June 2023 Student Spotlights (Montgomery)

During the weekend of March 3-5, eight choral students from Saint James School attended the Alabama Vocal Association All State Festival. Students went through a rigorous audition process to make this prestigious ensemble. They worked with world renowned conductors on advanced repertoire in the amazing facilities of the BJCC in Birmingham. The festival ended with a professionally recorded concert in the BJCC Concert Hall.
Students who were selected to make this ensemble were Ruthie Blakeney, Lizzy Dickens, Anna Dickey, Rain Johnson, Abigail Roark, Selina Sun, Dominic Troccia, and TJ Vance.
Saint James offers chorus/music classes at all division levels. The middle school and high school chorus classes are taught by Dr. Sallye York.

The Saint James School high school math team traveled to the University of North Alabama on Saturday, April 15 to compete in the 43rd Alabama Statewide Mathematics Competition held at the University of North Alabama. For the second year in a row, the Saint James team won the state championship for Division Two. This event featured ciphering.
The members on the team are HaeSoo (Jason) Jeong, Woohyun (Justin) Kang, Woochan Kim, Kelsey Shaffer, and Selina Sun.
These students are sponsored by Saint James mathematics teacher Priscilla Hadden. Along with receiving trophies, each student was awarded a $1000 scholarship to the University of North Alabama.

On April 28th grades K5-8th participated in Field Day. Students were divided into teams of five and competed against each other in the obstacle course, football throw, sack race and many other activities.

Mrs. Hathcock is getting creative with her K4 class! They learned new ways to review sight words! Sight word BINGO with cereal was approved by her K4 class! They also had fun learning about the weather recently and made edible cloud art! We have some great hands-on teachers and the students in our preschool program love learning!

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School is proud to announce the hiring of Jenn Denham as Head Volleyball Coach. Bringing years of experience at the high school and collegiate level to Montgomery Catholic’s volleyball program, Coach Denham will continue to elevate the state-championship caliber team. A Missouri native and 3rd generation catholic school graduate, Denham brings the power of her faith and her love for the game to Montgomery Catholic.
Jenn is a highly decorated high school and collegiate volleyball player. After college she followed in the footsteps of her Hall of Fame father, David Fall, who is a two-time Missouri Coach of the Year and back to back state champion coach in 2007 and 2008. Coach Denham served as Assistant Coach at Sacred Heart High School for five years alongside her father as the team compiled an overall record of 139-28-12. In 2022 the back-to-back state championship, father-daughter team was inducted into the Sacred Heart School Hall Of Fame.
Traveling around the country with her husband’s work, Jenn continued to coach club volleyball. She also worked as a site director for the Heart of America Region for nine years, with USA Volleyball at the Show-Me Qualifier, the USA Junior Nationals, and coached at Faulkner University, and Arizona Christian University.
Jenn and husband, Randy, are proud parents to son, Rowan (5), and will be celebrating 20 years of marriage this year as their family settles down in Pike Road, AL.
Montgomery Catholic School President, Justin Castanza, remarked, “We are incredibly excited for Jenn to join the Montgomery Catholic family as she brings a high level of expertise joined with a Christ-centered heart that desires to both love and win!” Daniel Veres, MCPS Athletic Director, shared “We are extremely excited to be able to bring Coach Denham into our volleyball and Montgomery Catholic community. I can’t wait to get her started so she can meet all the girls and their families. I know they will all be ecstatic.”
Coach Denham begins immediately getting the program ready for the 2023 season in an effort to repeat the State Championship performance of 2022.

K3 students at Trinity School had an unBEElievable time with Farmer Allison. Farmer Allison brought some of her honeybees for students to see (in an enclosed case). She talked with them about the different kinds of bees, what bees do with pollen, and how honey is collected! She brought each student a honey stick to enjoy!

On May 5th, Montgomery Christian School students had their Spring Art and Music Festival. Trinity Presbyterian Church was the gracious host of this event. All students had an art piece in the art show and performed songs with their class. The fourth and fifth grade classes played the hand chimes as well. This festival highlighted the many talents of MCS students.

