President Art Raimo addressed the class and told the students, “My prayer for you today as you graduate is that you will grow into women who will truly make a positive difference in the world, people who take the following words from the Old Testament Book of Micah to heart: You have been told what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God.”

Salutatorian Josie Little and Valedictorian Mary Green

An excerpt from valedictorian Mary Green’s commencement address:
However, the thing that makes the Academy of the Holy Names so special is not its outwards aesthetics, but its people: the administration, which leads us to success; the faculty, which teaches us more than just lessons of books, but lessons of life; the Sisters of the Holy Names, who guide us in our everyday activities to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ; the alumnae, who encourage the school to keep its traditions alive as it has done for the past 131 years; the parents, who give so much so that their daughters can attend the best school in the area; and of course, the students, who are the reason the Academy was founded. Each of these people help to establish in us the mission the Academy has as a Catholic school.

Of course, we learn the standard math, science, English, history and language classes that any other American high school student would learn. However, we also learn about life itself and what we are called to do with our Academy education. We are called to be leaders of the world, givers of our time and talents, and followers of Christ. Since we are a Catholic school, we take our religion classes as a serious and essential part of the curriculum. The Academy religious education culminates with the two senior year classes, Christian Lifestyles and Social Justice. In Christian Life, the seniors learned how to live our lives under the guidance of Jesus and how to be the best person we can be. We found out what it means to love, to have faith, to be an Academy graduate, and most of all, to be a Christian. In Social Justice, the Class of 2012 shed light on the various problems our world faces today. This may sound a little somber, but we also learned about people like Jean Donovan, Mahatma Gandhi and Dorothy Day, who made a lot of progress in solving these problems. These lessons inspire us to go out into the world and address its concerns, fulfilling our mission as Christians.

Click here to read Mary’s speech in its entirety at Achona online.

An excerpt from salutatorian Josie Little’s commencement address:
I have been pondering the secret behind an Academy education for some time now because I knew I wanted to find a college that was like Academy. I was convinced that if I found a university with a small enough student body then I would have recreated the magic formula that makes this place so uniquely wonderful. But I was wrong. As I procrastinated on my college decision, I realized that what makes AHN so special is that it is a school with a soul. As a Catholic institution, Academy wasn’t simply interested in funneling us into the wonderful colleges that we are about to attend, nor was it interested in leaving our minds unchallenged. Instead, Academy had a vision for us when we did not yet have one for ourselves.

None of our teachers ever lost sight of our true potential. For instance, I once received over four consecutive B-minuses on one particular assignment in one particular class. I became convinced that injustice in America was real, and it was happening to me. But when I finally received an A, I realized that the best gift our teachers have given us was always demanding the best.

Nevertheless, Academy has never been about quizzing us to death or filling us with facts and figures. It exists to educate the whole person and to form individuals who care about the world around us. Before I came here, I didn’t think about the environment. I thought that was dumb. But this school taught me that I was wrong.  Through service days, mission trips and religion classes, I know that Academy opened all of our eyes to the need for caring about each other, to question what it really means to be women of faith, and to make the world around us a better place.

Click here to read Josie’s speech in its entirety at Achona online.

“As we will be celebrating your 50^th Jubilee at Easter Mass, I’d love to feature a blog about the significance of the Jubilees to the Sisters.”

A response from Sister Ann:

Yes, no problem! I began to write.

This year the Sisters of the Holy Names in the Tampa Mission Centre held their annual celebration in honor of their Jubilarians during the all-school Easter Liturgy in the Brady Center on April 16^th. Sister Lillian Schneider celebrated 60 years as a vowed religious, while Sister Elizabeth Crean and Sister Ann Regan celebrated 50 years as vowed religious.

Sister Ann, Sister Lillian and Sister Elizabeth following Mass.

