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Character Education at The
Summit Written by Mary Foss Brinkmeyer, Assistant Head “Kindness comes in all shapes and sizes…Kind thoughts-Kind words-Kind actions” -Character Program used by The Summit Fourth Grade This school year we have implemented many new opportunities for our students to develop good character through our Educating For Character Program. As we end this 2000-2001 school year, we would like to share with you some highlights from our Fourth Quarter activities: Spiritual Development: - Montessori All-Day and Primary students participated in a St. Julie Billiart Prayer Service on April 22. First Grade students who studied the life and good works of St. Julie, the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame, led it. - Middle School students honored St. Julie in a Prayer Service on May 4. Lower School and Middle School Campus Minister Mark Friedman told the students about the life of St. Julie and how the Sisters of Notre Dame founded The Summit in 1890. Fourth Grade students read the petitions asking that we treasure and live out the spiritual values passed on from St. Julie and the Sisters of Notre Dame. - On Mother’s Day, 65 Second Grade students received the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in The Summit’s Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel. Children wrote affirmations about themselves after listening to the song “I Believe in Me.” - Middle School students and their mothers celebrated Mother’s Day together at a lovely liturgy on May 11 planned by the Eighth Grade. Highlights of the Mass included a reading of the Magnificat of Mary and students presenting flowers to their mothers. - The May Crowning ceremony was held on May 21 for Montessori through Eighth Grade students. This delightful Summit tradition begins with Eighth Grade students proceeding down the aisle hand in hand with Montessori students. - Third Grade students celebrated their three years in the Primary with a special Mass on May 24. Kindness and Caring: - Throughout the school year First Grade students have been writing down their many acts of kindness. Mrs. Ann Thelen’s class had a fourth quarter celebration for achieving “100 Stars” for their Kindness and Caring Acts. - First Grade students celebrated Earth Day on April 27 by discussing ways of showing care for the earth. - The “Baseball Unit” was a favorite project for the First Grade. As part of this unit, students illustrated and framed “star” baseball characters (actually members of the class). Descriptive details including a “kindness and caring” trait were listed beneath each portrait. - A recent theme in Second Grade was “Fairy Tales.” One of the characteristics of a fairy tale is that “goodness is rewarded.” The children looked for examples of kindness and caring in them and noted how goodness is rewarded. - Third Graders helped to welcome back members of The Summit Fleur-de-Lis Society (alumni who graduated from the school forty years or more) by making and giving them “welcome cards” at a recent luncheon honoring them. Lunch was served by Seniors whose parents are also alums. - Third Grade students, under the direction of Mrs. Joan Ryder, performed a skit based on the character trait of honesty. The skit was taken from the book: Good Ideas to Help Young People Develop Good Character. - The Fourth Grade began a “Kindness Blitz” starting on May 7. They colored posters on kindness and caring and posted them throughout the Middle School. It is their hope that many, many acts of kindness will come from this activity. - Mr. Tom Power’s Fifth Grade Religion classes read and discussed passages from the book, What Would Jesus Do? and viewed situational video clips. To follow up, students were given the opportunity for reflection and to discuss the importance of appropriate behavior. - Sixth Grade classes have been busy with various activities to promote Kindness and Caring among the students. Mrs. Phyllis Mendel conducted a thoughtful journaling session with the students on friendships - how to be a friend and why and how friendships change. Mr. Skip Lynam viewed a video entitled, “Has Anybody Seen Phil?” and conducted a follow up discussion on caring for your classmates. All advisements continue to address kindness and caring issues as an integral part of the advisement activities. Christian Service: - First Graders collected money for various charities this quarter: Kid’s Café, which strives to prevent hunger among children in low-income neighborhoods by offering nutritious meals, and Race For The Cure. Students were asked to perform a special job at home to earn money for these projects. - Throughout the year Second Graders have continued to collect small toy items for young patients who are undergoing a medical procedure at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. - The Third Grade participated in a clothing drive for the home parish of Father Lawrence, a priest from Ghana, who is doing postgraduate work at the Athenaeum. - As part of their 3-dimensional geometry unit, Mrs. Kathryn Spivey’s Fifth Grade Math classes brought in 166 canned goods and boxed goods. After completing their unit on using the cans and boxes for volume and surface area, the food was donated to SOUL, a food pantry run by several churches in the Fairfield area. - Congratulations