Academic kudos

NATCHEZ – Four Cathedral High School students – Arden McMillin, Deanna Hayden, Jay Vaughan, and Caroline Downer – recently received recognition in state-wide essay-writing competitions.

McMillin, a junior at Cathedral, took top honors in this year’s Mississippi Letters About Literature writing contest for her letter to Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, in the Level III competition for grades nine through 12.

“The people in Brave New World,” wrote the 17-year-old, “are so terrible, awful, strange, backwards-smack! My mental list of insults stopped when I realized that having my nose in this book was more like having my nose rammed into a crystal clear mirror.
The unbelievable lifestyles and practices of the World State were not just familiar; they were utterly recognizable. [. . .] Brave New World changed my view of the world I live in by opening my eyes to the present-day dangers of conformity, self-indulgence, conditioning, and utopian-turned-totalitarian governments.”

Cathedral junior Jay Vaughan was named a Finalist in this competition for his letter to Aldous Huxley regarding Brave New World, and senior Caroline Downer received Honorable Mention for her letter to The Fault in Our Stars’ author John Green. Approximately 50,000 students across the country participated in this year’s Letters About Literature competition, a reading promotion program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. In Mississippi, 542 students competed across all three competition levels-grades four through six, seven through eight, and nine through 12.
To enter, students wrote a personal letter to an author explaining how his or her work changed their views of the world or of themselves.

Also receiving first-place honors in a state-wide competition was Cathedral junior Deanna Hayden for her entry in the Garden Clubs of Mississippi High School Essay Contest. Open to students in grades 9 through 12, this contest is a branch of the National Garden Club Scholarship competition and is sponsored locally by the Natchez Garden Club.  The theme for the 2013-2014 contest was “Today’s Choices Affect Tomorrow’s World.”

GREENVILLE –Twenty-five St. Joseph students were named Mississippi Scholars in early April. The students are selected for the exemplary academic standing and their strong personal character.

In addition to being a Mississippi Scholar, senior Caroline Mansour was named a Student-Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) student by the Mississippi Economic Council’s M. B. Swayze Educational Foundation. She selected English teacher Michele Sabatier as her STAR teacher.

St. Joe journalism program receives 33 awards

 

MADISON – St. Joseph  School’s journalism program took home 33 Scholastic Press Association awards for The Bear Facts; The Shield, the school yearbook; and The Josephian, the school literary magazine. The awards included 16 first-place finishes in competition against 1A-3A schools statewide. Sophomore Jack H. was named sports writer of the year, teacher Terry C. was named newspaper adviser of the year, and the student newspaper was named best in state. (Photo by Terry Cassreino)

Kudos: science honors across the diocese

JACKSON/GREENVILLE – Catholic schools from across the state got to show off their science programs at  regional science fairs in March.
One overall regional winner came from Vicksburg Catholic. Sixth-grader Coleman V. (right) won for zoology and best of show for his mosquito experiment. Jackson Sister Thea Bowman, St. Richard, Madison St. Anthony and Vicksburg Catholic all also sent students to their regional science fairs.

Thirteen Natchez Cathedral Elementary students earned honors at the regional fair, including fifth-grader Ryan S. who placed third overall.
Thirty-two Greenville St. Joseph students placed in the annual Regional Science fair held in Greenville in March. Two dozen of those advanced to the state competition. The fair allows students to showcase their interest in major scientific areas such as behavioral and social sciences, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, earth, space and environmental science, physics, medicine and health, microbiology, engineering and zoology.

Youth Briefs

GLUCKSTADT – St. Joseph Parish youth are selling raffle tickets for chances to win a $100 Kroger gift card.  Tickets are one for $2, three for $5 or 10  for $10.  The drawing will be held on May 4 following the youth Mass.  All proceeds benefit the Summer Youth Trip.
– Youth are encouraged to sign up by April 27 for the summer trip. This trip is a celebration for the confirmation groups from the past two years, however, all participating ninth-12th grade members of the youth group are invited to attend. To sign up call 601-540-7635, or email patti@stjosephgluckstadt.com.

TUPELO – St. James, applications for the new St. James Ladies’ Club Scholarship are available. Deadline is April 25.
–  All children and youth from preK-12th grade are invited to participate in designing a T-shirt for the parish’s 100 anniversary. All entries must be turned into the church office. Father Lincoln Dall, pastor, asked that designers use tthe Scallop of St. James on the shirts.

