St Michael Catholic School – Annandale, VA
Our Pride Corner
2011-2012
For the 2nd year in a row St. Michael 5th graders have been offered an opportunity to participate in a Department of Defense Program Starbase Atlantis at the Washington Navy Yard. For five consecutive days, our fifth graders will be enrolled in a program that focuses on the STEM content areas: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This hands-on science program is intended to inspire young people to love STEM subjects and consider becoming scientists and engineers. Among other things each student will build and launch his or her own rocket!
Congratulations to our National Spanish Honor Society – On Thursday, March 8th, St. Michael School had the first inductees of the San Miguel Chapter. The inductees were:
6th Grade: Nicolas Caporaletti, Christopher Chehade, Katrina Escobar-Galarza, Alejandro Morgana, Michael Nguyen, Jason Nunez, Margaret Parker, Nikolas Rocha, Anthony Socarras
7th Grade: John Dobrydney, Julie Nguyen, Olivia Nguyen, Genevieve Thanh, Meikel Turner, Cora Wack, Seon Jun Choi
8th Grade: Katherine Baisa, Emily Carlstrom, Julie Tran
Congratulations to all our 7th & 8th Grade students for the wonderful job they did at the Science Fair.
Also a big Thank You to all our judges.
The Winners of each category are:
General Science
1st. Katherine Baisa 2nd Sean Choi 3rd Tim Higgins
Behavioral Science
1st Annelise Coffin 2nd Bridget Doyle 3rd Phoebe Retta
Botany
1st Claire Jarvis 2nd Caisi Elliot 3rd Robert Muratore
Chemistry
1st Genevieve Thanh 2nd Liam Behan 3rd Tiffany Nguyen
Medicine and Health
1st Emily Carlstrom 2nd Nick Wells 3rd Julie Nguyen
Physics
1st Shannon Chong 2nd Joseph Wenger 3rd John Dobrydney
Zoology
1st Madison Rubley 2nd Kiersten Laclede 3rd Jack Vachon
Overall Winners Representing St. Michael School at the Diocesan Science Fair
1. Katherine Baisa
2. Shannon Chong
3. Annelise Coffin
4. Joseph Wenger
5. John Dobrydney
6. Genevieve Thanh
7. Bridget Doyle
8. Madison Rubley
9. Emily Carlstrom
10. Kiersten Laclede
Alternates: Jack Vachon and Claire Jarvis
We wish all our student representing us on April 21, 2012 at the Diocesan Science Fair the best of luck.
Congratulations to our Religion and Spelling Bee Winners:
Religion Bee:
8th Grade Team – Katherine Baisa, David Perez-Christel, and Alexandra Rocha
4th Grade Team – Kate Llanos, Caroline Wack, Katherine Pham
Spelling Bee:
Emily Carlstrom was the winner of the Spelling Bee between the 7th & 8th Graders.
She will represent St. Michael School at the Diocesan Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 3rd.
Anthony Socarras was the winner of the Spelling Bee between the 4th, 5th, & 6th Graders.
Catholic Schools Week
Good afternoon. My name is Katherine Baisa, and I am an eighth grader at St. Michael School. This week, Catholic Schools Week, is the time we take to appreciate what schools like this have done for our lives. Attending St. Michael School has given me a good education and friends, but most importantly, it has brought me closer to God. Being in a Catholic school has taught me things that I will value for a lifetime. In the spirit of Catholic Schools Week, I believe that St. Michael School has helped me grow in faith, academics, and service.
Sometimes it is the little things that help me grow in my faith—the prayers in class, or through the gifts I see that God has given me. Going to Mass as a school shows our unity and willingness to grow in God’s grace. Because of my time here I have learned to live by what Jesus states as the greatest commandment: to love God with all your mind, heart, and soul. I have been blessed by God to spend time with people who motivate and appreciate me. I have also grown in academics at St. Michael School, most importantly because of the inspiring teachers. They give me further insight on my faith and help me to do my best every day. Although they have different ways of teaching, I always learn valuable lessons from them. It has always been instilled in me that everyone deserves kindness and generosity. At school it is encouraged even further by understanding what Jesus has taught us, acting upon those teachings, and by doing other various acts of service. By helping others in need I have developed a broader perspective of the world around us.
