By: Harley Chapman

This year’s spring musical

was stupendous from beginning

to end. We travelled to the

streets of Agrabah, through the

palace gates, and beyond with

the cast and crew of Aladdin Jr.

Mr. Vaziri and Mr. Wells

expertly directed the group

through opening night. “The

show was the largest production

we’ve ever attempted. I felt like

it was a huge success,” said Mr.

Vaziri. Mrs. Laura Connolly

choreographed the dances to

every song. There were about

fifty cast members from fifth to

eighth grade. Everyone was

dedicated and worked hard

throughout the three months of

practice.

The lead performers in-

cluded Curtis Scott as Aladdin,

Sarah Turner as Princess

Jasmine, and Mary Conroy as

the genie. Fan favorites in-

cluded Carter Pruett as the evil

Jafar and Brianna Williams as

the colorful Iago. Aladdin Jr.

was a musical that everyone is

sure to remember.

By: Sophie Bougeois

This year’s Catholic

Schools Week was a blast!

Catholic Schools Week occurs

the last week in January. This

week is set aside as a holiday

to celebrate America’s Catholic

schools. During Catholic

Schools Week, our students

received a treat of some sort

each day. On Monday every-

body got a St. Francis of Assisi

Catholic School pencil. On

Tuesday everyone enjoyed a

York peppermint patty in honor

of our wonderful principal,

Mrs. York. On Wednesday

the annual SFA Variety Show

was held. In this feature SFA

students in grades four

through eight showcased their

hidden talents for the school.

From beautiful singing to

break dancing routines, this

show was an afternoon to re-

member. According to eighth-

grader Jake Griesmer, “It was

a great show full of wonderful

talents.” On Thursday the

entire school was served free

ice cream courtesy of Sodexo.

On the last day everybody got

to enjoy a half day, a jeans

day, and the student-faculty

volleyball game. At the stu-

dent-faculty volleyball game, the

teachers dominated the court with

their fourteenth win in a row. It

was definitely a triumphant

moment for teachers, but also a

disappointing one for students.

Who knows? Maybe the students

will emerge victorious next year.

This year’s Catholic Schools

Week was a wonderful success.

The Howler The Student Newspaper at SFA

Catholic Schools

Week

The Spring Musical: Aladdin

Sarah Turner and Curtis Scott

sing “A Whole New World.”

Co-Editors

Ashley Buckingham

Sarah Turner

Student

Newspaper Staff

Harley Chapman

Jake Greismer

Sophie Bougeois

Allison Weske

Sydney Bloodworth

Megan Morrison

T.C. Fowlar

Avery Graziosi

Faculty Advisors

Michael Jeffrey

Eileen Scrivener

Words of Wisdom Knowing is not enough;

We must apply.

Willing is not

enough;

We must do.

-Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe A sample from Mrs. Chando’s

eighth-grade poetry project:

The thing I love most is music.

I love to make and use it.

Although it is hard to find

someone who can make it.

Try your best not to find

someone who fakes it.

Music isn’t just noise or a

pleasant sound,

It’s a kind of emotion I’m glad I

found.

It’s not something that you can

just do;

It’s something you have to feel

inside of you.

Music isn’t just a bunch of

notes thrown together;

It’s something I will keep with

me forever.

EVAN ROGERS

Spring 2012

Seventh-

grader Brianna

Williams

had fun

being Iago

in Aladdin.

Narrators Jo Dearman, Yuzuka

Kaube, Sophie Bougeois, Rachel

Sweeney, and Monika Milczek

Full cast and crew of Aladdin Jr.

Mardi Gras and May Crowning Page 2

By: Sarah Turner

St. Francis’ May Crowning of Mary

was another beautiful service. Sarah Turner,

Sophie Bougeois, and Baylee Thielemier

cantored for the ceremony under the direction

of Mrs. Crone and the accompanist, Mrs.

Moore. It was celebrated by Father Jolly.

Noah Kurtz and Margaret Sell were chosen

as the eighth-grade students to crown Mary.

Two second-graders, Joshua Henley and

Jenna Harper, assisted them as they walked

down the middle aisle of the church. The

statue of Mary looked stunning surrounded by

and crowned with hundreds of fresh flowers.

Every student in our school was asked to

bring in at least one beautiful flower to make

Mary’s crowning a special event.

Jacob Timmins,

Evan Rogers,

Jack Conroy,

and Dale

Pitawanakwat

play in the band.

Mrs. Nash’s third-grade Krew

of Games throw treats to an

appreciative audience. “Throw me something, mister!”

Dale Pitawanakwat, Tyler Richards, and

Luigi Siligato play in the band.

