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shops to keep warm,
maybe even spend the
day wandering the Al-
bright-Knox or the
Burchfield Penny art
galleries. Throughout
the winter, tours of
Buffalo neighbor-
hoods, like the historic
Allentown are offered.
These tours are far
from boring affairs,
and usually include a
multitude of interest-
ing stories and anec-
dotes about one of
Buffalo’s most eclectic
areas. The winter is
also the best time to
catch a concert at one
of the great indoor
venues Buffalo has to
offer. Smaller scale
concert halls like the
Town Ballroom and
the Tralf offer a more
intimate concert set-
ting and they have
concerts nearly every
week. If one wants to
venture outside into
the cold, there are
plenty of skiing oppor-
tunities. Even the Buf-
falo Zoo is open for
When it is winter in
Buffalo, the simple
act of getting out of
your house can be-
come a stressful and
tiring adventure. How
can you traipse about
town when it takes
twenty minutes and
two shovels to get of
your driveway? The
key to enjoying Buf-
falo in the winter is
flexibility and a good
sense of humor. If
you’re looking for the
perfect snowy Buffalo
afternoon, bundle up
and hit the Elmwood
Village. Not only is it
the perfect place to
buy quirky and
unique gifts, you can
stop in the many res-
taurants and coffee
business during the
winter, offering a rare
chance to see the zoo
without its usual
crowds. To me, the
thrill of Buffalo in win-
ter is the feeling you
get when you step
outside into our grand
snow-covered city and
nothing looks the
same. For a couple of
months, it’s like we
get a whole new town
to explore and wander
through. In the snow
drifts, even a walk
through Delaware Park
becomes a trek into a
winter wonderland.
The key to enjoying
your winter is to not
complain about the
weather, and the cold
and the bad roads, but
to stop and smell the
roses, or in our case,
the snow banks. Take
some
time to
enjoy all
the
things
Buffalo has to offer in
the winter.
Around Buffalo: Winter Wonders
By: Karly Buntich 2011
Editor:
Karly Buntich
&
Victoria Dedloff
Junior Editor:
Lee Haggerty
Moderator:
Miss Nuttle
Merciette
Inside this issue:
Senior Trip 2
Kissmas Bash 2
Student Gov’t Corner 3
Harry Potter Review 3
Holiday Shopping 4
Willy Wonka 4
Student Spotlight 5
MMA Basketball 5
Class Perspectives 6
Picture Page 7
November/ December 2010
The Voice of Mercy
This past No-
vember Mount Mercy’s
senior class boarded a bus and traveled to the
Big Apple, New York
City. Many of the girls could not wait to get to
the city. There was an
exciting trip ahead of them.
The trip to New
York City was very
planned out, which worked out well be-
cause the seniors were
able to see many sights and participate in many
activities. On the first
day, the seniors had a guided tour on the bus
around the lower half of
the city. The girls were
able to see the sights of
Greenwich Village, Ground Zero, and Wall
Street. Later that day
many shopped in SoHo. Then that night the girls
ate at Dallas BBQ res-
taurant in Times Square, and after they
shopped and saw the
sights in Times Square.
The seniors also at-tended the play Wicked
which was an excellent
play. The second day the seniors were able to
shop on Fifth Avenue
and the Rockefeller Center. Later that night
the girls ate at Planet
Hollywood and went to
“The Top of the Rock”,
which is the top of the Rockefeller Center. It
was possible to see the
entire city and all of the beautiful lights.
On the last day,
the girls were able to tour NBC Studios and
got to see the set of
Saturday Night Live.
Overall the experience was amazing, filled with
many beautiful sights
and fun activities. Eve-ryone had a great and
memorable time.
Girls”, “Dynamite”, “Bad Romance”, and “DJ Got Us
Fallin’ in Love”.
Next up was Neon Trees from Provo, Utah.
