there is a ton of yelling and cheering, because who doesn’t want their class to win? The seniors ultimately won the pep rally and went out with a victory. 

Friday night was the big courtwarming basketball games against Savannah. Unfortunately, the girls did not win, but the boys got their courtwarming win! Between the games, the courtwarming royalty was crowned by the king and queen from 2024. Chris Miljavac was crowned king by Kayla Beam, and Demi Swope was crowned queen by Davis Jungbluth. After the game, most people went and hung out with friends or family, closing out the fun of courtwarming week with the people who make them happy. 

Courtwarming week is something students have always looked forward to, and I hope next year everyone has just as much fun!

2025 Catholic Schools Week

During the last week of January, each of our schools celebrated our catholic identity and mission.  A Catholic School is not a stand alone entity nor here to simply boast great athletics, high level of scholarship or an empty promise to merely provide for parents’ educational desires.  A catholic school is always, by its nature, connected to the local church and her mission.  

I will always be grateful for the Catholic education I received.  Growing up in a Catholic family, my parents always took me to Mass.  They also strove to teach us the faith.  But the Catholic school was the place where I learned so much (and I don’t just mean in the classroom)!  I have fond memories of the activities of Catholic Schools week- the eighth grade volleyball game, the dress up days, the extra time for prayer, writing ‘thank-you’ cards for the local community.  In many ways, the Catholic school assisted my parents in preparing me for a priestly vocation. It taught me the importance of growth in virtue, friendly competition and our duty to promote a peaceful society.

I’d like to take a moment to share a story.  During my fifth grade year of Catholic grade school, the school had an “occupation day”.  Well, I declared to my parents that I would dress up as a priest.  All sorts of students dressed down that day as lawyers, teachers, doctors, and there was a photographer.  As we began our religion class that day, which was taught by the priest who nurtured my own vocation, one aspiring photographer took a picture of me standing next to our parish priest!  Looking back at that photo over the years, which I keep in the front of my bible, I am always reminded of the gift of my Catholic education which was so much more than ‘learning good things’.  Moments like these from my youth inspired me to be a good catholic and a priest- and one who recognizes that all of the faithful have a task to support true education.  

The Catholic Church reminds her bishops, priests and all of the faithful of the noble ideals we must see at work in our Catholic schools: “True education must strive for complete formation of the human person that looks to his or her final end as well as to the common good of societies, children and youth are to nurtured in such a way that they are able to develop their physical, moral and intellectual talents harmoniously, acquire a more perfect sense of responsibility and right use of freedom, and are formed to participate actively in social life” (CIC 795). 

Admittedly, the Church recognizes that these lofty ideals can also be fulfilled by parents who choose to use public schools and take their responsibilities to form their children in the faith seriously.  The Church also recognizes these same goals can be met by homeschooling households and co-ops.  But we really do have many special opportunities, at this time in St. Joseph, to ensure that genuine catholic education will be here to stay in our Catholic schools.  

Thank you for supporting the Church in her evangelizing mission. And thank you for supporting our Catholic Schools!!!

In Christ, 

Fr. Armentrout

Chaplain, Bishop LeBlond High School