The values of faith, academics, and service are all related to one another. To fully understand one of them, the other two also must be practiced. They are important to have in life, and I am humbled by having the opportunity to grow in them. When my education is completed at St. Michael School, I know that I am ready to face new challenges because of what I have been taught here. This school will continue to enlighten the hearts of the youth for many years to come!
Congratulations to:
Emily Carlstrom and David Perez-Christel for being awarded the Salesian Scholarship to PVI for their high scores on the High School Placement Test. Thank you to all of our teachers for helping these children to academically succeed.
Congratulations to:
Katherine Baisa and Emily Carlstrom for advancing to the second round of the Thomas Jefferson High School Placement Test. Thank you to Ms. Wilson for preparing them to advance to this level through the Honors Math program.
CONGRATULATIONS
to our 7th Graders John Dobrydney, David Kim, Julie Nguyen, Olivia Nguyen, Teresa Nguyen, Cora Wack, and Joseph Wenger.
They competed in the Thomas Jefferson High School of Science & Technology (TJHSST) Math Open on Saturday, November 5th.
2010-2011
Battle of the Books – Congratulations to our students who participated in our first Battle of the Books competition last Wednesday. They did a great job for this being the first time competing. The students who participated were: Anthony Socarras, Katie Sheehi, Alisa Stewart, Cora Wack, and Frankie Love. Our alternates were Matthew Sanchez and Bryan Zambrana.
Congratulations to the St. Michael CYO Track Team.
May 7th and 8th, 63 students participated in a track meet with 20 other Catholic Schools. The running events included 55, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1 mile runs, along with long jump, softball throw and the shot put.
Each grade level competes against the other schools in the same age bracket.
We are proud to announce that our results:
Freshman Team (3rd & 4th Graders) came in 3rd place,
Junior Varsity Team (5th & 6th Graders) came in 4th place
Varsity Team (7th & 8th Graders) came in 2nd place.
It was an exciting two days of events and there were some outstanding performances. Congratulations and thanks to ALL our St. Michael student athletes. We hope you continue running over the summer and participate in the fall.
Catholic Daughters of the Americas Education Contest is an annual contest that our 4th-8th graders participate in every year. The children have their choice of participating in either the Art or Poetry categories. This year’s themes were “The Lord is My Light” and “The Light Others Give to Me”. CONGRATULATIONS to the following children:
Division II (Grades 6-8) Poetry, 2nd Place – Liam Behan
Division II (Grade 6-8) Art, 3rd Place – Julie Tran
Division I (Grades 4-5) Art, 3rd Place – Victoria Tran
Scholastic Challenge 2011 – In February both the 6th and 8th grade students participated in the Scholastic Challenge. It is a contest in which students across the United States compete academically. This year was the first time the 6th grade was invited to participate.
The national average for 6th grade was a score of 61. CONGRATULATIONS to the following students who scored 61 or above: John Dobrydney, Kylie Hoang, Kiersten Laclede, Shannon Chong, Frankie Love, Olivia Nguyen, Theresa Nguyen, Genevieve Thanh, Nicolas Wells, Cora Wack, and Joseph Wenger. In 6th Grade John Dobrydney won first place in our school.
The national average for the 8th grade was a score of 52. CONGRATULATIONS to the following students who scored 52 or above: Kim Do, Nina Fairman, Dylan Nguyen, and Alex Socarras. In 8th Grade Alex Socarras won first place in our school as well as State Champion.
Congratulations to Annelise Coffin for her First Place win in Behavioral Science at the Diocesan Science Fair on Saturday, April 9th. Annelise also had the second highest score in the whole Science Fair.
