What’s Happening?
The end of the school year is a busy time for Andrean students as they wrap up their academic work before summer break. The last day of school was Friday, May 27, and that week was finals week. Informal finals took place in class Monday through Wednesday, while formal finals (math, science, history, and English) took place Thursday and Friday. Students who had taken AP exams were exempt from finals, and many did not attend school those days.
Armageddon took place on Friday, May 13. Armageddon is Andrean’s field day. It is a class versus class competition. Freshmen wore camo green, sophomores wore blue, juniors wore white, and seniors wore black in order to unify each class and rally the students to their own cause. From a tug of war (strong start for the seniors) to quiz bowl (point to the sophomore class) to dodgeball (juniors reign supreme), activities went on all day, contributing to each class’ points. The final tally crowned the junior class of 2017 the winners of Armageddon 2016, with the senior class coming in second.
The class of 2016 bid farewell to Andrean at the graduation ceremony on Sunday, June 5. The ceremony took place in the main gym. The ceremony featured speeches from salutatorian Kevin Smith and valedictorian Duncan Houpt. Because the gym is not air-conditioned, the class of 2016 left Andrean the same way they had entered it nearly four years before as quaking freshmen- sweating.
What’s Coming Up?
As the 2015-2016 school year comes to a close, parents, students, teachers, and the administration are all already looking to what they can expect for next year.
This year, Andrean changed its schedule from a 7-period day to a 9-period one, and got rid of its unique rotating schedule. This change was hard on many of the students, so next year will revert to the original schedule: a rotating 7-period school day. To accommodate students who may have scheduling conflicts due to the change, Andrean is offering more summer school courses to fill requirements, including health and physical education.
Over the summer, the administration is hoping to complete a small number of physical improvements, including improving Internet connectivity and the computers available. They want to improve the gym roof and provide new uniforms for the girls soccer team. They will also either retrofit or rebuild the stadium bleachers before fall sports games begin.
Money is currently being raised for Andrean with the purpose of the aforementioned improvements, as well as the support of some of Andrean’s programs.
Andrean is searching for new employees to hire, including new teachers who are to be a part of a new teacher mentoring program. The program will hopefully help acclimate new teachers to Andrean’s environment and improve the consistency of Andrean’s curriculum.
Photo Courtesy of Kathryn Strimbu.
Teacher Shout Out
Andrean has four hallways, really: the freshman/sophomore hallway, the junior hallway, the senior hallway, and the main hall. So you might get lost going to the convent.
Go to the end of the freshman/sophomore hallway. All the way down, through the door, past the unused lockers, and turn right. Keep walking. It’s a ridiculously long walk, especially for a school as small as Andrean, but eventually you’ll get there: you’ll reach the end of a hall and there are two doors. Open the door right in front of you, and you’re in Mrs. Kucka’s room.
There are Eiffel towers everywhere. There are giant murals on the walls that were painted in France. There’s a portrait of the Mona Lisa.
“Bonjour, bonjour!” Mrs. Kucka will say with a smile, welcoming you to her French haven.
Her room is no longer down in the convent, but it’s still extremely French, as Madame Kucka loves anything French. The longtime teacher of Andrean is retiring this year, to the dismay and sadness of many of her students.
Madame taught French with passion and vigor. She used a plethora of films, books, and magazines to expose her students to authentic French culture. She assigned fun and creative projects to make learning fun.
With her right hand on her heart, Madame promised to find a French teacher worthy of replacing her, but her students know that that will be a difficult, if not impossible, task.
Student Shout Out
Beth Azcona is a rising junior, and she spent her Thursday afternoon in Mr. Szot’s room for a summer meeting of academic decathlon, one of her many extracurricular activities. Her others include yearbook, basketball, sign language club, and Red Crew.
Her favorite of the five is sign language. Beth is hard of hearing, so sign really interests her. She started learning sign language in the sixth grade and, while he is not yet fluent, she is conversational. A sign language club was established at Andrean this year and Beth really likes it because now she has other people to sign with. Before no one else knew how.
When she's not busy with school or clubs, Beth plays her trumpet. Along with sign language, Beth also learned to play the trumpet in the sixth grade, although that was mostly out of spite. "Everyone said that I wouldn't be good at music because I'm hard of hearing, so I was like, 'I'll show you!' Well, it turns out I didn't show them, I am terrible," she laughed. But at least she tried and she continues to play now.
Beth's favorite class at Andrean was chemistry, largely because it was taught by Mrs. Giorgio, who is an amazing teacher. While she didn't like chemistry before, Mrs. Giorgio helped to develop an interest in the subject.
Beth will have opportunities to study chemistry further in upcoming school years, but for now, she is free to spend her summer doing what she pleases- even if that is studying for decathlon.