After the

kids throw

their candy,

it’s time for

cleanup!

Noah Kurtz, Margaret Sell, Jenna

Harper, and Joshua

Henley prepare to

crown Mary.

Eighth grader Margaret Sell crowns

Mary. To her right

stands eighth grader

Noah Kurtz.

Father Jolly says

the blessing with

the help of eighth

grader Thomas

Herrman.

By: Allison Weske

The British are coming; the

British are coming! Last semester, fifth-graders cele-

brated the Boston Tea Party by dress-

ing up as individuals from the Boston

Tea Party era. The original Boston

Tea Party occurred on December 16,

1773, when a group of colonists

boarded ships containing taxed tea

that was to be returned to Britain.

They destroyed the tea by throwing it

into the Boston Harbor to demon-

strate objection to the heavy tea taxes

imposed by Britain. This famous

event was one of several leading up

to the American Revolution.

Fifth-graders portraying famous

Confirmation

people from the Boston Tea Party told

the class about their person without

mentioning his name. Students were

allowed three chances to guess who

the individual was supposed to be.

Rewards were given to the individu-

als whose characters were guessed.

According to Hunter Filsinger, “The

guessing game was a lot of fun and

helped us learn about the people who

lived back then.”

Following this guessing exercise,

the students enjoyed tea and scones, a

traditional British snack. Students

especially loved the blueberry scones!

The tea was not as well received.

Katy Weske exclaimed, “The scones

were amazing, and the entire activity

was a great way to learn!”

The Boston Tea Party

Page 3

By: Ashley Buckingham

Two beautiful masses were held

on April twenty-first and the twenty-

eighth. It was First Holy Communion

for proud parents, excited second-

graders, and many of their eighth-

grade prayer partners. Monsignor

kept the crowd guessing with his

humorous homily and the children

showed off their knowledge by enthu-

siastically answering all his questions.

Mrs. York felt that, “First Communion

was a beautiful service, and the kids

did great.”

Gathering for the reception in the

Parish Life Center, everyone looked

very pretty and handsome in their attire

and smiles were all around. When

asked what Communion meant to her,

Courtney Zoccola of Mrs. Hultman’s

class responded, “Thanksgiving and

Holy Christ!” When asked if she was

nervous before receiving it, she smiled

By: Sarah Turner

On April 23, 2012, about one-

hundred newly Confirmed Catholics

stepped out of the Cathedral of the

Immaculate Conception. Before the

ceremony, these same young adults

had been nervously waiting in line to

go into the Cathedral while being

greeted by Bishop Steib. Pictures had

been taken and the pre-ceremony talk

had been given, so now all that was

left was to receive their final initia-

tion into the Church, Confirmation.

As girls in white dresses and boys in

their blazers entered the Cathedral, it

was silent as everyone waited. Every-

one’s name, one by one, was called

and then each candidate and sponsor

walked up to become fully con-

firmed. The night was a celebratory

evening as all of the young adults be-

came one in the Church and received

yet another sacrament, completing the

sacraments of initiation. After being

taught throughout the year by the

eighth-grade religion teacher, Mrs.

Odom, the eighth grade was fully

prepared to be confirmed, and it was

a night celebrated by all.

First Communion

Mrs. McQueen celebrates with

Mrs. Schober’s class.

Hunter Filsinger with friends

Emma Twele is

dressed in an

eighteenth-

century style

gown.

Bishop

Steib confirms

Matthew

Barczak.

and said, “Yes, I was so scared and so happy at

the same time!” First Communion was a happy

and joyful ceremony for all the lucky children

who received it!

Second-graders Sara Esrael, Mia DeFilippo, and

Kathryn Hosp prepare to receive First Communion.

Seventh-graders enjoy a visit to The Hermitage on

their annual field trip to Nashville.

Tristan Kopinski and Andalyn Woody from Mrs.

Jacks’ 5K class celebrate the Wedding of ‘Q’ & ‘U’.

The Advice Column: Ask Kiki

Page 4

Book Review: Among the Hidden

Dear readers, Thanks for writing all these questions! I

really appreciate all of them!

Q: My friend brags a lot! She is very

athletic and brags about her

accomplishments. I am very annoyed.

What do I do? Help!

A: Tell your friend that you don’t

appreciate the way she talks about her

accomplishments all

the time. You friend

may be upset when

you tell her so give

her a day or two to

cool off. Then you’ll

be best friends again!

Q: What do you do when you’re one of

the only kids not going on the over-night

trip?

A: You can just have fun at home for a

few school days. You could go shopping,

skateboard, etc. You can even go to SFA

and help teachers with the little kids for

service hours. Hope you have a fun time!