Oh, a small problem, what do I say next? Probably, for most people anyway, the words Jubilee and Jubilarians are mysterious. I have learned from students that when you are in doubt, just Google. I did, and here is what I found:

• Comes from Hebrew yobhel, “ram’s horn,” which was used as a trumpet to proclaim the jubilee, a year of emancipation and restoration (every 50 years).
•  A specially celebrated anniversary, especially a 50th anniversary.
• The year of Jubilee in both the Jewish and Christian traditions is a time of joy, the year of remission or universal pardon

It was then that I realized I could not speak to the significance of jubilee for all the Sisters. I could only reply for one. For me, jubilee has been an experience of deep reflection on the past. Time spent celebrating wonderful memories of joy. Time spent repenting for sins of the past. An acknowledgement that the title Sister certainly is not the same as the title Saint. Although many times my student abbreviated my name as St. Ann; I did not correct them!

For me jubilee is a time of emancipation and restoration. I remember my years at the Academy and realize that I am not the same person who came here to teach junior high students in 1974. During those years I have gone form 20/20 vision to bifocals to cataract surgery. The school, too, has changed. The chapel where the Sisters gathered for morning Mass and evening vespers now is used for class Masses and sometimes Taize Evening Prayer. The dining area where over 20 sisters enjoyed community and Sister Lauriana’s home cooked meal is now a kindergarten classroom.

Emancipation is a freeing process. It brings true joy. The Sisters do not have to be in the chapel praying each morning and evening. God is there as a blessing to all who enter. The laughter and stories that were part of our community meals are still echoing in that first floor room. Now they are the laughter and stories of five-year-olds. God is there among us blessing all we do in His Holy Name. Emancipation has given me the freedom to know my place. I have to show up each day, but God is there working the miracles.

What is the significance of jubilee for this Sister? Jubilee has been a time of restoration, a time for remission, forgiveness and joy. My life has been spent working in the field of education—education in the faith. To celebrate my jubilee at the school Easter liturgy, what more could one ask?

- Sister Ann Regan, SNJM

My first Academy mission trip began early (4:45 a.m.) on Sunday, March 11th, at the Tampa airport. There were 21 of us—faculty member Edna Swafford (this was her fifth year volunteering to lead this trip), junior parent Dr. Solveig Ruppel, myself and 18 girls. Sleepy but excited, we flew to Charlotte, took another flight to Roanoke and then loaded ourselves and all our gear into three minivans to drive two hours to our destination, a modest six bedroom, two bath cabin at the Appalachian Folk Life Center in Pipestem, West Virginia. After a trip to buy groceries, we prepared and ate dinner and then attended an interesting information session by the center’s director. Then it was back for dishwashing and clean-up duties before we headed off to our cabin and collapsed into bunk beds—almost 19 hours after our day had begun!

We were assigned to the home of a woman in Bluefield which was about a 45-minute drive on winding mountain roads. The overwhelming poverty was clearly evident in Bluefield, particularly on her street. Her home was located at the top of the steepest street any of us had ever seen. There was a small, level area in front of her house and the residents would come all the way up and make a turn to go back down because it was too steep to do so anywhere else. Because of this, we met almost all the street’s residents and other curious neighbors in the first few days. Every one of them stopped by and told us what a wonderful thing we were doing. It was clearly evident that they all looked out for one another and deeply appreciated the fact that we cared enough to be there. Most of them came by every day to check on our progress and praise our efforts.

Both mentally and emotionally challenged, the woman we were helping lived alone now in her childhood home. The disrepair and neglect that confronted us on that first day was almost overwhelming. I truly did not know if we would be able to “fix it.” A previous group had put on a new roof but the damage done by leakage was terrible, particularly in the kitchen. The ceiling was collapsing and there was dirt, mold and years of grime to remove from every surface. The floor was peeling up, cabinets were broken, as well as a window and the kitchen door. We were supported each day by an incredible handyman named Mark, and he told the girls we were going to give her a new kitchen. They cleaned, installed drywall on one wall, painted, repaired cabinet doors, washed everything in the room and helped lay the new linoleum! Mark installed the new ceiling and door and repaired the window and taught the girls to do all that they did.