IHM Math Contest – Preliminary Round Winners: Congratulations to the following 7th & 8th Grade Students:
8th Grade: 1st Place: Alex Socarras 2nd Place: Kim Do 3rd Place: Tammy Tran
7th Grade: 1st Place: Emily Carlstrom 2nd Place: Katherine Baisa 3rd Place: Kelly Sheehi
Alex, Emily, and Katherine will be taking the IHM final test in April.
Congratulations to Katie Guillen, 8th Grade, she won the District Level basketball free throw championship for the 14 year old girl’s division. This championship is sponsored each year by the Knights of Columbus. Katie will now advance to the state championship where she will compete against all the other 14 year old district level winners.
Congratulations also go out to Msgr. Thomas P. Scannell Council Champions:
| Girls | Name |
| Age 14 Division | 1st Place: Katie Guillen2nd Place: Natalie Vachon |
| Age 12 Division | 2nd Place: Cassandra Helou |
| Age 11 Division | 1st Place: Genevieve Thanh2nd Place: Cora Wack |
| Boys | Name |
| Age 14 Division | 2nd Place: Matthew Turney |
| Age 13 Division | 1st Place: Dylan Nguyen |
| Age 11 Division | 2nd Place Stephan Wampouille |
| Age 10 Division: | 1st Place: Paul Saliaba2nd Place: Anthony Socarras |
Congratulations to the finalists for the IHM Math Contest. Their final test will be on Wednesday, April 13th
| 8th Grade | 7th Grade |
| Alex Socarras | Katherine BaisaEmily Carlstrom |
2011 Science Fair Winners
Diocesan Top 10
Alexander Soccaras
Emme Vu
Tammy Tran
Kevin Kochel
Dylan Nguyen
Annelise Coffin
theresa Cordero
John Ray
Natalie Vachon
Nina Fairman
Alternates:
Stephanie Cabrera
Kelly Sheehi
2011 Category Winners:
| General Science | |
| Gianna Mastrofini | 1st Place |
| Lauren Kennedy | 2nd Place |
| Matthew Turney | Honorable Mention |
| Behavioral Science | |
| Annelise Coffin | 1st Place |
| Theresa Cordero | 2nd Place |
| Natalie Vachon | 3rd Place |
| Nathalia Dominguez | Honorable Mention |
| Randolph (RJ) Villar | Honorable Mention |
| Botany | |
| Emme Vu | 1st Place |
| Robert Muratore | 2nd Place |
| Bridget Doyle | Honorable Mention |
| Chemistry | |
| Tammy Tran | 1st Place |
| Kevin Kochel | 2nd Place |
| Dylan Nguyen | 3rd Place |
| Stephanie Cabrera | Honorable Mention |
| Nina Fairman | Honorable Mention |
| Medicine & Health | |
| John Ray | 1st Place |
| Katherine Guillan | 2nd Place |
| Physics | |
| Alex Soccaras | 1st Place |
| Phoebe Retta | 2nd Place |
| Annie Nguyen | Honorable Mention |
| Zoology | |
| Kelly Sheehi | 1st Place |
| Tiffany Marie Nguyen | 2nd Place |
Congratulations to the St. Michael CYO Cross Country Team! Kevin Kochel, Joey Dobrydney, Antonio Camarca, Stuart McClanahan, Anna McClanahan, Gabby Bernescut, John Dobrydney and Emily Carlstrom participated in the 2010 NVJCYO meet on November 7th at Burke Lake park. It was a beautiful fall day and energized the runners throughout the park.
For the second year Joey was looking for someone to catch up with him as he took 1st place overall for the 3rd and 4th Grade Boys. The team of Joey, Antonio and Stuart received a 2nd place team trophy. John and Emily placed 2nd in each of their individual events. It was a fun day in the park and we appreciate all the members of the St. Michael Cross Country Team!!