GREENVILLE – Students in Greenville are celebrating several athletic achievements. Reya Heyak represented St. Joseph School as a Lindy Callahan Scholar Athlete. The Lindy Callahan program recognizes students who excel in both athletics and academics. Each of the 284 recipients receives a $1,500 scholarship to the school of their choice. Heyak plays both soccer and tennis. She and the other winners were honored at a banquet in Jackson April 3.
– The Our Lady of Lourdes Archery Team came in second place in the North State Mississippi Archery Competition. The St. Joseph High School Archery team qualified and will compete in the State Tournament as well.

MADISON – St. Francis of Assisi Parish Yahweh’s Youth and Faithful Followers are encouraged to register for “Celebrate the Word” camping trip in Hot Springs, Ark., on June 13-15. Cost is $150. Registration deadline is April 30. Parent drivers and chaperones are needed. Details: Abbey Schuhmann, 601-856-5556.

SOUTHAVEN – Sacred Heart School will host guest speaker Detective Brandon Rushing of the Southaven Police Department for parents of students in grades six-eight on Tuesday, April 22, at 6:30 p.m. in the school gym.  All parents of the parish are invited. Rushing will talk about internet safety, parent responsibility and liability as well as tips on monitoring children’s internet use.
– The school will host a Trivia Night on Friday, April 25, beginning at 6 p.m. Teams may have eight players per team. The cost per person is $10. Bring a team for a night of fun and fellowship while supporting the Sacred Heart School Knowledge Bowl Team.  Details: Jonathon Miller at jmiller@shsm.org

Steve Azar Delta Soul Celebrity Golf Charity Event set for June 5-7

GREENVILLE – The third annual Steve Azar Delta Soul Celebrity Golf and Charity Event will be held in Greenville, on June 5-7.
Celebrities scheduled to participate this year are NHL Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr, Major league baseball great Reggie Smith, Superbowl winning quarterback Jim McMahon, former NFL tight end Wesley Walls; saxophonist Branford Marsalis; actors Grant Show, Chris Rich, and Richard Karn; Mark Bryan and Dean Felber of Hootie and the Blowfish; former LPGA star Kris Tschetter; Ray Lloyd AKA The Glacier, and supermodel Kim Alexis to name a few.

 Steve Azar speaks at last year event which raised $170,000 and benefited among others, St. Joseph Schools. This year’s event is set for June 5-7. (Photo courtesy of Steve Azar St. Cecilia Foundation)


Steve Azar speaks at last year event which raised $170,000 and benefited among others, St. Joseph Schools. This year’s event is set for June 5-7. (Photo courtesy of Steve Azar St. Cecilia Foundation)

All proceeds from the event benefit the Steve Azar St. Cecilia Foundation (SASCF). Last year’s three day event raised $170,000 with its first year bringing in $110,000. The beneficiaries for the 2013 event were the Greenville Arts Council, St. Joseph Schools, Delta State University and the Delta Music Institute, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Washington County, Delta 180, Delta Children’s Museum, DeSoto Family Theatre, Camp Looking Glass, Delta Center Stage and Delta Symphony.

This year’s event promises to be even larger as word is spreading about the Delta’s hospitality and great food. The Delta Soul has garnered the attention of publications such as Golf Digest and Country Weekly. Event founder Steve Azar stated, “The Delta Soul has received national recognition recently; it has been good to have our Delta featured on the ‘big stage.’ We are looking forward to another year of celebration and giving back.”

The Schedule of Events includes a private celebrity dinner, Thursday, June 5, at Doe’s Eat Place followed by a stop at Walnut Street Blues Bar. The Celebrity Cup Challenge kicks things off on Friday, June 6 with the “Big Night Party” and auction following Friday evening. Both events are scheduled to be held at the Greenville Golf and Country Club. Saturday morning the golf tournament begins at the Greenville Golf and Country Club immediately followed by a Delta catfish fry (location TBD). Harlow’s Casino & Resort will rock with the Steve Azar and Friends Jam on Saturday night.

For more information on becoming a sponsor or purchasing tickets, visit www.sascf.org or contact deltasoul@sascf.org or info@sascf.org.

