St. Mary School has been recognized as a Cleveland Clinic Banner School for 2016-17...
Small School Receives Big Honor
St. Mary School has been recognized as a Cleveland Clinic Banner School for 2016-17. The award recognizes the school’s noteworthy success in leveraging community resources to advance student learning. It is a distinction earned by fewer than 30 percent of the 159 schools in four states that participated in civic education programming this year.
Although much smaller in size than most schools in the program, St. Mary continues to come out on top. The school earned its distinction by continually participating in Cleveland Clinic distance learning programs and bringing cutting edge education to its students.
The Cleveland Clinic Civic Education Department offers programs designed to promote health and wellness, academic achievement and career preparedness for students in grades K through 12.
Bryan Pflaum of Cleveland Clinic said, “It takes ambitious teachers and an encouraging administrator, to deliver these opportunities to students. The effort Amber Yeager invested in implementing the Adventures in Health Science and Medicine program and the support you (Mary Petelin) provided in the process demonstrate an exceptional commitment to student enrichment and distinguish St. Mary School as a 2016-2017 Cleveland Clinic Banner School.”
St. Mary is very thankful to have such wonderful partners in education and looks forward to continued collaboration in the years ahead.
Junior High Musical
A carefully guarded tradition of St. Mary School and a rite of passage students look forward to as they grow is the annual junior high musical. The musical is not only an exercise in music and the arts, but is also a great example of inquiry-based and cross curricular learning. The junior high teaching team carefully chooses the musical topic to ensure it is linkable across subject areas.
This year’s production of “The Lion King Jr.” promoted investigation of African language, culture and tradition in social studies and allowed for research into the country’s use of solar power, resulting in the students constructing their own solar power mini cars and ovens.
In language arts, the students viewed the animated version of the story and identified archetypes in characters and settings. In addition to the obvious cultural connections in “The Lion King Jr.,” the students were presented with many research and design challenges. They worked to program drones to be a part of the show and made a moving elephant trunk.
The entire show was choreographed, promoted and run by students, including the light and soundboard at The Geauga Lyric Theater. The school’s partnership with the Geauga Lyric Theater provides the whole school with the opportunity to view performances that connect with curriculum and allow for an authentic theater experience. Lower hall students braved a rainy walk uptown to enjoy the production. Each year the students pull together and each have an active role in making the production a success. The experience allows students to get a taste for theater and learn if it is something that they may want to pursue in the future. Mrs. Julie Fedak and Ms. Kristina Romano, along with the junior high teaching team should be congratulated on taking on such a big project and coming out with such amazing results.
