Montgomery Catholic Hosts Seventh Annual Coach Tim Turner Blood Drive

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School hosted the seventh annual Coach Tim Turner Memorial Blood Drive Wednesday, April 24 in the parking lot of our Middle/High School Campus.  The LifeSouth Bloodmobile was on site and accepted donations from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm. This annual blood drive is hosted by Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School's high school student government association in honor of the late Coach Tim Turner who valiantly coached several MCPS Middle School sports teams while bravely battling a terminal illness.

Coach Turner's sister Gena Brasington was at MCPS for the blood drive and said "I am overwhelmed with joy to let you know that we had 75 units of blood donated!!! This beats our prior record of 73 units back in 2007 and 2009. Please send our family’s sincere appreciation to all the staff and students for their continued support of this very special cause, without them this would not be possible."

Below: Left, Coach Tim Turner on the MCPS football Field. Right,Montgomery Catholic Students  Thomas McMillen and Alex Castanza give blood on April 24, 2013.

 

 

Montgomery Catholic Students Rewarded for Supporting Their School

Montgomery Catholic's Holy Spirit Campus held a PTC fundraiser this spring. Students were asked to sell products offered by Mixed Bag Designs. Students were also offered an incentive for participating.  Second grade student Gabe Russo and Clare Wilson won Kindle Fires for their hard work in the PTC Spring fundraiser. Gabe was the overall winner with $799 in sales. Each student who sold over $50 had their name placed in a bucket for a "wild card" drawing. Clare, a fifth grader, sold $475 worth of mixed bag designs products.

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Montgomery Catholic's Van Alst Named All-American

Zachary Van Alst, a Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School eighth grader is now a two-time All-American Wrestler. Van Alst earned the honor after he won his second consecutive AHSAA Class 3A 106-pound state title, and placing third in the NHSCA National Tournament in Virginia Beach, VA in April.

Congratulations to our All American!

Knights Advance to the Second Round of the Playoffs

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School's Varsity Baseball Team advances to the second round of the playoffs by defeating Geneva at home Monday, April 22.

The Knights battled back after losing the first game of a three-game first round playoff series with Geneva to win the final two games of the series, advancing to the second round later this week.

The Knights (15-15) won game two 7-6, before shutting out Geneva 4-0 in the third and final game of the series.

Montgomery Catholic will now face Slocomb in the second round of the AHSAA playoffs beginning with a Friday doubleheader.  The first game will start at 1:30 pm, followed by the second game at 3:30 pm.  The if game will be scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm, with all three games scheduled for Brannon Cochran Field on the campus of Montgomery Catholic.

There will be an $8 admission price set for Friday, and a $6 admission price set for Saturday; all set by the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA).

The Montgomery Catholic Baseball Team is coached by head coach Brad Parker and assistant coach Wes Henderson. Team Roster: Greg Rickels, Dan Manzari, Blake Johnson, James Sherman, Kyle Berher, Robert Smith, Matt Brooks, Jacob Hulcher, Bryan Rodopoulos, Cole Dixon, Chase Forshey, Chase Stewart, Brett Foxworth, Blayne Spigner, Reese Smith, Dean Rodopoulos.

Montgomery Catholic Students End Each Day with Respect for the Flag

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School Student Council Members Camille Morgan and Bobby Crawford take down the flag at the end of the school day at the MCPS St. Bede campus. Each week members of the Student Council are responsible for the flag and help with morning and afternoon prayer and announcements.

Camille Morgan is a forth grade student and class representative, she is the daughter of Indy and Matt Morgan. Bobby Crawford is a fifth grade student and class representative, he is the son of Kathleen Healey and Charles Crawford.

Montgomery Catholic Knights Sports Review

The past two weeks have been ones to remember for the Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School Athletic Department...

Baseball

The junior varsity squad turned in one of its best performances in a decade as they won 19 of their last 21 games to finish the year 19-4.  The team won the Elmore County Tournament and then swept Reeltown during Easter Break to finish off the year.

Meanwhile, the varsity baseball team swept Abbeville prior to Easter Break and returned to defeat Reeltown and Lanier in non-area games.  The Knights travel to Pike County this afternoon (Friday) for their game of the three game series, and with a win can clinch the area championship and would host a first round playoff series next weekend.  The team will celebrate Senior Day on Saturday afternoon in between games, with the first game beginning at 1 pm.  All Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School elementary students were given a coupon to use for one free hot dog and popsicle at the game on Saturday afternoon.

Golf

The Knights claimed their first-ever Greater Montgomery Open championship on Monday at Arrowhead Country Club.  The team was paced by medalist Zach Jones who eagled the final hole to clinch the victory, and by Chapman Barranco who was named All-Tournament.  The team was also featured in The Montgomery Advertiser for their victory.  The Knights return to action on Monday and Tuesday as they travel to play in north Alabama in the always competitive Tom Bell Memorial.

