2009-2010 School News

Congratulations to our Golden Herald Nominees and Winners!
Alison Prince and Brieanah Schwartz in Athletics
Chelsae Gregoria and Glorianna Thompson in Citizenship
Kathleen Field in English and Literature
Kathleen Addison and Ian Nora in General Scholarship
Danielle Mustico in Mathematics
Grace Choe and Gabriella Guinta in Music
Oliver Cok in Social Science

We were blessed with two runners-up:
Jamie Benz in Journalism
Sonia Turosienski in Speech and Drama

And one FABULOUS winner:
Jamie Davis in Science

Contarino Heads to World Wrestling Championships
Published in Bradenton.com Tuesday, May 11, 2010
By Jason Dill

BRADENTON — Steve Contarino is heading to the world championships in wrestling.

The Saint Stephen’s head coach recently won national championships in both freestyle and Greco-Roman in the over 56-year-old division in Heber, Utah.

Contarino said this was the first time he’s won both titles in the same year.

It means he’s qualified for the worlds in Switzerland at the end of July for freestyle, and in Belgrade, Serbia, starting August 13 for Greco-Roman.

“I’m going to try and do both tournaments,” said Contranio, who went 4-0 with three pins at nationals. “But I’m pretty sure I’m going to go to Switzerland. And then if I’m in one piece, and can afford it, I’ll try to go to Serbia also.”

But to get there, Contarino faced some tough competition — including defending national champion Peter Haag.

Contarino said he pinned Haag twice and that he was his toughest opponent.

“In Greco, I caught him in an early move and pinned him, which was a little bit lucky,” Contarino said. “And then in the freestyle match, we went the full three periods, and I pinned him with three seconds in the match. When I turned him on his back, I was losing by two points. It was a little bit of a barnburner.”

Contarino said he’s made 13 appearances at worlds in either freestyle or Greco-Roman, with fifth place as his highest finish.

“The problem is, you got to win one more match to get a medal,” said Contarino, who has won 11 national championships including AAU titles. “So my goal has always been to come with a medal, and you have to finish in the top three to get a medal.”

Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2010/05/11/2274497/contarino-heads-to-world-wrestling.html#ixzz0nilK7YMH

Local Student, Kathleen Addison, Named National Merit Scholar
Published in The Bradenton Times Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:00 am
by Staff Report

BRADENTON -- On May 5, Timothy McGuire, the president of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that Kathleen Addison, a senior at Saint Stephen's Episcopal School was named a National Merit Scholar, one of the nation's top academic awards.

Each of the 2,500 students named across America achieved outstanding scores on the PSAT tests, the SAT tests, attained an exceptionally high school GPA and demonstrated campus and community leadership. A cheerleader, Addison is also the student council VP, an intern at Mote Marine, and co-founder of the nationally acclaimed History Heard education project.

She will attend Yale University in the fall where she was recently named as one of the elite students accepted to Yale's prestigious Directed Studies program. Yale accepted only 6% of more than 20,000 applicants and fewer than 10% of the admitted Yale freshmen were then invited to the Directed Studies program.

About becoming a National Merit Scholar, Addison stated that she was "thrilled" to be named a National Merit Scholar and continued, "I certainly hope this encourages younger students to realize that they can reach their dreams too . . . so dream big!"


Congratulations to the girls' track team on a great job at the State Track meet last week.
Alyssa Allen finished 14th in the Long Jump and 13th in the 200 meters; Hannah Howell finished 5th (tied for best individual finish in school history) with a school record in the 400 and 13th in the 800; and the 4 x 400 relay team of Alyssa, Hannah, Amy Ivin, and Gabrielle Woodruff finished 3rd--an incredible finish to the night and the best performance we have ever had.

Senior Athletic Recognition and Signing On Wednesday 4-28-10, we recognized 8 of our senior students who plan to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level next school year. Local news station WWSB - ABC 7 was here to video the ceremony. Coverage is included in this link.

Congratulations to our 4-H Tropicana Speech Contest winners!