to the Sixth Grade who are the Grand Winners of the Middle School Penny War, which was organized by the Seventh Grade CAT (Christian Action Team) leaders. They earned two out-of-uniform days. The grand total collected was $2,970 - the largest ever! The proceeds were distributed to St. Joseph’s School, Our Daily Bread, Kids’ Café, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. - Seventh Grade students continue to plan CAT service activities. Recently they worked on various projects outside at IMAGO, an outdoor environment-nature center. - Operation Rice Bowl is one of the most popular programs of Catholic Relief Programs since 1976. Proceeds collected for this project are sent to El Salvador to provide relief to people in need, especially those who are suffering from the flooding. Students discussed this program in Mr. Jeff Tullos’ Seventh Grade Religion classes and asked if they could support this effort. They initiated a campaign and within a week they donated $130, filling up not one but three “rice bowls” with coins. - Middle School CAT leaders held a carnival for St. Aloysius Orphanage in May. They made booths, bought prizes, and organized the carnival for 60 children. - Another CAT service project was Box Tops for Education. Students collected box tops from any General Mills products and brought them to school. They were sent to General Mills who reimbursed us ten cents for every top collected. This year over 700 box tops were collected which translates to $70. With this money the team bought a gift for St. Francis Seraph School. - Upper School students participated in the fourth annual Unity Day on April 27. Students spent a day of festivities at the Athletic Complex with students from Washington Park Elementary School. The day was designed for students to circulate together through various activities including a craft area, carnival area, field games, and entertainment by a magician and our very own in-house Science expert (Upper School faculty member Mr. Edmund Escudero). This special celebration day culminated this year’s partnership activities between the two schools. - Congratulations to Senior Caitlin Nichols for being one of the five finalists and Junior Neal Glazier for being a nominee for the Simon Lazarus, Jr., Human Relations Awards presented by the American Jewish Committee. For 36 years the American Jewish Committee has recognized those outstanding students from Greater Cincinnati public, private, and parochial high schools, whose daily lives, activities, and behavior exemplify a concern for others and a desire to bring about better human relations in the school, in the community, or in their personal lives. - The Mayerson Foundation has again acknowledged The Summit’s excellent community service program by awarding us with its Community Service award. Thanks to the Christian Service Executive Board for an excellent year! Diversity: - Several Montessori parents visited classrooms to share their native countries with the students: Mrs. Rosaleena Marcellus, parent of Kathryn and Alexander, visited in May to speak about India with the students in Mrs. Karen Koch’s and Mrs. Linda Moeggenberg’s all-day Montessori classes. She wore a sari and shared pictures and artifacts. Dr. Marielle Samaha, Mia’s mother, visited Mrs. Ann Marie Kafoure’s and Mrs. Linda Moeggenberg’s Montessori classes to speak to the children about Lebanon. She showed the students the flag of Lebanon, two beautiful books, and told about the legend of a prince and princess. Mrs. Corrina Wong, Tracy’s mother, visited Mrs. Karen Koch’s class and shared numerous items from China. She demonstrated handwriting with a Chinese writing brush and showed them how Chinese letters are written from right to left and done vertically. Students looked at a very old Chinese book made of rice paper. Mrs. Wong told the students what it was like to grow up and go to school in Hong Kong. She said Chinese students learned to write the Chinese characters by age three and could write sentences with these characters by age six. She spoke about Chinese food and how the diet mainly consists of seafood, vegetables, and long and short grain rice. Students were amazed to learn about the many uses of chopsticks! Dr. Vicki Delamerced, Anna’s mother, presented pictures, cultural artifacts, and information about the Philippines to the First Grade students. She gave each student a small shell from her native country to take home. Mr. John Sansalone visited his daughter’s, Ms. Regina Sansalone, class to demonstrate the intricate craft of making Pysanka (Ukrainian) Easter Eggs. He showed the students pictures and told them what they represent to the Ukrainian people - a fish represents Jesus; a bird represents fulfillment of wishes; a pine tree represents youth and health; a lily represents purity; and a triangle represents the Trinity. - Mrs. Barb Sander’s Fourth Grade Social Studies classes studied the Southwest and celebrated this unit with the “Taste of the Southwest.” Students shared with each other a sample of southwest regional food and collected favorite family recipes to create a cookbook. - Through the Civil War units in Language Arts and Social Studies, Seventh Grade students learned the importance of diversity. - The Summit Upper School welcomed ten students and two teachers from Nancy, France on March 29 for a two-week