Service focus of Feast of St. Joseph

MADISON/JACKSON – Father Ricardo Phipps, top, delivers the homily at Madison St. Joseph High School on the feast of St. Joseph, Wednesday, March 19, in front of the St. Joseph’s altar the school puts together every year. Students and families donated food for the poor to decorate the altar. Above, Father Mike O’Brien blesses the St. Richard School and Parish St. Joseph’s altar. While St. Joseph has been putting up their altar for years, this is the first year for St. Richard. Tradition holds that the people of Sicily were saved from a famine after they prayed for the intersession of St. Joseph. Italian families have honored the saint’s feast day ever since, sharing their food with the poor. (Photos by London Hatten and Maureen Smith)

Anonymous social media challenges communities

By Maureen Smith
The increasingly anonymous or perceived short-term nature of some social media outlets are causing problems on campuses across the nation. Apps such as Yik Yak, a message system that allows users to post anything without identifying themselves and Snapchat, on which users send photos which the app says will self-delete after a short time, have opened the door to bullying, sexting and other abusive behaviors, according to numerous news reports.

The problem, according to Jean Smith Vaughn, of the Mississippi Attorney General’s office, is that these claims are not true. Law enforcement can track down the identity of a poster and photos can be frozen or even recovered on a phone. “If you make a file, it creates a digital fingerprint on your phone,” she said.

Yik Yak and other messaging programs such as Kik use geolocation so the program only allows users within a certain radius to see posts. That same geolocation can be used to pinpoint a user and then the ‘fingerprint’ can be extracted from the phone, even if the user tries to delete the app.

On Wednesday, March 5, Keith Barnes, Madison St. Joe principal sent out an email to parents about Yik Yak. It read, in part, “The St. Joseph Catholic school administration has been following news about Yik Yak and monitoring for its presence on our campus for the past three weeks.  Unfortunately, late this past week, we became aware that our community has discovered the app and has begun to use it inappropriately.” Barnes went on to say while the school would continue its efforts to eliminate the app parents must also be part of the solution. “If you do not want your child involved in this as a contributor, the only thing you can do is to make efforts to ensure that he or she does not have or use the app.  Perhaps more importantly, please have conversations with your children about the dangers of using their mobile devices in ways that can hurt other people,” he wrote.

Smith Vaughn agrees. “Sit down and talk to your child. It’s that one-on-one contact that’s important,” she said. The State Attorney General’s office offers training focused on internet and social media safety, bullying and more to teachers and parents. She says time and again the most effective solution is keeping an open line of communication. She tells parents to ask their kids specifically about what’s happening at school on social media and not to be discouraged if they don’t answer the first time. At some of her trainings she will wait after the session and some of the kids who would not speak during the session will return to talk to her. “A lot of times, they won’t tell you immediately, but if you wait, the kids will come back,” she said. The same holds true for parents.

She also emphasized that one poor decision can have lasting consequences. In Mobile, Ala., a 14-year old and a 16-year old are both facing charges after they posted separate threats about schools there on Yik Yak. The developers helped investigators find the youth. They claim their app is meant only for people older than 17, but there is currently no way to verify a user’s age incorporated in the app. One of Yik Yak’s founders told CNN programmers plan to geolocate every middle and high school in the country and block the app from those locations, but this feature has not been added and critics point out it will only limit use while students are physically on campus.

“I tell parents and kids the internet is forever. Once you have put something out there you have no control over where it goes,” said Smith Vaughn. While criminal charges may be an extreme example, Smith Vaughn pointed out that potential employers and even colleges and universities are looking at students’ social media presence. Even if a student deletes something he or she has posted, they cannot delete re-posts, forwards or other repetitions. “Snapchat is a favorite of child pornographers,” she said. Because the photos posted to Snapchat claim to disappear some teens may be tempted to post inappropriate photos of themselves, but once a pornographer gets a screen shot that photo can be sent out across other channels.

Vickie Carollo, diocesan director of the Office for the Protection of Children, keeps in touch with the Attorney General’s office in an effort to keep up-to-date with trends in cyber-crime and bullying since they may be signs of or gateways to abuse. She also emphasizes that self-education and clear communication are critical. “Parents have to be educated on the safety of social media. They have to be vocal and engage in frank and continuing dialogue with their children about the dangers of inappropriate usage of social media,” she said.

“Talk to your children about their activities online and on their smartphones and set clear boundaries for what they are and are not allowed to do,” she added saying sometimes just setting those boundaries helps students think twice about what they will post.
She encourages parents to be online with their children — knowing their social media channels and how to navigate them so the children know their parents will see what is happening there.

Bullying rises to a new level on some of these platforms. Because students think they are anonymous they believe they can post vicious comments about one another. Smith-Vaughn explained that even something meant to be a joke can cause problems for the poster. “Taunting and bullying each other to the point that a child may not want to go to school falls under a civil rights-era law and is a misdemeanor. We can prosecute that in youth court,” she explained.