4/5th Grade Contest
1st Samantha Brooks
2nd Henry Howell
3rd Kelsey Leskinen


6th Grade Contest
1st Joe Class
2nd  Shreya Patel
3rd Devon Sullivan

Good luck to Joe and Samantha who will be competing the the county competition on May 8.

Congratulations to the 13 Middle School students and the 17 Upper School students who attended the 61st annual Latin Forum, April 15-17, 2010.

This was a landmark year for Saint Stephen’s! Our best results ever at State.

The Junior division (six 7th grade students coached by Tony Haakman) took on schools with up to 25 students and came in 5th in Academics!!

The Senior Division (8th grade through 12th grade) came in 7th place in Academics and 9th place Overall!!

Jr Division:
Valerie Arias – Mottoes I, 9th place
Anna Boyd – Vocabulary 1/2, 3rd; Derivatives 1/2, 1st
Faith Rodriguez – Mottoes I, 7th
Joseph Schneider – Republic History I, 6th; Mottoes I, 6th
Prianka Singh – Empire History ½ -- 4th
Andrew Zandomenego – Vocabulary ½ -- 6th

Certamen:
Level I (Kemery Colbert, Kayla Hayes, Ashley Peterson, Gera Versfeld) – 4th place
Level II (Benjamin Israel, Shubham Mathur, Alex O’Dell, Shanil Wijesinghe) – 4th place

Tests:
Ishpaul Bhamber – Greek Lit Adv, 8th
Jenny Boothby – Derivatives Adv, 8th; Heptathlon Adv, 7th
Kemery Colbert – Republic History I, 4th
Laura De Maio – Grammar I, 7th; Vocabulary I, 3rd
Elizabeth Djinis – Grammar II, 8th; Vocabulary II, 1oth
Shelby Fauvel – Classical Art II, 6th; Customs II, 8th
Kayla Hayes – Customs I, 9th
Corinne Hill – Grammar Adv, 6th
Benjamin Israel – Heptathlon II, 3rd
Sarah Johnson – Classical Art II, 3rd; Geography II, 7th
Hannah Martell – Greek Lit II, 4th; Geography II 5th
Shubham Mathur – Mottoes II, 6th; Mythology II 4th
Devin McSweeney – Mythology I, 10th; Pentathlon, 10th
Alex O’Dell – Derivatives II, 2nd; Vocabulary II, 5th
Nilan Patel – Greek Lit Adv, 10th; Hellenic History Adv, 9th
Shreya Patel – Empire History II, 6th; Republic History II, 7th
Ashley Peterson – Mythology I, 6th; Vocabulary I, 4th
Alex Runde – Geography Adv, 7th; Mottoes Adv, 5th
Stephen Scroggins – Vocabulary Adv, 7th; Grammar Adv, 8th
Jamie Sokos – Classical Art Adv, 4th
Alex Stolarczyk – Pentathlon, 10th
Gera Versfeld – Derivatives I, 1st place; Vocabulary I, 4th place
Shanil Wijesinghe – Empire History II, 4th; Republic History II, 5th

That’s Entertainment:
Stephen Scroggins – 3rd place!

Congratulations to the second grade students who entered in this weekend's Flower Show at the Manatee River Garden Club. Each student received a ribbon for their achievement!

First Place and Youth Award for Best of Show:
Nicky Mattheys

First Place Winners:
Thomas Joyce
Gavin Dickman
Camden Vining
Katie Carlson
Salina Yathiraj
Andrew Southerland

Second Place Winners:
Catherine Van Keuren
Julian Sedillo
Ana Nikolic
Matthew King
Tyler Popp
Paul Williams

Third Place Winners:
Siddie Pennewill
Anika Kennedy
William Bernet
Jacob Whorf

Honorable Mention:
Hailey Kadivar

Countywide middle school track meet

Congratulations to Shelby Curtsinger, Lauren Csubak, Tiffany Chinwuba, Lindsay Leskinen, and Samantha Burgess who participated in the middle school track meet this weekend. Lauren Csubak placed 1st in the 1600m and 1st in the 800m. Lindsay Leskinen placed 1st in the 200m, 1st in the long jump, and 5th in the 100m. There were over 300 middle school students that participated in this event from Manatee County!

