Happy Birthday Clifford!

Kindergarten students at Montgomery Catholic's St. Bede Campus completed a study of the work of Norman Bridwell, the author and illustrator of the Clifford books. The Clifford books were first published in 1963, which makes Clifford 47 years old.

Students in Mrs. Debbie Redden's class had a birthday party for Clifford with cookies decorated by the students. A stuffed Clifford dog visited each student in the class. Each student took Clifford home and wrote a real or make-believe story of Clifford's adventures, whcih he/she read to the class the following day.

Pictured: Montgomery Catholic kindergarten students recently held a birthday party for Clifford, who celebrated his 47th birthday in February. back row (l to r): John Tracy, Erik Azar, William Driver, Matthew Reardon, Autumn Sekerak, James Bender, and Julian Macchia. front row: Layne Jordan, Ailish Gilbert, McKinley Boyd, and Haley Gordon. Photo by Debbie Redden.

Montgomery Catholic Students Succeed at MATHCOUNTS Competition

Middle school students at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School recently participated in the 2010 MATHCOUNTS Program held at Faulkner University where they took home third place in the competition. The MATHCOUNTS competition was sponsored by the Montgomery Chapter of the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers.

The Montgomery Catholic MATHCOUNTS team meet after school each Wednesday and participate in several math-based activities, compete against each other in quick math problems, as well as building polyhedrons. Pictured: Montgomery Catholic's MATHCOUNTS team with their 3rd place competition trophy at Faulkner University (left to right) row 1: Mrs. Julie Flowers, Mandy Jones, Sean Federspill, Willie Ravelo, and C.J. Barnett. row 2: Miss Jess Stouffer, Isabel Colon, Paige Barranco, Megan Lewis, and Sophie Williams.

Montgomery Catholic Students Raise $2,838 for COPE "Bottles for Babies"

Students from Kindergarten through the twelfth grade at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School collected pocket change in baby bottles to raise money for Montgomery's COPE (Crisis Outreach for Pregnancy Emergencies) Crisis Pregnancy Center. This annual project raised $2,838 for COPE to purchase car seats, clothing, and supplies needed for women in the Montgomery area. COPE is a non-profit women's health and caring center that provides free counseling, pregnancy testing, and other services for persons facing an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. Pictured: Montgomery Catholic staff and students present a check to COPE Executive Director Lorie Mullins. L to R: Montgomery Catholic's High School Principal Fran Taylor, students Cathy Ranieri, Cole Dixon, MCPS School President Anne Ceasar with COPE Director Lorie Mullins, elementary students Katie Smith, Drew Smith, and Grant Smith, St. Bede Principal Susan Duke, St. Bede Assistant Principal Laurie Gulley,and Middle School Principal Maria Nolen.

Stone and Cotter in Third Place Matches at AHSAA 4A State Wrestling Tournament

For the first time in the school's brief wrestling history, Montgomery Catholic's Preston Stone and Corey Cotter will each bring home medals from the AHSAA 4A state wrestling tournament in Huntsville.

Stone, a senior wrestling in the 112-pound division, will go against Steven Lindsey of Fultondale Saturday morning in the third-place match. Stone, 29-11 this season, won his opening match, pinning Taylor Simmons of Leeds. He then fell to Steven Kwan of Saint James, 1-0 in a hard fought-match. Stone bounced back in the consolation bracket to defeat Carlton Jones of American Christian in an 8-1 decision.

Cotter, a junior wrestling in the 135-pound division, has a chance to avenge his only loss of the tournament. He will meet Deshler's Chandler Sartain in the third-place match. Sartain edged Cotter in a 5-3 decision early Friday.

Cotter, also 29-11 overall, then won two straight matches. He defeated Aaron Edwards of Dora 10-5, then beat Jonathan Boston of Holtville. Cotter led Boston 6-2 late in the match before Boston was disqualified.

Montgomery Catholic is in its third year of wrestling. Stone was the school's first state qualifier, earning a berth in the 2008 tournament at 103 pounds.

In addition to his wrestling success, Cotter led the Knights boys' cross country team to a fifth-place in the Class 4A state meet, finishing 7th and earned All-State honors.