Carollo explained that teasing turns into bullying when “unwanted aggressive behaviors among school-aged children involves a real or perceived power imbalance” or a real or perceived threat. She said it is important to encourage kids to report bullying to a trusted adult and talk to kids about strategies to keep themselves or their friends safe, such as staying near other kids or adults and talking about what they see or experience in schools.
Smith-Vaughn keeps a list of popular social media apps to circulate among her investigators and to use in her workshops with parents, educators and students. She said it is constantly evolving. Right now her list includes:

Messaging/microblogging apps: Yik Yak, Twitter, facebook, What’s App, Wickr.
Video and music apps and websites: You Tube, Vine, Spotify.
Photo and photo-message apps: Instagram, Snapchat,
Location apps: FourSquare.

The Attorney General’s office has a number of downloadable resources on the website ago.state.ms.us/publications/. Scroll down to the Cybercrime section.

Youth Briefs

 

  • CORINTH St. James, Eagle Award ceremony for William Garth, Saturday, April 12, at 2 p.m.
  • BROOKHAVEN St. Francis, Sunday, April 6, Life-Teen Mass at 5:30 p.m. followed by a movie and practice of the stations.
  • – Easter egg hunt for toddlers- third grade will be Sunday, April 13 from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
  • MERIDIAN St. Patrick youth fish fry on Friday, April 11, after the 6 p.m. Stations of the Cross.
  • – The Knights of Columbus are again offering scholarships to children and/or grandchildren of council members. These $500 awards are based on academic achievement and financial need to be used at the college of choice. The application is available on its website, kofc802.org. Details: Tom Zettler, 601-482-7350. Application deadline is May 1.
  • SOUTHAVEN – Penance Service for Sacred Heart School students on Monday, April 7, at 10 a.m.
  • – Christ of King Parish religious education program students will have a reconciliation service on Wednesday, April 9, at 6:30 p.m.
  • JACKSON – Search for Christian Maturity Retreat, sponsored by the Diocese of Jackson for high school juniors and seniors, is June 6-8 at Camp Wesley Pines in Gallman. Cost is $120. Registration deadline is May 4. Details: www.jacksonsearch.com.

 

Virginia Tech students serve Mound Bayou

By Jacob Clore
MOUND BAYOU – Ten individuals from the Newman Catholic Community at Virginia Tech spent their spring break serving in Mound Bayou.

Virginia Tech students prepare soil on wire frames during their spring break service trip. (Story and photos submitted by LaToya Lee)

Virginia Tech students prepare soil on wire frames during their spring break service trip. (Story and photos submitted by LaToya Lee)

The group is part of the Newman Outreach Projects (NOP) a series of trips organized by the Newman Community to serve those in need. The NOP serves communities in nine cities in the US and abroad during the school’s winter and spring breaks. The organization focuses on connecting with the communities in addition to performing service.

“We are called out of love to serve people in need in a variety of settings,” Father David Sharland, the group’s chaplain said. “We are here to be available to the local community and serve it any way that they see fit.”

Students from Virgina Tech build a flower bed and landscape the area around the Mound Bayou Mercy Center as part of a weeklong service trip in March.

Students from Virgina Tech build a flower bed and landscape the area around the Mound Bayou Mercy Center as part of a weeklong service trip in March.

Throughout the week, the group served in Mound Bayou and the surrounding communities. While at St. Gabriel Mercy Center, the students worked on projects including washing the center’s vehicles, planting crepe myrtle trees and visiting with the seniors who come the center every day.

They also trimmed hedges and cut grass at city hall and raked leaves at the homes of senior citizens.

The students also worked in Shelby with Mississippi Engaged in Greener Agriculture (MEGA) by planting seeds in the greenhouse at Alcorn State University Research Center.
“I enjoyed the manual labor part of it because we were actually doing something tangible,” junior Brianne Varnerin said. “You could see how much we got done.”

The volunteers slept and ate at Cleveland Our Lady of Victories Parish Hall. The members of the church community made the students feel very welcome.  “It has been great,” Senior Tom Zamadics said. “Three or four families offered to take us out to eat. They really made it feel like home.”

By the end of the week the students grew in their Catholic faith and became closer with one another as a result of their experiences in Mound Bayou. The experience also left a lasting impression on the community.

“The students are energetic, competent, and eager to do whatever needs to be done,” Sister Donald Mary, Director at St. Gabriel Mercy Center, said. “They give service joyfully and energetically.”