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COLUMBUS Annunciation Parish youth will gather on Sunday, May 18, from 2:30 – 6:30 p.m. for an end of the year party at the Cooks’ home. Details: Maria Dunser, 662-328-2927, ext. 12.

GREENVILLE St. Joseph School will hold a mini-cheer camp for children ages three-12 years Monday-Wednesday, June 2-4, from 9:30 a.m. noon. Cost is $45 per child. Proceeds benefits the middle school cheerleaders. Parents are invited to attend Wednesday at 11 a.m. for the final performance.
– The following sports camp will be offered for boys and girls in first-sixth grades. Cost is $45 per camp or all for $160. Details: 662-378-9711
Football, June 2-4 from 9:30 a.m. – noon.
Baseball, June 9-11 from 9:30 a.m. – noon.
Basketball, June 9-11 from 12:30 – 3 p.m.
Soccer, June 16-18 from 9:30 a.m. – noon.

HERNANDO Holy Spirit Parish will have a special blessing for all graduates during Masses on Saturday and Sunday, May 24-25. Call the parish office, 662-429-7851, to give your information.

JACKSON St. Richard School will offer three sessions of basketball camp for third-seventh graders of St. Richard school or parish on June 23-27, July 14-18, and July 21-25, from 9 – 11:30 a.m. Registration fee is $50. Details: Paul Daschbach, 601-278-5256, pmdasch@yahoo.com.

MADISON St. Joseph School is holding registration for the World Cup Soccer Camp and the cheer summer camp. The soccer camp, open to boys and girls ages 4-12, is set for May 27-30 from 8 a.m. – noon on the St. Joe campus. Cost is $125 per student. Details: Shannon Burns, shaneb2916@yahoo.com, or call 601-405-0440.
The five-day cheer camp, for rising first-through sixth-graders, will be held July 21-25, from 9 a.m. – noon, and will be conducted by the school varsity cheerleaders. Cost is $100 per student. Each day will feature fun games, arts and crafts, learning new cheers and dances, and more. On the final day of camp, parents are invited to watch the performances.
– The summer used uniform sale dates are: Saturdays, June 21, and July 19, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the school library. To help contact Paula Morgan, 601-573-1244, henryandpaula@bellsouth.net.

McCOMB St. Alphonsus Parish youth will hold its senior night/dinner on Sunday, May 18, after the 5:30 p.m. Mass.
– All St. Alphonus School alumni are reminded to attend the last school Mass at 8:30 a.m. on May 21.
– Lifeteen will continue to meet on Wednesdays through the summer.
– Monday morning Mass at 7:30 a.m. and breakfast will start on June 2. This is open to EDGE and Lifeteen members.

MERIDIAN St. Patrick and St. Joseph graduating seniors – high school, college, graduate school – are invited for a blessing and recognition at the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Patrick on Sunday, May 18. Wear your cap and gowns, if possible, and meet at the church entrance to walk in the entrance procession.
A reception will follow in the Family Life Center.
– St. Patrick School students Ryan and Ryaniah Smith were named Mississippi champions of the 2014 Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship sponsored by Council 802 at St. Patrick School. They now move to the national level.

By Job Dale Dieckman
MADISON – St. Joseph Catholic School students will take seven classes starting next fall in a major schedule change that will re-shape the day for middle and high schoolers.
The school will rotate five classes each day, with each period lasting 70 minutes. The school day will end at 2:55 p.m., giving student athletes an earlier start for practice. “I think the schedule will be easy to adjust to,” said Jojo Katool, a sophomore, who added he is not worried about taking one class less.

Besides reducing the number of classes from eight to seven and increasing class time from 65 to 70 minutes, St. Joe also will limit electives to one each in ninth, 10th and 11th grades and two in 12th grade.

Separate middle school English and literature classes will be combined into one year-long course for seventh and eighth grades. Students will attend a 10-minute homeroom that will start at 7:55 a.m. each day.

The new class schedule will take effect when the new school year begins in August. School officials have been looking into revising the schedule and number of classes since last year.
(Reprinted with permission from The Bear Facts)

AMORY – The Glenmary Home Missioners are sponsoring a Catholic Camp for children in northeast Mississippi June 15-21 for boys and girls ages eight -11 and on June 22-29 for boys and girls ages 12-14. The cost is $100 per week.  Scholarships and reduced fees are available.  Application deadline is June 10. Details: Father Tim Murphy, 332-304-0087, campglenmary@ juno.com

COLUMBUS – Annunciation Parish will host a Cinco de Mayo party and May birthdays for juniors and seniors on Sunday, May 4, from 5 – 7 p.m. in the Activities Center.

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.

PEARL – St. Jude Parish will recognize all its graduates from high school, college, through graduate school on Sunday, May 11, at the 11 a.m. Mass. Those graduating are asked to contact the office.
– On Sunday, May 18, beginning at 12:30 p.m. with potluck lunch, CGS classes will participate in a Pentecost celebration and other year-ending activities. Junior and senior high will meet for an afternoon of sharing and reflecting on the Eucharist, “Do This to Remember Me.” All will gather at 3 p.m. for adoration and Benediction.

SOUTHAVEN – Youth retreats will be held for boys (June 22-27) and girls (July 13-18), who will be in grades 10, 11, or 12, to serve in the Sacred Heart Southern Mission area with maintenance and repair projects. Participants will also spend time reflecting on their gifts and talents and have the opportunity to get to know other Catholic teens from the area churches. Deadline to register is Wednesday, May 14. Details: Donna Williamson, 662 342-1073, ctksdonna@aol.com.

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.

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.