While one crew worked in the kitchen, the rest of us had to scrape and paint the entire exterior of her wood-frame home. The yard sloped down and placing ladders was precarious, but while some held ladders, others climbed them and scraped for a full day or so and then painted the entire house, including a front and back porch and eaves on the front and back of the roof.

I was so impressed with how the girls problem-solved, cooperated and worked hard each day so our group could complete this enormous task. In addition to their hard work, the kindness they showed Vickie, the homeowner, was touching. Away from the worksite, the girls were divided into three groups with one senior and two juniors acting as group leaders. The groups rotated cooking, dishwashing and prayer service detail daily, after working on Vickie’s home.

In addition to all our work, we also had a great deal of fun. Going out for ice cream, making s’mores around a campfire, playing board games and dealing with our daily (sometimes humorous) dramas—catching the “snack eating” mice in our cabin, getting a ticket on the way back from the work site one day, locking the key inside the van that held the lunches, sitting in the vans during a scary thunderstorm as lightning hit one of our ladders at the house knocking out all the power, and finally having our flight delayed on the way home.

It’s amazing to me how close you can feel to people after only one week, but I know I will always value the friendships made with each person in the group, and I will never forget the look on Vickie’s face as the girls walked her around her home and showed off all the improvements we accomplished. She had tears in her eyes as she took a group picture with the girls, and as she waved goodbye to us on the last day. We all knew we had made her life just a little bit better—we had made a difference!

- Maureen Raimo

The high school Mini-Course Week began with Ron Collins and Julius Mendoza of Tampa Taiko pounding various types of “taiko” (Japanese drums) with their “bachi” (drumsticks). After several songs, they brought up Mrs. Dana Nazaretian, the Mini-Course Week coordinator, to join in the fun and she was soon followed by seniors Amanda McWilliams, Leigh Ann Russell, and teachers Mrs. Linda Nutter and Mrs. Beth Sawyer. As we learned from the presenters, the Japanese drums were traditionally used for many different purposes from warfare to rain dances to driving away evil spirits. I am writing this before the week comes to an end, so I hope I am not premature when I say that this week has been a rousing success without warfare or rain and we only had one “evil spirit” that delayed a bus leaving.

Due to careful planning by Mrs. Nazaretian and the help of many volunteers and teachers, students spent the week engaged in non-traditional learning environments that veered far afield from the standard rigor of “reading, writing and arithmetic.” Students were able to explore new forms of exercise as they tested their bodies (and their rhythm/balance) against Bollywood dancing, Zumba, kickboxing, yoga, ice skating and bowling. They learned about a variety of careers such as journalism, medicine, interior design, restaurant management, politics and the law; they engaged in handy crafts like cake decorating, pottery, flower arrangement, scrapbooking and Greek cooking; they broadened their understanding of academic subjects with courses such as Women’s Health, Chinese Language and Culture, Shakespeare and Acting; and they delved into science and culture with trips to MOSI and Epcot.

Of course there were also students who opted to spend the entire week visiting France and immersing themselves in French culture, or living our motto Esse Quam Videri (“To be rather than to seem”) as they served those in need with acts of charity in Ruskin, Florida; Pipestem, West Virginia (Appalachia); Jonestown, Mississippi (shown below singing with the choir at Immaculate Conception Church); and La Victoria in the Dominican Republic.

As assistant principal, one of my primary duties is to oversee co-curricular activities related to student life such as clubs and Mini-Course Week; while I love and respect our academic endeavors, Mini-Course exemplifies a complementary part of the education we offer here at Academy that seeks to educate the whole child. To emphasize that point, we started calling our non-academic activities “co-curricular” activities rather than the traditional “extra-curricular” activities. A reader might argue that, as Shakespeare put it, “a rose by any other name” has the same bouquet, and I would agree that Mini-Course Week and our other co-curriculars have always been roses in the hair of our graduates—roses that distinguish them far beyond other graduates because they develop their good character. Such a distinguishing feature deserves to be intentional.