They played a total of four
songs including “1983”, “Wish list”, “Sins of My
Youth”, and “Animal”. All
of their songs had the
crowd dancing and jump-ing around. You could defi-
nitely tell that the crowd
was enjoying the show.
Kevin Rudolf origi-
nates from Miami, Florida
and really got the audience dancing. One of Kevin’s’
previous performances was
at “Kiss the Summer Hello” also sponsored by Kiss
98.5. He played all of his
hit songs including “I Made It”, “Welcome to the
World”, “In the City” and
“Let It Rock”. He sup-
ported his friend, rapper Lil Wayne by covering “A
Milli”. The crowd went
insane when he played
“All I Do Is Win” originally sung by DJ Khaled.
The next act was
Miranda Cosgrove who is the star on the hit T.V.
show “ICarly”. She played
a total of five songs in-cluding “About You Now”
and “Kissin U” which had
the crowd singing along
with her. Her songs “Disgusting”,
“Shakespeare”, and “Bam”
also had the arena excited.
Anticipation grew
as the crowd waited for
the top act, Maroon 5 to come on. The fans sang
along to every one of their
songs including “Misery”, “If I Never See Your Face”,
“Give A Little More” “She
Will Be Loved” and eight others. Once again Kiss
98.5 brought us a great
show!
The most antici-
pated concert of the
winter season has come and gone. On December
4th, five great artists
rocked the stage at HSBC Arena.
Starting off the
show was pop singer Charice from the Philip-
pines. She was discov-
ered on Youtube and was
noted by Oprah as the most talented girl in the
world. Some of you may
know Charice as “Sunshine” on the T.V.
series
“Glee”. She performed
her hit
“Pyramid” along with
“Jingle Bell
Rock” and a medley of
popular
songs includ-
ing “California
Page 2 Merciette
Defying Gravity!
Students at
Breakfast with Santa!
Merry Kissmas Bash!
By: Bethany Clancy 2014
The Seniors Visit The Big Apple By: Victoria Dedloff 2011
“Anticipat
ion grew
as the
crowd
waited
for the
top act,
Maroon 5
to come
on.”
“Happy Friday!”
was the greeting MMA stu-dents received as they
entered school a few Fri-
days ago. The activity was set up by Student Govern-
ment and achieved exactly
what officers intended it to, surprise students, liven
things up, break up the monotony of going to
school each day. Who
doesn’t love a piece of candy in the morning on a
Friday? The feedback from the act was great and
kicked off what Student
Government hopes to do a lot more often throughout
the year. “Happy Friday”
was the first of many “blender” events that Stu-
dent Government plans to do every once in a while
when students least expect
it.
SG also held the
first ever MMA Town Hall meeting, with an over-
whelming turnout. All the
desks in room 6 were filled on a Monday afternoon as
an open forum allowed all students to express what
they thought of school
spirit. A questionnaire was filled out by everyone at
the meeting so the SG
officers have written thoughts by students on
the current status of
school spirit. Mrs. Staszak also stopped into the
meeting and students were
allowed to ask her any questions they had on
school spirit, in particular
dances and Spirit week procedures. Overall, the
SG officers found the event to be extremely suc-
cessful and another Town
Hall meeting is in the works. The purpose of the
Town Hall meeting was to get feedback from YOU,
the students at Mercy, so
that we can take your feedback, ideas and con-
cerns and work as a Stu-
dent Government to put those ideas into action.
And finally: Spirit Week. Although the week
full of spirit is still a few
weeks away, Spirit Week takes months of prepara-
tion to plan. SG is begin-ning to plan Spirit Week
’11 in the upcoming weeks
and is looking for your help. Feedback from the
Town Hall meeting in-cluded possibly having a
student committee help
plan certain aspects of Spirit Week, other than the
SG officers. A Town Hall
meeting may also be held to get general student
feedback in regards to
Spirit Week specifically. Be on the look out for
some new changes in
Spirit Week this year, es-pecially aimed towards
SCHOOL spirit, not just
class spirit.
All other Student
Government committees are functioning quite well.