Nine Saint James 8th grade students were selected to attend CampIT put on by TechMGM on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 on the campus of Alabama State University. The day featured speakers and breakout sessions about all manner of technology topics.
Saint James eighth graders who attended were Lucas Kang, Natalie Barton, Elley Goff, Aliyah Motley, Waverly Milligan, Zach Rains, Kevin Hwang, Nathaniel Sherbine, and Aidan Saldanha. They were accompanied by middle school technology teacher Ms. Martha Cavanaugh and high school technology teacher and STEM Coordinator, Mrs. Deborah Otis.
As a part of the day’s fun, Nathaniel Sherbine won a gaming headset for answering a question about coding.
Saint James School offers technology classes for all division levels, elementary, middle, and high school.

Saint James School congratulates the elementary, middle, and high school students who placed at the AISA State Art Competition on Tuesday, April 4th at Faulkner University. Saint James had one elementary student, one middle school student, and thirteen high school students compete at AISA State. Among those students, four students received awards.
From elementary, Arush Patel placed 2nd in Color Drawing.
In the middle school division, Sara Johnston won 1st place in Printmaking.
Among the high school students, Caroline Gregory won 1st place in Painting, and Steven Na placed 2nd in Drawing Non-Color.
Among the state winners, Sara Johnston’s artwork will go on to represent Alabama in the Southeastern Commission of Independent Schools (SECIS) Art Show. The SECIS is composed of the independent school associations of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina.
Saint James School has art classes at all division levels. Ms. Beth Fuhrman teaches elementary art. Mrs. Aimee Bentley teaches middle school students, and Mrs. Evelyn Shoults teaches the high school art classes.

Saint James middle school and high school students recently placed in the Alabama Consortium of Technology in Education Regional Tech Fair for Region 5 in their respective levels and categories. These students all have the opportunity to go on to compete in the State ACTE Tech Fair.
In Level 2, Molly Phillips won 1st Place in Audio. Matilda Buckner and Sean Woessner won first place in Digital Game Design, while Will Roark and Walker Wilsford placed 2nd in Digital Game Design. Yeriel Kim placed 1st in Multimedia Applications, and Jamison Cantrell placed 1st in Robotics. Yeriel Kim and Molly Phillips also placed 1st in Video Production (group entry). Emerson Weeks placed 1st in Video Production (single entry).
For Level 3, Jack Davis placed 1st in Digital Game Design, and Aidan Saldanha won 1st place in Video Production. Aileen Mulligan won 2nd place in Robotics.
In Level 4, Stella Kim won 1st Place in Multimedia.
At Level 5, Brooke Bender won 1st place in Web Design, and Selina Sun won 1st place in Multimedia. Alex An won 1st Place in Hardware Modification, and Alex Ruona won 2nd Place in Programming.
Saint James School offers technology classes for all division levels. The Technology teacher for middle school is Ms. Martha Cavanaugh. At the high school level, technology classes are taught by Mrs. Deborah Otis and Mr. Wes Smith.

Montgomery Christian School’s Fifth grade class spent the first week of May at Maxwell attending their Starbase program. This program gives students hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) experiences. They had the opportunity to launch rockets, “walk” on Mars, build and program robots, and so much more.

Now in its 26th year, The Montgomery Academy Lower School Culture Study offers students a glimpse into life in different parts of the world, and has featured such countries as India, Brazil, South Korea, Germany and Japan. This year’s culture focus: Australia! Through research, hands-on projects, visits from native Australians, and special meals in the cafeteria, students learned about the people, the land, and the animals of this fascinating country. By the middle of February, the children had studied Australia in every discipline – music, math, geography, STEM Lab, computer, language, and art. This immersive experience ended with a week of “festival” activities, as students made traditional Aboriginal clap sticks and didgeridoos, practiced throwing boomerangs, and learned an Aboriginal dance. What an aMAzing experience at the Lower School!