Just the other day, I was speaking with the head of another renowned Tampa private school and he could not stop praising our students for their good character and our academic rigor, but it is notable that our students’ character is what really caught his attention. Of course, we might simply look to Blessed Marie Rose who sought and taught us to actualize the words of Jesus: “I have come to cast a fire upon the earth.”  I think we have caught more than a little of that fire this week.

–Jack Mullarkey, High School Assistant Principal

• reading and annotating digital novels
• looking up vocabulary while reading to increase comprehension
• online literature circle discussions
• creating/presenting video book talks on IR books they’ve read
• pre-writing and drafting in Writers’ Workshop
• creating and collaborating with Google Docs
• taking notes (dropping in pictures when appropriate)
• Internet-based research
• organization

We have only been using our devices for a short period of time, but exciting things are happening! Not only are students more excited and engaged in the classroom, but their reading test scores have steadily increased over the course of our novel study. Although we have not changed what we are learning, technology is enhancing and addressing students’ individual learning styles. Students who previously used Post-It Notes now add highlights and make annotations using the note function in their digital books. The digital notes feature allows students to organize their notes into a study guide and access their notes from home or school. But the function that seems to have increased reading comprehension the most is the ability of students to look up words they don’t know while reading—just by the touch of a finger.

Collaboration in our language arts classroom has increased as well. Using a variety of devices, our 6th-graders are using Google Docs to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with their classmates.

We know that incorporating technology in the classroom promotes critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and creates a more student-centered learning environment. Witnessing the changes it has made in our language arts classroom is truly energizing and inspiring.

It’s an exciting time for students and teachers at AHN!

The summer before high school, I suffered a terrible eating disorder which left me hospitalized for 11 weeks of intense treatment in Tulsa, Oklahoma—1,200 miles away from home. I came back—just five days before I started high school—to a huge, supportive group of 76 girls I call my sisters. Now having successfully completed four years in recovery, I feel God chose me to go through that experience and proceed forward with a passion for helping other despondent women. I found no place better to exercise this calling than at the Academy where eating disorders are unfortunately an issue among the all-girl community.

In order to publically promote awareness about this issue, the Academy administration and I have planned a week filled with activities and events to support National Eating Disorders Awareness (NEDA) week 2012, the theme being “everyone knows somebody.” To kick off the festivities, there the high school participated in “Turn it out Tuesday,” enforcing the idea that the beauty of what’s on the inside is what truly matters. Students were found all over school with shirts and sweatshirts worn inside-out to symbolically represent their beauty within.

Along with that theme, on Wednesday all the mirrors in the high school were covered to promote positive self-talk, admiration and beauty. On Thursday, we held a healthy bake sale, as it is important to recognize that food is not the enemy. This healthy bake sale, sponsored by SADD club, enforced the need to honor your body’s natural hunger. Proceeds will benefit the upcoming NEDA walk.

To close our week, there will be a photo taken in front of the school with the high school students holding a banner that reads “AHN supports NEDA week 2012.” I thought this would be a great gift to send to the National Eating Disorder Association pledging the Academy’s support.

This weekend, the week will culminate with the 2012 NEDA walk here in the Bay area. The walk begins at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 25th, at Al Lopez Park. The Academy would love more people walking with our team! If you would like to walk, please register with the Academy team here. I am proud to say we have raised $10,565 so far!

Ever since 2004, each senior class has made their mark through the establishment of a senior endowment, providing an annual scholarship to an AHN student with financial need and giving evidence of the values taught at the Academy. The Class of 2004 first sold T-shirts to raise funds. Since then, other classes have held many types of fundraisers, including a Valentine’s dance, a fashion show, a fashion/talent show, a family festival, an AHN vs. Jesuit “Brain Bowl,” a “tag sale” and a “Mr. AHN Sweetheart” dance competition. Another great tradition was born out of the senior endowment fundraising: the beloved Annual Christmas Movie on the Lawn, providing a family-fun event for the Academy community to get into the Christmas spirit.

This year, the Class of 2012 wanted to stand out, but at the same time hold true to Academy’s theme of sisterhood. Brainstorming began in November. In the midst of all the ideas, “Academy’s Got Talent” show was born. Instead of just limiting the show to only senior performers, we wanted to give other grade levels a chance to participate.