Special thanks to the
chairs of each committee for holding meetings and
getting all the behind the scenes work completed.
Special thanks to Student
Government moderators Ms. Barblock and Ms. Leo-
nard for their efforts in all
SG activities, including moderating all committee
meetings.
In a final note, SG
hopes you all are enjoying
the events we have planned. As mentioned,
our main goal for the year is to improve school spirit.
We’ve begun to do this
through “Happy Friday” and the Town Hall meet-
ings, however, we are AL-WAYS looking for more
suggestions. Please don’t
hesitate to drop a sugges-tion in our mailbox on the
3rd floor or stop us in the
hallway to mention any ideas you have!
fan favorites such as
Dan Radcliffe, Emma
Watson and Rupert Grint. It focuses on the
trio’s journey to hunt
down Voldemort and his Horcruxes, which
are parts of his soul
hidden in random ob-jects. People who have
grown up with the nov-
els will appreciate the
accuracy of this movie. Even people
who have not closely
Part One of Harry Pot-
ter and the Deathly
Hallows has captivated people of all ages who
went the past few
weeks to view the first part of the end of the
Harry Potter saga. This
action-packed thriller closely followed the
events of the book,
written by J.K. Rowl-
ing. All of the previ-ously seen English ac-
tors returned, including
followed the series will
be able to appreciate
the movie with its twists and turns.
The three stars
will be back on July 15th, 2011 to conclude
the series with Part 2 of
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Page 3 Merciette Nov/
Dec 2010
On Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows By: Megan Sheehan and Lee Haggerty 2013
Student Government Corner: Happy Fridays
and Town Halls By: Bridget Jackson 2011
“Be on the
look out for
some new
changes in
Spirit Week
this year,
especially
aimed towards
SCHOOL spirit,
not just class
spirit.”
Harry Potter Stars on Set
AP Scholars
As the gift-giving season of
Christmas quickly ap-
proaches, many students are going to face the struggle of
buying presents for everyone
on their list. We have com-piled a few ideas for how to
reduce the cost and the
stress of finding the perfect present for anyone and eve-
ryone.
Make your own
presents. Parents and grandparents often appreci-
ate homemade gifts that
take much more time and effort than store bought gifts
that only require money. If
you have extra time in art class, after school in art club,
or during advisement or a
study hall, you can make something cute like
“coupons” for free hugs or
complimentary chores. An-
friends almost every day, it has
also placed a great amount of pressure for us teenagers.
When joining, most students
must juggle their school work, a job, a sport, or other activi-
ties they have committed to;
for some, all of these were too much to handle and there have
been times when students have gotten quite stressed out. How-
ever, the directors are also
there to guide us in our every-day life; if needed, they will
open up a classroom and let students do their homework or
give you advice on problems.
The cast and the crew have very different roles to be
played in ensuring the musical
is smoothly performed. After two months, cast members are
tired of singing the same songs, dancing the same
moves, and acting the same
words every single day. Unlike these actors and actresses,
crew members always have something interesting and new
to do each and every day,
whether it be painting a new
This school year, Bishop
Timon St. Jude High School and Mount Mercy
Academy have chosen
“Willy Wonka” for their annual musical in the fall.
Directed by Bob Maggio
and Jerry Kegler, with ad-ditional alumnae volun-
teers, they have made these wonderful perform-
ances filled with fun, ex-
citement, and special ef-fects. With much prepara-
tion, practices and meet-ings started in the second
week of school and have
continued three hours a day, four times a week, for
the next two months.
Along with being able to experience this with your
peers, Drama Club has taught us how to be unsel-
fish, to work as a team, to
be responsible, and to just have fun as long as work
is being done on time. Although Drama
Club presents all these
qualities and you see your
scene, constructing new
props, or making videos. How-ever, both are each credited
50/50 in making it a wonderful
musical; their roles are only combined in the tech week in
which they perform dress re-
hearsals. The directors are open to the input of the cast
and crew to make the musical better, so it really is the stu-
dents putting on the show.