visit. Many new friendships were made during this well-established exchange program of nine years. The two weeks were full of exciting trips to the Air Force Base Museum, Kings Island, a Reds game, the Omnimax, and shopping! - Eleven German Ninth Grade students from the Benedictine School in Schaftiam, Bavaria visited The Summit from April 26 to May 6. During this fourth student exchange visit, the students accompanied his or her Summit partner to classes in order to compare the German and American system of private education. They also visited Miami University, went to a Reds game and the Museum Center, canoed at Fort Ancient, and shopped at “The Mall!” Our eleven students will travel to Bavaria in July to visit their partners. According to Freshman Abbey Broerman, “We really enjoyed hosting these students…we established a friendly relationship with them and enjoyed their company. Their favorite activities were the canoe trip and going to a Reds game which was the first time to see a baseball game for many of our visitors. We are excited about visiting Germany in July and staying with our same partner.” - Five Upper School students, Megan Esslinger, Kahle Buse, Peter Emslander, Steven Haag, and Zak Calardo traveled with Art Department faculty member Mrs. Gloria Brinkman to Italy during Easter break. The students traveled to Rome, Sorrento, Assisi, Florence, Sienna, San Gimignano, and Venice. On Good Friday in Rome they had the opportunity of a lifetime to see and hear Pope John Paul II deliver an address to a massive gathering of people just outside the Coliseum. - Learning about the Holocaust continues to be an emphasis in both the Middle and Upper School social studies and history curriculum. Mr. Skip Lynams’s Sixth Grade classes studied about it recently as they learned about World War II and Mr. Jeff Stayton’s Upper School elective Class, entitled Holocaust and Human Behavior, dedicates an entire semester to this topic. Student Work Ethic: - First grade is concluding their year by having each student prepare a “story bag” with objects that relate to a story they read aloud to their classmates. Each student also prepared a rainforest diorama that was displayed for Campus Day. - Seventh Graders Lauren Evans, Roger Weber, and Alan Fiser participated in the OMEA (Ohio Music Educators Association) contest and received superior and excellent ratings. - From Friday, April 27 to Sunday, April 29, The Summit hosted the Annual Celebration of the Classics 2001 with a marathon reading of the Iliad. According to legend, the blind Greek poet Homer composed the Iliad around 750 BC. It tells the story of the ‘wrath of Achilles’ and its dire consequences during the final years of the Trojan War. The purpose of this event was to gain a greater appreciation of the literature of classical antiquity. Past marathon readings have included Virgil’s Aeneid, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and Homer’s Odyssey. Over 60 parents and students participated in the opening ceremonies. After three hours of reading on Friday night, 12 hours on Saturday, and five hours on Sunday, the weekend concluded with the entire group of students reading together the epic’s final line. The reading of the Iliad in English was the main event and there were other activities such as arts and crafts projects and ‘Funeral Games’ including a sprint, a long jump, discus throwing, and a ‘warrior rescue’ - actually an egg toss! During the 20 hours of reading, students and parents not only gained a greater understanding of the Iliad but also discovered the joy of performance literature. Thanks to the Latin department and to all who participated and contributed to this wonderful weekend. - The Latin Honor Society (LHS) is an honorary organization for students who have exhibited excellence in the study of the Latin language. Each year students must maintain above a B+ average in Latin and demonstrate dedication and enthusiasm for the language. The functions of the LHS include service activities, peer tutoring, and the organization of the annual “Summit Certamen.” Latin faculty Mr. Larry Dean and Mrs. Kim Ashcraft are happy to announce that 52 Summit students earned induction into the LHS. Twenty-eight students have earned the honor for the first time, ten for the second time, six for the third time, and four each for the fourth and fifth times. All of these students have clearly demonstrated excellence in the classroom and an appreciation for the Latin language. - Eighth Grade students entered 14 projects in the Ohio Regional Science Fair at Miami University and five projects were rated superior and eight were rated excellent. The Summit Eighth Grade was awarded a trophy for the second highest number of superior projects. Valerie Resnick’s project was awarded a certificate of achievement as the second best project in the Medicine/Health category. Four students’ projects were selected to advance to the Ohio State Science Fair Finals at Ohio Wesleyan University (only 62 out of 643 projects were selected). Three students participated in the finals and their dedication, preparation, and knowledge resulted in three excellent presentations. Stefan Kathman’s project “The Evolution of Pollution” involved research in two continents, three states, and four rivers. Stefan received an excellent rating. Kevin Gabelman’s project “You’ll