As glamorous as the talent show sounded, a lot of preparation had to be put into it such as holding auditions, a dress rehearsal and thinking of ideas to raise money in addition to ticket sales. Senior class officers spent three mornings holding auditions along with our auditions judges, Mr. Mullarkey, Ms. Muzquiz and Ms. Linda. It was especially heartbreaking to narrow the list of performers from 15 to 10, because not only did everyone showcase their talent, they mustered up the courage to audition and wake up early to go to auditions.

After the final performers were determined, we set up the money jars in the foyer. Each performer had their own money jar with their picture right next to it, and to help them win the competition, other students would put in money. By the end of the week—to our surprise—the jars and ticket sales raised about $400 and our excitement for the show heightened.

Sarah Davis, Kayla Rodriguez and Siobhan Lynch

Senior Sarah Davis, with her poetry performance, placed third, freshman Siobhan Lynch and her rendition of Nicki Minaj’s “Superbass” won second, and freshman Kayla Rodriguez, who sang “No One” by Alicia Keys, won first place—along with a trophy, roses and a $50 American Express gift card. As the Brady Center emptied, the vice presidents and I couldn’t help but feel a sigh of relief. All the hard work and stress paid off in the form of more than $2,600 earned from concession sales, the money jars, ticket sales and donations. We did it! We managed to organize a show that showcased the talent of our fellow Academy sisters. We felt the support and love from not only our senior class, but our families, the faculty and staff of Academy and the Academy community in general. But most of all, we were able to finally leave our mark as the Class of 2012 in Academy history.

- Reena Martinez, Senior Class President

A year and a half ago, when I first joined FIRST FRC Team 3164, Academy-Jesuit robotics, as a shy freshman, I never imagined I’d be making jokes with a colonel and have a catch phrase. Now, I can’t imagine life without robotics.

Academy-Jesuit robotics was started by Cole Schnitzer almost three years ago when he moved to Tampa. The Jesuit school Cole had previously attended also had a FIRST FRC team and Cole was motivated to start one here at Tampa. The inaugural team had three Academy seniors.

Last year, when I initially joined during the third week of school, the Academy seniors had all graduated and only myself and one other freshman came from AHN. However, by the time kickoff–the day when we find out the game for which a robot must be built for competition–had arrived, seven girls were on the team. This year there are eight of us and not only a FRC team, but also a FTC team.

Now for a little background on FIRST robotics. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was started by Dean Kamen–the inventor of the Segway–and Woodie Flowers. Dean Kamen had a dream of making science “cool” and getting more teenagers interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) job fields. Today, FIRST contains four programs: Jr. FLL (FIRST LEGO League) for six- through nine-year-olds, FLL (FIRST LEGO League) for ages 9-14/16 depending on where you live, FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) and FRC (FRIST Robotics Competition) for ages 14-18. Each program has an individual game each year with a kickoff and competition dates.

AHN-JHS robotics considers FTC to be similar to junior varsity and FRC to be similar to varsity, as FRC builds a larger robot and has only six weeks to design, build and test their robot. This year in FTC the girls rocked by filming, editing and producing an amazing video to be presented to judges at competition. I am also the FTC head coach, shouting directions at the drivers and managing strategy. With the help of our strategy and video, FTC received a ticket to the upcoming state competition.

In FRC, we have girls writing applications for awards such as the Chairman’s Award and the Woodie Flowers Award. Girls are cutting metal, PVC piping, wood and even the occasional table. The Academy students program so well that one of them even teaches the programming class from time to time. Although there are only eight of us, we are pushing the boys out of the way and actively participating in each and every aspect of the six week brainstorm, design, prototype, build and test period.

You can bet that all eight of us will attend and be part of  the competitions and combine our enthusiasm with the guys’, possibly even showing them up in spirit. Academy girls may be the minority at Academy-Jesuit robotics, but that makes us no less valuable and makes our experience no less inspirational.

Let’s go FIRST FRC Team 3164 and FTC Team 4960!