After months of learning and experimenting and drawing and painting in BeeLee Tullos’s kindergarten art class at The Montgomery Academy, our youngest Eagles are given (nearly) free rein to create a self-portrait in the style of French painter Henri Matisse: big, abstract, and absolutely bursting with color all the way to the edges. Truly, no two paintings are ever alike and you’ll see a world of self-expression in every square inch of the final product.

TEA Christian Academy, Inc. was surprised by the visitation of Mother Mable McElroy and Rev. Rushell McElroy, Jr., the mother and brother of TEA Academy’s CEO and founder. The visit was in honor of Mother’s Day. Rev. McElroy travels yearly from Chicago, Illinois to visit his mother and express his love, adoration, and appreciation for her. Before leaving, he paused to offer blessings upon the school, staff, students, and board members as the school year comes to an end.

Charlene Jackson (consultant and former educator) provided a professional development workshop with T.E.A. staff on the importance of “Bridging the Gaps and Benchmarking” in students’ learning. Students can become overwhelmed when trying to meet the demands of school requirements, along with being exposed to negative and positive viewpoints. However, when more emphasis is placed on positive thinking, students can develop a more structured and balanced approach to learning. Mrs. Jackson used five words to discuss positive perspectives: 1. Accountability: Everyone is accountable for his or her actions. 2. Process – Assessment: Weekly tests (formative) and final tests (summative) are necessary to ensure students are meeting the benchmarks. 3. Strategy: Use the S.M.A.R.T. Chart to help students achieve goals for meeting assessments, lesson plans, and life goals. 4. Goals – What you aim for: Have a plan of action and use strategies. 5. Confidence – Self-assurance: Feel good about yourself and be self-motivated. Develop your “reason why”. Furthermore, it is essential that students understand their roles and what is necessary to keep them on track to meet the requirements for their grade level. Her final words to students, “Compete against yourself, and be better every day.”

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School is proud to welcome Dr. John Johnston to the Middle and High School Campus as Assistant Principal. Dr. Johnston brings more than three decades of classroom and administrative experience to Montgomery Catholic as he embarks on a new chapter to both educate and share the Faith. School President, Justin Castanza, shared “Dr. Johnston is an enormous addition to our school community. He brings expertise and experience to our Middle and High School, but also the compassion, fairness, and love of Christ. Mrs. Aaron, Middle and High Principal, and I are excited about the opportunity to support the needs of our students and families with Dr. Johnston at our side.”
A native of Montgomery and graduate of Sidney Lanier High School, Dr. Johnston attended Auburn University at Montgomery and earned a bachelor’s degree in social science education. He carved out a 33-year career working for Montgomery Public Schools serving as coach, teacher, and administrator while continuing to advance his education. He spent his first two years teaching 7th grade at Bellingrath Junior High School, and the next nine years teaching at his alma mater, Lanier High School. While at Lanier, he became involved in the athletic program, coaching football, wrestling, and golf. Wanting to further his career, he stopped coaching to attain his master’s degree in School Administration.
Soon after earning his Administrative Certification, Dr. Johnston worked for four years as the Assistant Principal at Robert E. Lee High School. From there, he was awarded the opportunity to become the Principal of Goodwyn Middle School and Johnnie Carr Middle School, serving three years at each placement. While leading those two schools, he earned a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Law from Alabama State University. While serving as the leader of Johnnie Carr, the school was prestigiously authorized as an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme World School. Still wanting to advance, Dr. Johnston took a position as the Human Resources Director, overseeing the personnel needs of over 27 schools and departments for Montgomery Public Schools.
Dr. Johnston has been married to his self-proclaimed greatest asset for 25 years, Rockie Johnston, who is a special education teacher. They have three wonderful children – Olivia, Scott, and Mia. The Johnston family attends St. Peter Catholic Church, where Dr. Johnston has been serving as the President of the Parish Council for the last five years.
When asked about the new chapter of his life at Montgomery Catholic, Dr. Johnston shared, “After a career of serving the public-school students of Montgomery, I am ready to serve the Catholic School students in the River Region. My wife and I are not only advocates of education but supporters of religious instruction as well. Our kids began their schooling at Our Lady Queen of Mercy Catholic School. Daily we see the need for Christ in the lives of families. We also understand that accountability is the thread that connects education and Christ’s teachings.”

