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The Catholic Education Office is called to be a faith community committed to the educational mission of the church in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. We offer leadership and service in the ministry of total Catholic education. In collaboration with others engaged in this mission, we articulate a shared vision of Catholic education and teach the message of Jesus Christ as we follow his call to "Go make disciples of all nations."

Latest News

Trinity Catholic High School Students Excel in Recent Academic Competitions

Trinity Catholic High School chemistry students finished 5th in the annual Battle of the Burets Chemistry contest held at Florissant Valley Community College. Senior Alana Schlemmer and sophomore Rachel Hunt defeated teams from Kirkwood High School and Westminster Christian Academy, and sophomores Mike Berliner and Rachel Toczylowski finished ahead of teams from Maplewood/Richmond Heights High School and Freeburg High School. Each team had to perform an experiment within a time limit. The contest was sponsored by the St. Louis section of the American Chemical Society.

Trinity Catholic High School finished 1st in Division 700 of the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering sectional contest of the Academic Challenge, defeating a team from Houston High School. Trinity students earned 487 out of a possible 500 team points. Individual winners include seniors Alana Schlemmer (2nd in Chemistry), Garrett Beckham (2nd in Math), Ben Batzer (1st in English), Ryan Mircsov (3rd in Engineering) and Tim Fries (3rd in Computer Science); juniors Ed Ross (1st in Physics and 1st in Graphics) and David Krafft (2nd in Graphics), sophomores Connor Walsh (1st in Chemistry and 1st in Computers) and Rachel Toczylowski (3rd in Chemistry). Trinity now advances to the state finals April 13 at Missouri University of Science & Technology in Rolla. Trinity has finished second in state five times at the WYSE contest. The team’s moderator is Physics and Chemistry teacher Frank Cange.

Catholic Education Office is on the Move!

Members of the Catholic Education Office will be moving from the Cardinal Rigali Center at 20 Archbishop May Drive in Shrewsbury to the Catholic Center at 4445 Lindell Boulevard in St. Louis City. This move will take place over the next several months.

If you plan to visit a member of the Catholic Education Office, please call their office first to make sure you know which location to visit.  (Office phone numbers and e-mails will remain the same.)

Offices already moved to the Lindell location: 

Administrative Assistant for Catholic Family Tuition Assistance Program - Cindy Asinger
Director of Special Education Schools and Centers - Sister Luanne Boland, SSND
Director of Elementary School Improvement - Denise Bram
Administrative Assistant for Special Education - Carolyn Sue Cecil
Administrative Assistant for Secondary School Personnel Data - Debbie Cira
Administrative Assistant - Julie Dwyer
Administrative Assistant for Elementary School Personnel Data - Mischell Hill
Director of Fine Arts (K-12) - Ken Lederle
Administrative Assistant for School Data Forms and Transcripts - Colleen Martin
Psychological Testing - Dr. Janet Nemec
Director of Elementary School Special Projects - Barbara Peach
Director of Administrative Services - Dr. J. David Shelton
Director of Leadership Development (K-12) - Lucia Signorelli
Associate Superintendent for Instruction (K-12) and Special Education - Dr. Karen L. Tichy
Associate Superintendent for School Personnel (K-12) - Stephanie M. Welling

Click here to visit our ‘Contact Page’ for a listing of Office phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Catholic Schools Dominate Missouri National History Day Competition

By Sue Brown, Director of Marketing and Community Relations-Catholic Education Office

Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis won 76% (17 our of 23) of the top junior level prizes at the recent St. Louis History Day competition, and will advance to the state level contest on April 10 at the University of Missouri-Columbia. National History Day (NHD) is open to middle school and secondary students in public, private, parochial and home schools. Four parish elementary schools in this archdiocese—Holy Infant, Our Lady, St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Raphael the Archangel—routinely compete for the top prizes in the junior division, and routinely win most of them.

In the senior division, St. Elizabeth Academy juniors, Claire Nutter and Rachel Indelicato took first place in the documentary category with their film, Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. Second place went to SEA juniors Erin Turney, Claire Domian, and Natalie Shepherd for Disney Productions: A Legacy of Innovation.  They will also advance to state level completion in April.

National History Day is a research-based competition in which students—individually or in small groups—prepare a project to address the annual theme determined by the NHD organization. This year’s theme, “Innovation in History: Impact and Change,” was announced last June in order for students to begin planning, and they did! For many students and teachers who are “hooked on History Day,” it’s that serious!

Competition categories include research papers, museum-style exhibits, student-scripted performances, originally designed web-sites and student-created documentaries.  The entire process, from initial research to final adjudication, provides students with the best practice in 21st century learning.  Even at the middle school level, the research is high school level, if not college level, quality. 

Juliann DePalma Hesed, principal of St. Margaret of Scotland School says of National History Day, “In my opinion, [NHD] is almost the perfect competition for students.  Students work hard and learn from their efforts; students defend their work before a judge and get immediate feedback; and students move from level to level, (local, state and national) learning the value of accepting critique and editing. Win or lose, history day students take enormous pride in their work, develop amazing research skills, and demonstrate maturity and poise in presentation.  It is one of those learning experiences that lasts a lifetime.”

The ultimate goal is to advance to the national level of competition, which is held in Washington, D.C. in June.  Only the top two projects in each category from each state qualify. Competition is fierce, and the experience alone at this level can be considered an award in itself. 

To learn more about National History Day, and how your students can get involved, visit the NHD website at www.nhd.org.

 

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