Soccer (Boys)

The Knights fell in a close contest to Alabama Christian, and then another to Brew Tech during the Break.  They host Wetumpka tonight (Friday, 4/12), and then host Tallassee on April 15.

Soccer (Girls)

The varsity won three consecutive area games during Easter Break and into this week, as they defeated Alabama Christian in a pair games and clinched the playoff berth with a 7-1 victory over Brew Tech.  The Knights will finish as the runner-up in the area and will face Montgomery Academy on the road in the first round of the playoffs.

Softball

The Knights traveled south and claimed the McGill-Toolen Tournament with wins over McGill-Toolen, Cottage Hill and Davidson.  Prior to the tournament, the Knights defeated perennial power Pleasant Home on the road.  The team returned home and blanked Abbeville 15-0 in just three innings, with Sydney O'Connor recording all nine outs via strikeout.  The Knights host Alabama Christian on Monday afternoon.

Tennis

The girls finish up the regular season today against Prattville Christian at 3:30, playing their final home of the season.  The seniors on this years team will be honored on Senior Day, April 23, along track and soccer.  The team will play at the O'Connor Tennis Center on Monday in the Sectional Tournament.

Track and Field

The Knights had their first two runners in school history earn an invitation to the Select Invitational at the Mobile Meet of Champions - one of the best meets in the country.  Kylie Frank and Skip Martin earned the honors after their finishes in the Open races on Friday of the Break.  This week, the girls claimed second place at the Beauregard Speed Meet with two new school records and 10 season bests performances.  Meanwhile, the boys swept wins in the distance competition and set 14 new season bests performances during the meet.

Wrestling

Zachary Van Alst continued his dominating performance on the season.  After finishing 46-1 on the year and claiming his second consecutive state championship in the 106-pound weight class, he went on the win the state championship at the middle school level before this week earning All-America honors for his third place finish at the NHSCA national meet.

Montgomery Catholic Kindergarten Visits MMFA

On Wednesday, April 10 all three kindergarten classes from Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School attended a puppet show at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts focused on shapes and colors. The Kindergarten classes are completing a Math unit on two and three dimensional shapes and the field trip enriched the students study in math. The classes toured the museum after the puppet show and concluded the field trip by feeding the fish, turtles, and ducks bread crumbs. The students and teachers enjoyed a fun filled day at MMFA!

Mrs. Redden and her Kindergarten class at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in April.

Montgomery Catholic Announces Five State Qualifiers for Duke Talent Search

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School proudly announces five middle school students who have earned State Recognition for their SAT scores by the Duke Talent Identification Program.

The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) identifies academically talented seventh grade students in sixteen states across the Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest who have scored at the 95th percentile or above on standardized achievement tests. Montgomery Catholic had 27 middle school students who qualified to participate in the Duke TIP Program last fall with five students whose high scores qualified them for state recognition.

Montgomery Catholic students who will be honored at the Duke Talent Search State Recognition Ceremony held in May at the University of Alabama are Cameryn Brown, Christopher DeJesus, Sieanna Grogan-Albaugh, Henry Petters and Annabel Starrett.

Let's Fly a Kite!

The Montgomery Catholic St. Bede campus Kindergarten family project for April was to construct a kite using a plain sheet of copy paper. On Tuesday, April 9 each student in Mrs. Debbie Redden's class tested his or her kite project.  Every child's kite flew! This was an introduction to the Space Unit which the class will begin in the coming weeks.

Montgomery Catholic Art Students Paint Bird Houses for Family Sunshine Center

Four Montgomery Catholic Preparatory Art Students painted bird houses for the Family Sunshine Center's Making Home Safe Havens fundraiser, "which brings in resources that are vital to sustaining the agency’s mission to bring shelter, counseling, hope and healing to victims of family violence and sexual assault." 

Making Homes Safe Havens is a series of parties hosted by friends of the Family Sunshine Center.  Parties are held in homes, businesses, worship communities or other venues.  In the past, parties have included showings of jewelry and art where all or part of the proceeds from sales were given to the FSC, bunko and bridge parties, pancake breakfasts, cocktail parties, church circle gatherings and more.

This year a new component for the 2013 party season includes bird house design.  Architects, interior designers and others are being invited to submit a design for the perfect birdhouse, or safe haven, in a competition devised to spread the mission of the Family Sunshine Center.

The bird houses, painted by MCPS students over a two week period, will be given as gifts to the hosts of the Making Home Safe Havens parties.  Alisa Koch a local artist and volunteer for the Family Sunshine Center is pictured below receiving the bird houses from ninth grade student Beth Vaughn and twelfth grade students Callie Wilkinson, Maggie Starr and Joanne Spotswood.