During tech week, Bishop Timon was our home;
we stayed there every night from 6:30 till 11:00. Even
though we were exhausted
and drained, tech week still continues to be one of the
most enjoyable weeks of the
club. It is a time when every-one who joined becomes your
second family; you go through the same hardships together
and they are the people you
turn to. Even when the musi-cal is over, we still remain
connected with each other and maintain the relationship of a
family.
Willy Wonka and The Crew By: Evania Santiano 2013
Students make
Cupcakes for
Catherine!
MMA Merciette
November December 2010
Holiday Shopping Advice
By: Erin Bender and Lee Haggerty 2013
other easy thing to make is a
photo album of your family us-
ing pictures that might still be on your computer or just laying
around your house. Making
your own presents not only
saves you money, but also shows that you care about the
person you are giving your gift
to.
Shop smart. Inevita-
bly, you will have to brave the
crowds at the malls and stores to find some holiday
gifts. Many stores at this time
of year will have sales or re-duced prices. If what you are
looking for is easy to find, save
yourself time and money by
pricing out different stores and knowing exactly what you are
looking for. Although you might
be tempted to go for something big, sometimes smaller is bet-
ter. Go for something that
represents a funny time or an in-
side joke; it will be more meaning-
ful. Don’t waste money on gift-wrapping or bags. Instead, go
green and use old newspapers.
Give food instead of
gifts. When someone hosts a party, usually guests will bring a
thank-you gift. Instead of going to
the store and buying something expensive, bake a batch of brown-
ies or cookies so everyone can en-
joy the gift. The host will probably appreciate not having to make
dessert, and who doesn’t like free
brownies or cookies?
Buying presents during the
holiday season doesn’t have to be
stressful. If you follow these tips
and use some creativity, you will have no problem finding the per-
fect gifts for everyone on your list.
This
month’s
Student
Spotlight focuses
on a dedi-
cated
Student Government representative, a
skilled photographer
and formidable oppo-
nent on the Varsity soccer team, junior
Lulu Helliwell. The
interviewer would like
to note from the start
that the pictures of Lulu featured in the
new Mount Mercy
video are a pretty
realistic portrayal. It might be hard to
imagine that students
do this, but Lulu ac-
tually does smile and greet people she
knows in the hallway,
always looking like
she’s genuinely en-thusiastic. In class,
she is constantly in-
volved in discussions,
and brings a lot of
interesting and well-
thought ideas to the
table, ideas that also
spur fierce debates among everyone,
which the interviewer
really enjoys and ap-
preciates. As far as school activities go,
Lulu is a student gov-
ernment representa-
tive and a student ambassador, so she
plays a big role in
representing Mercy
and portraying it as
the positive and bright environment it
is. Lulu is also a
member of Mercy
Speaks, a club run by Mrs. Penepent that is
geared to spread the
good works of Mercy
in the surrounding community. As the
list of activities and
involvement continue
(soccer team, Ora-tory and Debate,
Mercy Charism and
Peer Ministers), the
interviewer begins to
feel like a bit of an
underachiever. Lulu
is also an accom-
plished photographer whose work hangs in
the art room, al-
though she says she
loves art of all kinds. Her self-confessed
dream school is Cor-
nell, and she wants
to major in psychol-ogy, media or archi-
tecture. Somehow,
the interviewer thinks
that if anyone could
pull off a triple major from Cornell Univer-
sity, it would be Lulu.
In the end, all joking
aside, it is wonderful that people like this
exist at Mercy, peo-
ple who try to be in-
volved and help the school, whether
they’re on student
government or Mercy
Speaks, or just the person that smiles at
people in the hall. In
Lulu’s case, she is all
three.
Dorazio. The new
coach works very well
with the returning
coach, John Glose and
together they are unify-
ing the Varsity team.