The Elementary School Track Meet is on April 24th at 9:00 AM at Braden River High.

Here's some very exciting news from the Upper School Photography Department

Five students (Megan Body, Brooke Cornetet, Morgan Johnson, Molly Martell, and Bianca Pol) are participating in the Cosmix Symposium on Art and Design for Immersive Media being held this weekend at Ringling College of Art and Design and Bishop Planetarium / South Florida Museum. Saint Stephen's will have 21 works that experiment with immersive media on display alongside the work of students and faculty from Ringling. This is an outstanding opportunity and a wonderful accomplishment!

Photo of 1000 Paper Cranes Place in Sarasota Art Show
A photograph of the 1000 paper cranes that our Lower and Intermediate School students folded was submitted to the 2010 Embracing Our Differences Art Show in Sarasota. Art teacher Ruth Gross was notified this week that the photograph placed in the show. This competition is international in scope and received almost 2500 submissions. Only 39 entries were chosen to be displayed on large billboards in Island Park (next to the Marina Jack Restaurant), and the school’s entry was one of those 39!
The show runs from March 28 – May 2.

Click on the link to see the school’s winning photograph. http://www.embracingourdifferences.org/art2010.html

The paper cranes in the photograph are the same ones that Jean Boothby took to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan during her visit in February.

2010 Alexi Tucker Memorial Show Award Winners Announced

Gordon Langeneger Award
Megan Body

Best of Show Two-Dimensional Works
Morgan Johnson

Best of Show Three-Dimensional Works
Lindsey Jones

Brooke Cornetet
Amanda Culp
Allison Dickey
Kodi Eastman
Amanda Everhardus
Briana Francis
Morgan Johnson
Sarah Johnson
Kaitlyn Moore
Nicholas Moore
Danielle Mustico
Charlotte O’Driscoll
Bianca Pol
Emma Revard
Stephen Scroggins
Jamie Sokos
Victoria Stadlin
Lucas Stolarczyk
Zina Versfeld

Saint Stephen's Student a National Merit Finalist

Original article published in the Bradenton Herald March 2, 2010

BRADENTON – Saint Stephen's Episcopal School student Kathleen Addison has been named a finalist in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship program.

She is part of a group of 16,000 U.S. high school seniors who were acknowledged as semifinalists in the fall recognizing their pursuit of academic excellence.

They are eligible for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards that will be offered this spring, according to information from the school.

Additionally, senior students Katie Field and Glorianna Thompson were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. as commended scholars. They were recognized with a letter of commendation signifying outstanding academic promise.

Saint Stephens Episcopal School Band at the Pittsburgh Pirates Pep Rally

Photo by Grant Jefferies/gjefferies@bradenton.com

Members of the Saint Stephens Episcopal School Band played for the baseball fans gathered at the Pittsburgh Pirates Pep Rally. Click here for the original article

Haiti relief efforts
Original article, courtesy of the Herald Tribune, can be found here: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100216/ARTICLE/2161013/1238/LIVING?Title=Firefighters-conducting-food-drive#

Saint Stephen's Episcopal School students, from left, fifth-grader Brianna Kudick, fourth-grader Hayes Chatham, fifth-grader Jerry Alex Monosiet and fourth-grader Ashley Long are shown with a bucket used to gather donations at the school for Haiti relief efforts. Through donations and a bake sale, students in prekindergarten through 12th grade collected more than $4,700 for the earthquake victims. The school also is collecting clothing, blankets and travel packs to send to Haiti.COURTESY PHOTO

Bradenton Private School LEEDs Manatee County In Going Green
By Jeff Berlinicke, courtesy of 83 Degrees Media.
Original article can be found here: http://www.83degreesmedia.com/features/greenschool021610.aspx

When Zachary Bessette walked into his new "green'' middle school after the winter holiday break, the first thing he noticed was the lack of odor.