Montgomery Christian School fifth graders had the privilege of touring the Supreme Court building and watching a naturalization ceremony. This field trip correlated with their United States history course of study. The students also led the new United States citizens in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. This was an awesome opportunity for our students to experience.

Mother’s Day is celebrated throughout the world; even though it originated in the United States as a result of a women’s group promoting friendship and health.
TEA Christian Academy, Inc. held its annual Mother’s Day Luncheon, and students presented their mothers with poems they had written as a class assignment. Students understand that Mother’s Day is all about celebrating the most important woman in your life.

Trinity School Seniors wear their college t-shirt to represent the college they are attending to celebrate Senior Day!

On Thursday, May 11th, Montgomery Christian School celebrated its arts program with an end of year festival. Each student had a piece of art in the art show and each class performed by either singing songs or playing the bells. Girls in grades kindergarten through third grade performed a ballet dance. Music, art and ballet are an important part of Montgomery Christian School enrichments. The school is thankful to the community for the support of these programs.

Montgomery Christian School librarian Betsy Cannon took three classes on a field trip to the Montgomery public library on High Street. The fourth grade, second grade and first grade classes were able to see what the public library has to offer. Students toured the library, saw areas that they could visit on their own and areas to visit with a parent then spent time in the children’s area. In the children’s area they looked at the books and played games on the interactive boards. Now MCS students know where they can go over the summer with their family to continue their reading as some students took home an application to apply for their very own public library card.

Sara Pigg Walker is one of ACA’s most beloved alumni. This year the Sara Walker Foundation sponsored ACA’s EagleFITT 5k and also awarded a $5,000 scholarship to one senior. All scholarship applicants had to provide letters of recommendation as well as complete as essay prompted by portions of the journal Sara kept while battling cancer.
Hunter Barfoot was the recipient of the inaugural Sara Walker Foundation Scholarship. Coach Steve Phillips, Sara’s uncle, presented the award on behalf of the Pigg family.

George Washington Carver High School student, Joshua Maye was chosen as a Gates Scholar! Out of about 51,000 applicants, nationwide, Joshua is one of just 750 to receive this prestigious honor.

Penguin Robotics, a team of siblings who attend MPS schools, made history at the VEX Robotics World Championship this year.
They finished the season as the No. 10 team in the world and were the first Alabama VEX IQ team to compete in a world championship finals match.
Also, while the team competes at the middle school level, two of its members were in elementary school. The team consists of Baldwin Arts and Academics Magnet student Abraham Yang and Forest Avenue Academic Magnet students Johanna and Elijah Yang. They competed against about 800 middle school teams representing about 50 countries and all 50 states.

The students were excited to learn they would be visiting Troy State University’s campus in Troy, AL. Staff member Mr. Daniel Barlow served as the trip’s coordinator. He planned a full day of learning about the culture and life of Troy State University. The students learned about the enrollment criteria, campus housing, various career curricula, and extra-curricular activities. While visiting, students had the pleasure of enjoying lunch at a local restaurant. As a class assignment, the students provided noteworthy details regarding their trip.

The Trinity lower school art show was so much fun! Students, parents, grandparents, and friends filled the halls admiring the many talents of our students. Spears Griffin enjoyed showing his artwork to his parents.

The Trinity Jazz Cats put on quite a show! These talented students (and teachers!) had the audience tapping their toes and singing along! Bravo!

Mr. Robert McGowin retired from Trinity after 43 years of teaching, he had one request – that the school host a creative writing workshop for aspiring writers. Earlier this month, we did just that! Mr. Jim Reed, an accomplished author, speaker, columnist, and editor of the Birmingham Arts Journal spent an afternoon with students sharing his knowledge and tidbits for storytelling.

Montgomery Christian School third graders share their culture through food. Each student is assigned a day to provide a taste of their culture. Students have enjoyed foods like chili dogs, cajun turkey and dressing, tamales, Jamaican plantains and barbecue. Students talk with their families about their culture then present to the class. The culture study is a hands-on experience that goes along with the Social Studies unit about different cultures.