Get A Charge Out of This” involved the construction and function of a homemade battery and corresponding compression testing. Kevin received a superior rating. David Robertson’s project “It’s Paper Towel Testing Time” involved the analysis of paper towels in five categories and in three different environments. David received a Superior Rating with Distinction scoring 38 of 40 points. Congratulations to all of the students who participated! - Mrs. Marianne Martin’s Sixth Grade Math classes participated in the Stock Market Game sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Center for Economic Education. Twenty-four teams of four to five students were given an imaginary “$100,000” each to invest on NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX using the Internet. Students learned how to buy, sell, and calculate broker commissions. The winning team was the one who made the most profit on their investment at the end of ten weeks. Students applied their knowledge of math concepts of decimals, fractions, percent, and profit and loss. Congratulations to all the teams who participated. - The Regional Tournament of the Power of the Pen took place on March 31 at The School of Creative and Performing Arts. The combined Seventh and Eighth Grade Teams won the Sweepstakes trophy for the third year in a row, designating them the best over all writing team in the Southwest region. The Seventh Grade Team of Laura Burton, Abby Moore, William Eschenbacher, Dennis Sweeney, Stephanie Long, and Stephanie Kortyka won the First Place Team Award out of 50 participating schools. Individual awards include: Eighth Graders, Alex Heekin-First Place, Margot Pace-Seventh Place, and Luke Albi-Thirteenth Place (Luke also won two Best of the Best Awards for his individual writing pieces) and Seventh Graders, Dennis Sweeney-Fourth Place, Abby Moore-Fifteenth Place. Stephanie Long also won a "Best of the Best" Award for one of her pieces. The Seventh Grade Team and Eighth Graders, Luke Albi, Alex Heekin, and Margot Pace qualified for the State Tournament on May 25th at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Teaching Values through The Curriculum: -Montessori students in Ms. Karen Pohl’s classes practice handwriting skills by copying some ‘life generalization sayings’ such as: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” “Patience is a virtue; I practice it” and “These are the magic words - Please and Thank You.” - Students in Mr. Jeffrey Tullos’ Seventh Grade Religion classes studied the saints and their virtues and presented their research to the class using a “To Tell the Truth” format. - Morality was the topic for Mrs. Mary Rose Collins’ Fourth Quarter Eighth Grade Religion classes. Students studied and discussed conscience formation, moral decision making, and worked in groups to analyze moral dilemmas and to solve problems through consensus. - Eighth Grade students and their Fourth Grade “buddies” worked together for a major learning project! Eighth grade students in Mrs. Mary Rose Collins’ classes and Fourth Grade students in Mrs. Patti Kenny’s and Mrs. Diane Uckotter’s classes partnered for a Reading/Religion activity. They read together Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. They discussed together the virtues of the book’s main characters and used the Internet to research websites on Japanese history and culture. In the book, 12 year-old Sadako Sasaki dies of leukemia she acquired as a result of radiation from the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Japanese legend believes that if a sick person folds one thousand paper cranes the gods will grant his or her wish. Sadako’s wish is to be better, but before she completes her task she dies. In the spirit of kindness and caring and as a healing activity, Fourth and Eighth Grade students folded 1,000 paper cranes that will be delivered to the memorial in the Hiroshima Peace Park. The folding of the cranes is our wish and prayer for a peaceful world and a cure for cancer. They inscribed each of them with their own prayer and a statement that is at the base of Sadako’s statue: This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world. - According to Upper School Art Department Faculty Member Mrs. Gloria Brinkman, “The issues and dilemmas of a society have historically been brought to the attention of the public through visual means. Social satire, caricature, and visual metaphor play a big role in helping people come to grips with situations, ideologies, or personalities that vie for attention in the political or social arena at any given time and place.” Inspired by the editorial lithographs of 19th century artist Honore Daumier, Mrs. Brinkman challenged her Graphic Design students to compose editorial posters that would focus on character issues. Each poster was to address an every day adolescent behavior that demonstrates lack of character. Drawing direction from Dr. Tom Lickona’s directives for developing good character, the students were to find images from sources that could serve to illustrate its concepts. Text graphics were required to include a passage from Dr. Lickona’s remarks. These original works were on display in the Campus Day Art Show and copies hang in the Anne-Michele Lovell Student Art Gallery on the second floor of the main building. Drug and Alcohol Prevention: - In March Seventh