"The new school doesn't smell,'' seventh-grader Zachary says. "Now that we have a school that's good for the environment, we don't have to smell fumes all the time. We are learning a lot about the environment and how to save it.''

Zachary and more than 120 students attend the environmentally friendly Saint Stephen's Episcopal School in Bradenton. The school, which previously operated out of the second floor of the campus church, is among the first publicly registered schools in the Tampa Bay region to seek a LEED "gold'' certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

LEED, which stands for Leadership, Energy, Environment, and Design, is a highly coveted award, and school boosters aim to achieve the designation by the end of the school year.

"We are working hard for this,'' says Jennifer Vigne, Saint Stephen's director of development. "The designation is special, not just because of what we are doing with the new school, but because the students are learning the importance of going green and the effects on the environment. ... To see the way the kids are treating the new school and taking advantage of the greening has been a special experience.''

Going green is a growing trend in schools throughout Manatee County. The new G.D. Rogers Garden Elementary School in Bradenton opened in August 2009 as the first Manatee County public school to be certified as a green school.

Investing For The Future
For Saint Stephen's leadership team, the opportunity to go green came with challenges different from those faced by public schools. Because the private school gets no state or federal funding, parents and alumni had to raise the funding necessary to move the school from the second floor of Christ Episcopal Church. Still, the $4.1 million project was completed in just nine months.

Vigne and Steve Arrington of Willis A. Smith Construction of Sarasota pushed hard for the project, believing that the cost of the transformation would be a good investment because it will pay for itself eventually.

The school, for instance, will pay 25 percent less for energy and will use 40 percent less water than a more traditionally constructed school of an equal size. The difference, Arrington estimates, should help the school recoup the additional costs incurred in about five years. After that, Arrington says, every dollar saved is a bonus.

Improvements in the school atmosphere are noticeable beyond the lack of odors. Consider the all-green sound-absorbent ceiling tiles. Students in science classes no longer have to concentrate over the sounds of school band class next door.

Students eagerly helped move boxes and books from their old classrooms to the new building, named the Sunlight Building after the benefactor, the Sunshine Natural Wellbeing Foundation.

"We are interested in the students knowing the importance of taking an ownership of the Earth,'' Vigne says. "We had this vision of a school that was environmentally friendly, and we wanted to show the students a way to create global actions and how to take care of the Earth.''

Saving Energy Through Recycling
Just about everything from the windows to the cabinets to the carpeting is green and contains very small amounts of toxic chemicals. The school has automatic lights in each room. Restrooms and classrooms have motion sensors that allow the lights to shut off automatically after a brief period of non-use.

The building also has low-flow faucets and low-volume irrigation sprinklers. Even the carpeting is made from recycled materials, and one room is used strictly for recycling.

Much of the material used to build the new school was made out of waste from landfills. Five dumpsters are being used to segregate and recycle leftover materials.

The school also has two sloped-metal storm roofs that help facilitate drainage and reflect the sunlight to provide for even more free energy.

The school slogan, "Go Green and Gold,'' based on LEED objectives, is posted proudly throughout the school. Students encourage each other to "reduce, reuse and recycle,'' and a "Go Green'' day is planned in April when students will be encouraged to get to school by carpooling, bicycling or taking a bus.

"We never really used to think about recycling at home,'' says eighth-grader Jaqueline Perron. "We just started to recycle and I talked my grandparents into doing it. If we don't protect the environment, nobody else will.''

The eighth-graders will get only half a year to enjoy the new school before moving to the high school that sits next to the new middle school. So it's the seventh-graders who are serving as "tour guides'' for the new school.

"We have everything we could want here and it makes it fun to come to school,'' says Morgan Healey. "We have new markers to write with on the boards. Now when I smell the old ones, they make me sick. This year's been great, but next year, when we have it to ourselves, that's really going to be awesome.''

Growing From Lessons Learned

School Director Janet Pullen said that, even though Saint Stephen's is a private school that supports itself, she hopes others in Manatee County learn from the private school's experiences in order to prepare for an impending population boom and the anticipated need for new schools.