The Eagleaires, The Montgomery Academy’s Lower School Chorus, recently performed at the Southern Star Music Festival in Atlanta where they received “Superior” ratings. Under the direction of Choral Director Beverly Fain, the Eagleaires finished out their choral season with a final performance for their schoolmates and families.

Montgomery Academy Senior Whit Davis, a member of the Varsity Boys Tennis team, signed his national Letter of Intent to play tennis at the University of North Alabama this coming fall. Whit finishes his career at MA with the most wins in school history (an overall record of 114-7) for a win percentage of 94%. Congratulations, Whit!

The Knights baseball team finished an amazing season as AISA AAA State Runner-Up. They completed their season with a record of 32-11. The Knights cruised through the state tournament. They beat Clarke Prep and Bessemer in the semi-finals, thus advancing the Knights to the winner’s bracket against Glenwood. Glenwood overpowered the Knights with a sweep of the first two games, winning, 11-1 and 9-3.
Jabe Boroff, Barettt Spaeth, and Gunner Justice earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. The team is comprised of 8 seniors, Jack Jones, Deonte Powell, Sawyer Nelson, Jabe Boroff, Hunter Timmerman, Jason Tatum, Camden Bell, and Matthew Kitchens. All seniors contributed tremendously this year with remarkable athletic ability and true leadership.
Two Knights have signed athletic scholarships to participate in baseball at the collegiate level. Jabe Boroff will be playing for Enterprise State Community College in Enterprise, Alabama. Camden Bell signed earlier in the year with the Huntingdon Hawks baseball team!
Jabe Boroff, Matthew Kitchens, and Deonte Powell were selected as members of the Senior All-Star Team and Barrett Spaeth and Gunner Justice were selected as members of the Junior All-Star Team. The All-Star baseball game was played at Paterson Field on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

The Montgomery Academy seventh graders participated in the 4-H Environmental Education Program at Jekyll Island, GA. This field study program allowed our students to experience hands-on learning experiences in a real-world environment, and it encouraged teacher-student interactions in an atmosphere much different than the traditional classroom. Students took classes in Perch Dissecting, Seining, Coastal Geology, Salt Marsh Ecology, Maritime Forest Ecology, Beach Ecology, Endangered Species, Marine Mammals, and Fish Printmaking (Gyotaku). Students visited and explored Driftwood Beach where they were able to climb 200-year-old petrified oak trees while hunting for hermit crabs and sea urchins. At the Tidelands Nature Center, students (and chaperones!) were able to get up close and personal with sea turtles, snakes, and even a baby alligator! The week culminated with making s’mores around a giant campfire while telling historic tales and ghost stories of Jekyll Island.
From teacher Kim Jordan: “We loved being able to have our students develop an awareness, knowledge, and appreciation for the environment; cultivate curiosity, critical thinking, and evaluation; and develop positive relationships among the students and teachers. Being able to use our scientific processes, such as observing, measuring, and classifying in the real world made each student’s experience so much more engaging and fun!”

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School held its 2nd Annual Scholarship Breakfast on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at the Wynlakes Country Club ballroom. This year we awarded 23 scholarships to 37 current & new students for the 2023-2024 academic year. A total of $115,000 in Scholarships was awarded including 3 college scholarships for outgoing seniors, 21 High School students, 5 Middle School students, and 8 Elementary Students. Montgomery Catholic is proud to award individual scholarships to MCPS students annually.
Montgomery Catholic was blessed to award 3 new scholarships for the 2023-2024 school year. These scholarships were given in memory of Coach Wulf Koch, Luke J. Whetstone ’18, and in honor of Richard & Reba Foley’s belief and dedication to Catholic education.
Thank you to our Montgomery Catholic benefactors, Total Image and the Knights of Columbus Councils 12150 & 893 who generously donate scholarships to our students annually.
Please visit www.montgomerycatholic.org for more information about each of our scholarships.