John Glose also serves
as the JV coach and has
done a great job intro-
ducing the many fresh-
men to high school bas-
ketball in unison with
the returning players.
On November 8th, many
Mount Mercy girls
showed up after school
to try-out for the Mercy
basketball team. There
was a great turn out
and there is now a Var-
sity, Junior Varsity, and
Freshman team.
The biggest
change for MMA bas-
ketball is the new Var-
sity head coach, Jackie
With all teams
being very young, there
is great promise and
potential for the up-
coming season. The
first home game is
scheduled for January
7th against Holy Angels.
The teams hope to
have a big turnout from
the Spirit Club and all
other supportive stu-
dents.
Page 5 Merciette Nov/Dec 2010
MMA Basketba l l ! B y: M ar is s a S ta c k a nd Meg an S hee ha n 2 0 13
Student Spot light on: Lulu Hel l iwel l B y : Ka r l y B un t i c h 2 0 1 1
“Lulu plays a
big role in
representing
Mercy and
portraying it as
the positive
and bright
environment it
is.”
Fundraising is
essential for Mount
Mercy to function, something the fresh-
men are well aware of.
This understanding helped them to earn
second place this year
in selling magic money tickets. The magic
money tickets cost
more than what most
girls are used to, which has received both good
and bad criticism.
Some like the higher costs because it
means fewer tickets to
sell, while others find it
difficult to find buyers
who are willing to pay the higher cost. Several
students used to sell
items from catalogues, which they believed
contained things no one
wanted to buy and they liked selling the tickets
better. Many liked the
extra vacation day as a
reward for selling the tickets. Others were
forced to buy unsold
tickets in their previous schools, and prefer the
reward for reaching the
school’s goal.
The Magic
Money fundraiser was a way for us to partner
with our family and
friends to raise money for the school. With the
rising costs of educa-
tion, it is vital for Mount Mercy students and
families to assist with
fundraising which in
turn also provides a widened public aware-
ness of the importance
of a high school educa-tion at our school.
fundraising. Everyone
understands that the Magic Money fundraiser
is important, and most
give their best effort to sell the five tickets they
are allotted. However,
some of my close family and friends turned
down tickets because of
the price. In today’s
economy, it is a lot to ask someone to spend
twenty five dollars on a
raffle ticket. Tickets were much harder to
The seniors held a large
lead in the race to sell Magic Money tickets for
this year’s fundraiser.
To be fair, however, we had an incentive, as we
could not receive one of
our senior privileges until we sold our five
tickets. This little incen-
tive certainly gave the
senior class a little more determination in
selling the tickets, as
we are never exactly over-enthusiastic about
sell
because of this, and because I
realize the importance of the fundraiser, I think steps
should most definitely be
taken to find a solution. A more feasible option may be
to have us sell more tickets,
for a cheaper price. Selling ten tickets for five dollars
each is much easier than sell-
ing five for twenty five each.
Whatever the solution ends up being, this problem should
definitely be looked into, be-
cause it is too important not to.
ryone and the school.
Some people don’t
think it is important though. In our school,
when we are fundrais-
ing, it is for different events like the McAuley
Gala. Also, the tuition
could be more expen-sive if we did not fund-
raise. Many people
want to help the school
because it helps keep
the tuition low and it
enables students to go on field trips or other
events. Are you going
to help fundraise this school year?
Schools all over the
world use fundraising.
Fundraising is used to help schools raise
money. If Mount Mercy
Academy raises money, it is usually for some-
thing like a fieldtrip or
cause. People will sell candy bars, books etc.
through the school.
Fundraising helps eve-
Page 6
Fundraising provides vital
resources for the school
Vita l To Our School By: Lisa Panek 2 013
The Incentives ! By: Karly Bunt ich 2011
The Right Ticket By: Isabel la Spann 2 014
“Also
provides a widened
public
awareness
of the
importance
of a high
school
education at
our school.”
Students enjoy a field
trip to Mercy Flight
Student Perspectives: Fundraising at MMA
Recommended