More than 25,000 new homes are scheduled to be built in the Parrish and Ellenton area in the northeast part of the county in coming years, and while Palmetto Elementary is also being rebuilt, plenty of new schools will be needed.

"We can only hope to be a catalyst for all of the new schools and even the ones that are still here,'' Pullen says. "If we get the gold, that will really mean something to us and the rest of the schools in the county and in the entire Tampa Bay region.''

Saint Stephen's plans call for additional all-green athletic facilities, a new athletic center and a new performing arts building.

ABC 7 - New "green" school opens in Bradenton

Web camera unites American and Chinese students
Channel 10 News aired the coverage of our Atlas Initiative. View the clip below or click here to read the whole story.

Art Department Accolades

The Art Department is excited to announce the winners from the 2009-2010 Sarasota/Bradenton Airport Art Contest. Eighteen of our talented Saint Stephen's students either placed or were selected to have his or her artwork displayed at the ticketing wing for one full year.

K-2:
1st Place: Juliana Howe (1st Grade)

3-5:
2nd Place: Amy Woodworth (3rd Grade)
3rd Place: Lindsay Leskinen (6th Grade)

6-8:
2nd Place: Olivia Little (7th Grade)
3rd Place: Sarah Orlando (9th Grade)

Honorable Mention-Student artwork chosen to be on display for one year at the SRQ airport:

Cheyenne Fauvel (6th Grade)
Morgan Johnson (12th Grade)
Shelby Fauvel (9th Grade)
Avory LaValliere (9th Grade)
Toby Howell (7th Grade)
Tiffany Yoon (8th Grade)
Brooke Cornetet (12th Grade)
Lane Patterson (4th Grade)
Jessica Roberts (4th Grade)
Megan Body (12th Grade)
Molly Martell (11th Grade)
Madeline Cashen (K)
Madelyn Popp (K)

Bay News 9 Broadcasts the Atlas Initiative

ABC 7 - Bradenton School Uses Webcasts to Interact With African Students

BRADENTON - Students at St. Stephen's school in Bradenton are reaching across the world for weekly lessons.Each week they conduct live webcast transmissions with students in Tanzania.

They use a camera and Skype to transmit the live signal on the computer.

In Thursday's class, the African teenagers taught the American students about the history of Swahili.

"It's an exchange of cultures and it just broadens your way of thinking. And to be able to talk with students half way across the world is just the best experience, because you get to know their different perspectives," says St. Stephen's senior Brieanah Schwartz.

St. Stephen's is also doing weekly webcasts with students in China.

Fox 13 Broadcasts the Atlas Initiative - Tanzania Art Lesson

In the classroom, culture from a world away - Bay area school kids are going to class a world away -- without ever leaving home! Their "connected" classroom is linking them to different cultures, and the impact it's having on learning is What's Right with Tampa Bay.

Archived School News 2008-2009

Teacher Awarded Fellowship from The Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership
Upper School faculty member Dominique Craft has been awarded a fully-funded fellowship to the 2009 Summer Institute for Early Career Teachers offered by the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University. This distinguished award, granted to 75 beginning teachers annually, provides faculty with a program of intensive study, specifically designed to make early career teachers more effective leaders in the classroom and throughout the school through an exploration of teaching styles, educational philosophies, issues and personal development.

The Center attracts and selects educators who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishment or potential for excellence and equips them with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for informed and effective practice. The 2009 Summer Institute cohort includes teachers from all areas of the United States in addition to participants from Turkey, Lebanon, and Canada.

Faculty Member Receives FCIS Grant
Intermediate School faculty member Deb Nixon was selected as a recipient of the 2009 DeWitt E. and Vera M.Hooker Fellowship Award by the Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS.) The purpose of the award, which honors FCIS’ founding Executive Director and his wife, is to encourage the development of projects which will benefit the Council’s member schools, in particular, and private schools in general.
Nixon will present her project, Smile and Breath! Yoga Based Activities for the K-8 Classroom, with fellow faculty member Mary Ann Ewert this November at the 2009 FCIS Convention.