Graders participated in a Drug and Alcohol Awareness Panel that involved various experts in the field who spoke about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Students in Mrs. Kristi Brandabur’s classes were asked to reflect on those presentations in writing. Here are two reflections: “ It really made an impact on me…I don’t want to harm my body in any way, nor the people I know and love…I got the message that you aren’t ‘cool’ when you use drugs and there are other ways of fitting in…I know now how to talk to some people and help them.” -Lindsay Wagner “ These speakers and you, Mrs. Brandabur, have really prepared me for what’s out there and that the choices are all up to me. I appreciate that more than anything now…so when the time comes and I have the courage to say no, think how grateful I will be if I can make the right decisions. The panel has helped me learned the easy way when they had to learn the hard way. They are helping protect the adults and teens of the future to learn the fun thing isn’t always the right thing.” -Stephanie Long Student Leadership: - Leadership opportunities for students begin in the Montessori. Students exhibited a fine example of this during the Mother’s Day Program. One student after another introduced the different classes who performed. This program was student-led under the direction of Lower School Music faculty member, Mrs. Rebecca Slater. - First Grade students prepared a personal baseball card that included a statement about how they best contribute to the First Grade team. - Students in Mrs. Amy Iorfida’s Third Grade participated in class meetings and discussed the six pillars of good character: Respect, Responsibility, Trustworthy, Caring, Fairness, and Good Citizenship. Students wrote acrostic poems about responsibility and wrote a paragraph about what it means to them. They identified individuals in society who exemplify “good characters” according to the six pillars. The class continues to have class meetings to discuss issues that are of concern to the students and ways to address them. - Fifth and Sixth Grade students along with Band Director Sarah Nowlin hosted Mrs. Linda Moeggenberg’s and Mrs. Karen Koch’s All-day Montessori classes as they practiced for their May concert. - Upper School students hosted the Spring Miami Valley Conference Student Forum on May 3. Thirty-six students from conference schools participated in a leadership workshop conducted by our AYF Senior Team members. According to Senior Katie Bunch, “The goal of this workshop was for our team to demonstrate and teach our peers from other schools the techniques we use in the Upper School to implement action plans which we feel are important.” - Seven Upper School students were leaders for the Middle School Creating Leaders Conference and the High School Teen Leaders Conference held on two consecutive Saturdays in March: Andrew Evelo, Karen Uckotter, Ryan Cullen, Jacqueline White, Whitney Manning, Teddy Humpert, and Margo Richey. They attended approximately 20 hours of training prior to the conferences. In addition, eight Middle School students and eight Upper School students participated in the conferences. They attended workshops to learn more about developing leadership skills, leading a healthy life, and making good decisions. According to Freshman Karen Uckotter, “ We all enjoyed working with students from six different schools during the day and we have stayed in touch with many of them. Seven of the 17 peer leaders were from The Summit. Our job was to perform “medicine shows” which were skits about topics such as the dangers of alcohol and drugs. We also facilitated the various workshops during the day. After the conferences we received positive responses from several students about how much they learned and how they have been helped.” - The Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership program is an international leadership training opportunity for sophomores. It is presented throughout the country and is open to one student selected by each participating school. Congratulations to Sophomore Jim Fisk who will participate in this seminar at the University of Dayton June 1 - 3. - Nineteen Junior members of the American Youth Foundation (AYF) hosted the Spring workshop on May 9. There are three workshops per year led by the AYF staff from St. Louis. This workshop is always for the new teams from each school. They spend the day engaged in team building activities to prepare for next year. These are just a few of the many activities of our Educating For Character Program. We have had a most productive year of implementation and we would like to thank the Educating For Character Committee for supporting this program and for providing information for this report: Montessori-Mrs. Diane Fee and Mrs. Linda Moeggenberg; First Grade-Mrs. Ann Thelen; Second Grade-Mrs. Kathleen Kane; Third Grade-Mrs. Joan Hilton; Fourth Grade-Mrs. Diane Uckotter; Fifth Grade-Mrs. Brenda DelFavero; Sixth Grade-Mrs. Maureen Everhart; Seventh Grade-Mr. Jeff Tullos; Eighth Grade-Mrs. Mary Rose Collins; Middle School-Mrs. Patty Argus and Mr. Mark Friedman; and Upper School-Ms. Laura Haas and Mr. Mike Johnson. Your input and support are greatly appreciated as we prepare for the 2001-2002 school year. Have a wonderful summer!!!!!
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