Montgomery Catholic's Barranco and Petters will Attend HOBY Leadership Conference

Paige Barranco and Leo Petters have been selected to represent Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School at Alabama's Hugh O'Brian Youth (HOBY) Leadership Conference held at Troy University this May. 

HOBY programs are conducted annually throughout the United States providing unique leadership training, service-learning, and motivational experiences for high school sophomores. HOBY’s mission is to inspire and develop our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service and innovation. 

Paige Barranco is the daughter of Rob and Lee Anne Barranco of Montgomery. Leo Petters is the son of Brian and Vicki Petters of Montgomery.

Montgomery Catholic Middle School Students Make Donation to COPE

Middle School students at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School spent the last four week of Lent collecting donations for COPE. COPE, Counseling Outreach for Pregnancy Emergency, is a non-profit organization in the River Region offering free services for women facing crisis pregnancies which provides women with alternatives to abortion, pregnancy testing, adoption information, and parent education training. Each homeroom was responsible for collecting different items including, diapers, bottles, baby blankets and clothes, wipes, shampoo and baby lotion.  Lorie Mullins, Executive Director of COPE, accepted their donations on March 28 and thanked them for their generosity. Pictured front row: Caleb Cobb and Daniel Reeves. Back row: Daphne Hardy, Lorie Mullins, Will Couey, Trey Wilkinson, Emily Jones and Alex Jolley.

Montgomery Catholic Students Give Back to the Community During Annual Lenten Day of Service

MCPS students pick up trash in the campuses neighboring park as part of the Lenten Day of Service on March 26.

“Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. And to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28. Serving others in our community is not only the focus of Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School’s annual Lenten Day of Service, but has been a part of the school’s mission since 1873. 

With the help of Hands on River Region over 300 Montgomery Catholic students in grades nine through twelve and faculty members spent a combined total of over 900 hours volunteering the morning of March 26. The students worked at 15 locations around the River Region performing various tasks such as spending time with elderly residents,  cleaning up trails at YMCA’s Camp Grandview and Camp Chandler, cleaning up the Remount Cemetery with the Montgomery Clean City Commission, and completing projects on campus at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School among many other works of service throughout the community. 

The organizations and agencies that were served by Montgomery Catholic high school students in the River Region were: Montgomery Area Council on Aging-Archibald Senior Center, Remount Cemetery- Mtg. Clean City Commission, Alabama Wildlife Federation, Head Start Family Services Center, Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama, Fort Toulouse/Jackson Historic Landmark, YMCA, Camp Chandler, MANE, Montgomery Zoo, YMCA Camp Grandview, MACOA Senior Centers including Newtown Senior Center, Normandale Senior Center and Perry Hill Senior Center, John Knox Manor Nursing Home and Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School Middle and High School Campus.

Ninth grade student Lacy Herbek spent her time visiting with area seniors and lent a hand by painting nails at a MACOA Senior Center on March 26. Over 300 MCPS high school students and faculty members spent 900+ hours volunteering as part of the annual Lenten Day of Service. The students worked at 15 locations in the area serving the community. "Blessed is he that considers the needy and the poor" (Psalm 41:2). Photo Credit: Tina Tynan

MONTGOMERY CATHOLIC SCIENCE OLYMPIAD COMPETES AT STATE COMPETITION

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School’s (MCPS) budding scientists competed in the State Science Olympiad competition on March 16 at Huntingdon College in Montgomery.
The team composed of students from grades nine through twelve, came away with 3 first place, 
and 3 third place finishes. The team as a whole finished 5th out of 53 High School Science Olympiad teams in the State of Alabama.

Earning individual honors were:
Baines Deal: 1st in State for Genetics – Designer Genes and 3rd in State for Materials Science
Zach Hulcher: 1st in State for Genetics- Designer Genes, 1st in State for Dynamic Planet, 3rd in State for Materials Science and 3rd in State for Remote Sensing
Maddie O’Mara: 1st in State for Gravity Vehicle and 3rd in State for Magnetic Levitation
Patrick O’Mara: 1st in State for Gravity Vehicle and 3rd in State for Magnetic Levitation
Leo Petters: 1st in State for Dynamic Planet and 3rd in State for Remote Sensing

These 1st and 3rd place finishes earned a combined total of approximately $350,000 in scholarships for these students.

Pictured from left to right: Montgomery Catholic Science Olympiad Team Sponsor and teacher Mrs. Mary Kathryn O'Connor; Leo Petters is a sophomore and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Petters;  Patrick O'Mara is a freshmen and Maddie O'Mara is a junior, they are the son and daughter of Col. and Mrs. Ray O'Mara; Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi;  Zach Hulcher is a senior and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hulcher; Baines Deal is a senior and the son of Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Deal; Montgomery Catholic Preparatory 7-12 Principal Mr. Chad Barwick.