Julie Waldo, a 9th grader at ACA, has placed 3rd in Alabama High School Athletic Association Girls 1A-3A. She has worked hard all year long and has continued to succeed in her athletic career. We are so proud of Julie and know she is going to continue to be an outstanding student athlete.

Our 4th grade students do a Wax Museum every year, where they get to research a public figure in Alabama and dress up like that figure. This year one of our 4th grades, Blythe Roberts, dressed up like Senator Katie Britt. Senator Britt’s staff found out about it and told Katie and she wanted to come visit and meet Blythe. We welcomed Senator Katie Britt and the 4th grade class was so excited to meet her. She was so kind and spoke so sincerely to our students about learning from your failures and always looking to serve others. We cannot thank Senator Britt enough for the kind words and taking time to pour into our students.

This year’s Senior class was amazingly talented academically. 77% of the class have a GPA that is 3.0 or higher and 25% have a GPA that is a 4.0 or higher. However, two of those rose to the top and were named co-valedictorians of the Class of 2023. Mr. Preston Hicks and Mr. Hayes Hunt were both recognized for their outstanding academic achievements, and both were named Valedictorians. We are so proud of these two young men and how hard they have worked through the year.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Montgomery County Commission have donated a decommissioned patrol car to the Law Enforcement Services Academy at MPACT.
Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said the vehicle has all the equipment that comes with a patrol car that is currently in use and is identical to what they would use in a law enforcement job. He added that some of the students are already cadets with the Sheriff’s Office and that having the patrol car to train with will give them a head start on their career.
Cunningham joined Montgomery County Commission Chairman Doug Singleton and instructor Curtis Daniels to announce the new learning tool along with students from the Law Enforcement Services Academy.

Aditya Pippala, 8th grader in Baldwin Arts and Academics, participated in the 2023 NAQT Middle school national Quizbowl Championship in Chicago last week end and individually placed 5th in the nation.

Dalraida Elementary School 4th grade QUEST student Natalie Guidos Martinez was chosen as a top winner for the state in the State Farm Color The Concept Illustration Contest. Her winning illustration was for the concept “budget.” We are so proud of her hard work!
She is in Mrs. Misty Trussell’s 4th grade QUEST class at Dalraida Elementary School in Montgomery Public Schools!

The future has arrived at Brewbaker Middle School. MPS and Birmingham-based nonprofit Ed Farm revealed the new Library of Technology, aka The Loft, with scholars showcasing the array of high-tech features now available to them.
This revamped library includes a video lab, a podcast studio, a 3D printer, virtual reality, animation, coding, makerspaces, reading nooks and more. Students led tours and gave demonstrations of the amazing capabilities of this new space for 21st-century learning.
Ed Farm CEO Waymond Jackson said the Loft is an exciting step forward for the nonprofit and its biggest project to date. Dr. Melvin J. Brown, MPS superintendent, said the library is another step toward providing the equity, access and opportunity that all students deserve.
Dr. Brown cut the ribbon along with Jackson, Dr. Brenda Deramus-Coleman, Montgomery County Board of Education President; Mayor Steven Reed; Principal Jaime Dubei; and school board member Arica Watkins-Smith.

Student robotics enthusiasts converged at Brewbaker Technology Magnet High to show off the skills they have learned throughout the year. The second annual Elementary Robotics Competition featured 23 schools and more than 300 students.
Robotics programs have been growing at every grade level in Montgomery Public Schools, thanks in part to generous donations and partnerships with Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama and Auburn University. As capabilities grow, so does student interest, with more and more signing up for this fun and engaging activity that teaches coding, engineering, teamwork and more.
Southlawn Elementary finished in first place, followed by Morningview in second, Dozier in third, Halcyon in fourth and Flowers in fifth.

Misty Trussell’s 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Dalraida QUEST students enjoyed a wonderful visit from Lanark School Tours where they participated in some wonderful brain activities! Our students have been learning all about the brain during the second semester of school, and this was a fun and exciting final activity for the school year! Thank you Lanark for challenging our brain senses!