- Gabby Madden (A’14)

We are excited to be part of AHN’s BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) pilot program. As part of the program, students in grades 8-12 bring their devices into the pilot classrooms and access AHN’s wireless network.

On any given day students in Spanish class will:

• Access the class website to get the day’s work, needed links or forms.
• Listen to a grammar overview done on the SMART Board or regular whiteboard and take notes on their devices. They may take pictures of the notes on the board to later insert into their documents.
• Use their devices to access Quizlet.com and complete practice tests, then go to a Google form to report a reflection on what they need to focus on to better master vocabulary.
• Use Voice Memo to record their conversations and hear themselves, then email them to me.
• Access Socrative.com and/or Google forms to practice their grammar; sometimes these will be individual, other times we will project everyone’s (anonymous) answers on the board and discuss.
• Use their QRC reader apps to complete activities with QR codes.
• Use their devices to type written pieces directly into AHN’s Google Docs, allowing for collaboration between us.
• Use their devices to do their written work instead of hand writing it.

The more we use these devices, the more we learn. We have discovered how to manage the distractions these devices can present and that we need to be open to experiment in order to find our own individual “best” environment for learning. We are also going through some self discovery, identifying where this technology can best help each of us individually, which tools fit our learning style/budget/platform best, etc.

Not everyone learns the same, and these devices have opened a wealth of possibilities for tailoring each lesson to each individual student’s needs. Take vocabulary learning, for example. Students can now effectively tailor their vocabulary practice. They first identify the words they do not know, which will be different for each student. With this knowledge in hand, they can go to the class flashcard set on Quizlet and make subset flashcard sets of those specific words that are difficult for them—we call them the “need to learn.” Now they can use class time to focus on their own “need to learn” words. Very powerful, when you have a whole class doing the same.

If vocabulary is not what needs to be focused on, then students can use the time to access the grammar practice we have been developing for the lesson. The point is to provide EACH student with the tools they need to learn what THEY need to learn. In doing so, we will have given each student the ability to individualize his or her learning, to move at his or her own pace, and ultimately, will have given students wings to fly as high as they want to.

That’s what being a teacher is all about!

One of the aspects of moving to a new city or town is the series of firsts one must experience before considering oneself, or being considered by others, a bona fide area resident. Well, I’ve already been through my first Florida Christmas—cooked steaks on the grill in T-shirt and shorts; witnessed my first sunset over the Gulf—beautiful; ate a fried grouper sandwich at Frenchy’s in Clearwater—delicious; and last Saturday enjoyed my first experience of Gasparilla. I know, I know, it was only the Children’s Parade and I haven’t seen anything until I see the real thing this Saturday, which I am planning to do, but still it was a wonderful event and one I was happy to participate in.

Better than 200 parents, students, staff and friends of the Academy marched in the parade (see photos below). I am happy to report that it turned out to be a great community experience for everyone involved. The general consensus among those with whom I spoke was that it was good for the Academy to participate in one of Tampa’s signature events. I would like to think that this will become an annual event for us. It is great to come together for such a family-oriented activity and for the community at large to see the spirit that currently exists at the Academy. Everyone, from the students riding on the float to those of us who marched along with it, had a great time on what turned out to be a beautiful day. My wife Maureen and I enjoyed being part of it.

As with any event like this one, it usually comes down to one person taking responsibility for making things happen. We owe a large debt of gratitude to Admissions Director Pam Doherty for coordinating and organizing the Academy’s participation in the parade. Pam handled everything from renting the float, the banners, the student participation and perhaps most importantly, securing the beads for many of us to toss to the crowd. It would not have happened without her enthusiasm and leadership. Thanks also to the Dads Club for once again proving that it is possible to fit that many cars onto our lot. To the Mothers Association for ordering the T-shirts and for spreading the word regarding our participation, and finally to all of you who wore the shirts, provided beads and helped decorate the float, all of which contributed to making the Academy, for one day, even more of a presence on Bayshore Boulevard than we usually are.

Sincerely,

Art Raimo