Alumnus Honored by Florida Sports Writers' Association
Congratulations to Conor McCarthy '09, who recently earned 2nd team All-State Class 2A Baseball honors by the Florida Sports Writers' Association.

Head of School Returns to China
Saint Stephen’s Head of School, Jan Pullen, visited China in June as a veteran delegate of the Chinese Bridge Program, a cooperation of the Chinese government, the Hanban, the College Board, and educators from across the United States. Pullen visited schools and meet with educators and government officials in Beijing and in the Heilongjiang province. As a result of participation in this program, Saint Stephen’s offers Mandarin instruction to students in grades Pre-K through 2 as well as an exchange-visit program with the Guilin Foreign Language School in Guilin, China. Click here to follow Jan’s blog as she circles the globe this summer.

Student Honored for Volunteer Service
Rising 9th grader Emily Clements was recently honored as Manatee County’s Youth Volunteer of the Year. Clements volunteered every month this past school year in the media center of Sea Breeze Elementary as a part of Saint Stephen’s Middle School IQ program.

Alumna Honored for Athletic Participation
Jennifer Denyes, an alumna of Saint Stephen's class of 2008, had an outstanding year for the Catawba College women's tennis team. She was recently named to the All-South Atlantic Conference 2nd Team for women's tennis. Click here for details:

http://gocatawbaindians.athleticsite.com/article.asp?articleID=3581

Denyes played tennis for Saint Stephen's from 9th - 12th grade. This year at Catawba College she started as a freshman and occupied the #1 or #2 spot all season for the Indians.

Student Named as Presidential Scholar
Senior Elan Ngyuen was recently named as one of 141 recipients in the
2009 Presidential Scholars Program. Only three of the Presidential Scholars are from the state of Florida.

The 141 Presidential Scholars include one young man and one young woman from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and from U.S. families living abroad, as well as 15 chosen at-large and 20 Presidential Scholars in the Arts. A 29-member Commission on Presidential Scholars appointed by the President selected the scholars based on their academic success, artistic excellence, essays, school evaluations and transcripts, as well as evidence of community service, leadership, and demonstrated commitment to high ideals.

For the past 45 years, this prestigious program has honored more than 6,000 of the nation’s top-performing students. Of the three million students expected to graduate from high school this year, more than 3,000 candidates qualified on the basis of outstanding performance on the College Board SAT and ACT exams, or by nomination through the nationwide youngARTS™ competition conducted by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

The Presidential Scholars program was created in 1964 to honor academic achievement. It was expanded in 1979 to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, literary and performing arts.

Since 1983, each Presidential Scholar has invited his or her most inspiring and challenging teacher to travel to Washington, D.C., to receive a Teacher Recognition Awardfrom the U.S. Department of Education and to participate in the recognition events. Elan has chosen Mr. Bernie Yanelli, a teacher of AP US History and Economics to accompany her on the trip.

Students Named as National Merit Finalists
Seniors Elaine Moore, Elan Nguyen, Zach Sobel and Hayley Tilton were recently namedas Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. They are part of a group of 15,000 students nationwide who will be eligible for 8,200 Merit Scholarships to be awarded beginning in March 2009

Mandarin Chinese Program Featured in the Bradenton Herald Saint Stephen's Mandarin Chinese program was recently featured in a video produced by the Bradenton Herald. Click to view the video and see our own Ms. Candy Chen go though a few basic phrases and the numbers one through ten.

Students Chosen for Summer Leadership Program
Five members of Saint Stephen’s class of 2010 have been selected to participate in this year’s Boys State program which will be held in Tallahassee this July. Congratulations to Cameron Ayala, Oliver Cok, Jimmy Kernan, Michael Morrow, and Matt Unzicker on receiving this prestigious honor.

Florida American Legion Boys State is a "leadership action program" where qualified male high school juniors take part in a practical government course. It is designed to develop a working knowledge of the structure of government and to impress upon each delegate that our government is what we make it. They will have the opportunity to learn the political process. Each level of government will be run by those delegates who are elected to serve. Instruction will be presented on the law and court system, legislative procedure, and Florida political history. More information on the program may be found at www.flboysstate.com