Q: My friends made a club and let me

join, but right after I entered they

disbanded the club! Then they went on

and made a new one. What do I do?

A: I experienced this a while back. They

may be subtly kicking you out of their

group. You may

need to tell a

teacher because

SFA has a strict

No Exclusion

policy. I wish

you luck!

By: Sydney Bloodworth

Luke Garner is an illegal third

child, one of the shadow children. He’s

not allowed to go to school or even go

outside! He’s never had a friend. Then

he meets Jen, a fellow shadow child.

With her help he hopes that maybe

one day he can lead a normal life. Among the Hidden is the first book

in the Shadow Children

series which contains six

other books. Written by

New York Times best-

selling author Margaret

Peterson Haddix, Among

the Hidden is a great read

for the fourth grade and

up.

By: Jake Griesmer

In this edition of “Innoventions” the main topic of interest is the voice recognition

feature on the iPhone 4S called Siri. This is a puzzling augmentation to the already stunning

iPhone. By recognizing your voice you can start an internet search, place a call to a friend,

send a text message, or even get it to call you by another name. Siri is also learning from

every new thing that she hears from her users. Whether it is someone asking a legitimate

question about the news or someone asking her to marry them it’s always taking in

knowledge. It has also been stated by Apple that by processing and interpreting the questions and statements said by the user, Siri is getting progressively less intelligent. Due

to the sheer amount of illegitimate questions asked by the users, Apple has publicly stated

Siri’s intelligence has been eroded by the strange questions. Luckily, Apple has patched this problem, but it is still very interesting. Regardless, Siri is an amazing advancement in

technology and is definitely something you should get your hands on.

“Innoventions”: Siri

Artists’ Corner

Margie Thais

Susan, 1972

Bartlett Block Party

“Chalk the Walk”

Best in Show: Design

28 April 2012

Congratulations to Margie Thais,

SFA’s own lower school Art Teacher!

Congratulations to Olivia Webb for winning

the Memphis in May 2012 International

Children’s Poster Contest with her landscape

of The Philippines. Olivia will sign and number

100 of these prints. Other SFA students that

placed in this contest are Maggie Alexander

– 3rd place and Mela Clorina – 2nd place in

the 3rd and 4th grade category. Also, Emily

Cea placed 3rd in the 5th and 6th grade

category. We are so proud of all of these

talented young artists!

The girls of the first and second grade basketball team were the PAA

league champions with an undefeated record of 8-0. Pictured above back

row: Jordan Simspon, Kate McBride, Sara Israel, Gina Iranski, and Bianca

VonBergen, and front row: Vina Vedala, Rachel Gammill, Bradleigh

Bearden, Emily Esnard, and Kathryn Hosp.

SFA SPORTS Page 5

Members of the faculty

and Father Jolly celebrate

their victory against the

eighth-graders.

The faculty is undefeated

in fourteen seasons against

the students in the

faculty-student

volleyball game..

Girls’ Tennis Team back row: Elizabeth Bunch, Amber

Dote, Kate Dudek, Bryana Clancy, Stella Cea, and Coach

Bunch; front row: Caroline Raulston, Lauren Neuhoff,

Maddie Buchholz, Jessica Morrison, and Elana Blackard.

BASKETBALL

Boys’ Tennis (from top left):

Dale Pitawanakwat, Ben Jones,

Matthew Barczak;

(bottom row) Nick Vaught,

Nikesh Patel & Gregory Sun

TRACK (Collage of the 2011-12 Season)

7th and 8th grade boys’ baseball (left to right): Daniel

Caprio, Sam Childers, , Sam Cox, Nick Ashker, Matthew

Hammond, Jack Dyles, Matthew Fehrenbacher, Austin

Wise, Thomas Herman, Nick Morris, Jack Schaaf and

Coach Gillenwater.

Page 6 ART GALLERY

Advanced Art Project by

Lauren King, 7th grade.

Jake Greismer

“Give a Hoot” project by

Gabrielle Lomasney, 5th grade

Skeletal System by

Nathan Bosque, 4th grade Personal Color Wheel by

Ashley Buckingham, 8th grade Pop-Art self-portrait by

Noah Fullen, 3rd grade

Created by: Zoe Swick, Ashley Herbers,

Sarah Henson and Lee Arnold

Created by: Tyler Richards, Brandon

Chung, Indie Caldwell, Caroline McClure

“Pints, Cups, Quarts, Gallons” by

Carmella Neri and Gavin Smith, 6th grade

~~~

Civilization Flags

designed by

Mrs. Tyer’s 6th Grade

Social Studies

Class

~~~