SMA Now: Online News
April 4, 2008
Announcement:
Listen In to Tennis and Golf Teams on Mile High Sport Radio: April 5
On Saturday, April 5, Gary Eklund of Mile High Sports Radio 1510 AM (KCKK) will interview several tennis and golf players and their coaches at 11:00-noon.
News Updates from Academy Parents
Spirit Day will start right after school on Monday, April 14.
Snacks and drinks will be provided! We will also be making spirit posters again so if the kids want to start those and turn them in at the Lower and Middle School offices, we will post them around the school! Come and support the Wildcats! The soccer, lacrosse and baseball teams need your cheers! Click here to see the flier.
The Academy Parents General Meeting will be Tuesday, April 22. It will be held at 8:15 a.m. in the High School Choral Room. We are very lucky to have Lynn Price coming to speak with us. More information will follow and you can check out her website at www.lynnprice.com. Coffee and light breakfast will be served.
The Book Club meeting will be held Wednesday, April 30 at 8:00 a.m. in the Sanders House Board Room. The book is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin. Coffee and light breakfast will be served.
SMA's New Golf Team Tees It Up
Golf is now part of SMA’s High School athletics program with eight students playing on the inaugural team. “There has been increasing interest from students and parents over the past few years, and it’s wonderful to play competitively,” says Athletic Director Sallie Dalton.
“Golf is a demanding sport in terms of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination,” she says. “Emotionally, it is different from other sports because it keeps these young players in the moment. They have to concentrate on one shot at a time and not get too happy or too disappointed about the last shot.”
The team practices at South Suburban Golf Course where they hit balls at the driving range, practice chipping and putting, and play the par three course which allows the golfers to practice all their shots. They also learn the rules in an on-course environment while developing golf etiquette and respect for the integrity of the game. When the weather is too rainy or cold to go the South Suburban, they stay at school for fitness and strength training.
SMA plays in the Denver Public Schools league with public and other independent schools. In the first tournament at Kennedy Golf Course, one SMA player came in fourth of 18 on the varsity level, and two students came in second and third in junior varsity. There are six tournaments in April followed by the regional and state tournaments.
SMA’s golf coach, Mary Reed Wolff, is an avid supporter of high school teams having coached at North High School. She is a board member of The First Tee of Denver and Girls in Golf. Her passion for golf and her love of children makes her a perfect fit for St. Mary’s Academy. “Golf is a sport for a lifetime,” says Ms. Wolff. “Golf teaches so many important values such as perseverance, integrity, sportsmanship, confidence, competition and respect. It can play a key role in business because many business relationships are built on the golf course.”
Golf is a great addition to an already strong athletics program at SMA.
Music Starts the Day on a High Note
The beginning band and beginning orchestra students may only play a few measures in their concerts, but those pieces are the result of hours of hard work that happen several days a week before the school day begins.
“The orchestra class is usually a student’s first opportunity to play an instrument,” says Cherie Swisher, orchestra teacher. String instruments come in various small sizes, so students can begin their training early. Brass instruments are only one size so students begin band with Sharon Gayley in any grade from third to sixth when they can handle the physical challenge of adult-sized instruments. The band has many beginning students but also welcomes students with previous experience with string instruments or a private music student interested in ensemble playing.
Learning to play an instrument takes time. There are the challenges of learning proper sitting, holding the instrument and placing their fingers, all before students even tackle reading the notes, following the conductor and playing with a group.
While learning a new skill is a challenge, students benefit from professional musicians who come to SMA as part of SMA’s partnership with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. “Seeing musicians who started like they did with hours of practice and a desire to do their best is a great incentive for students,” says Mrs. Gayley, band teacher.
Next time you attend a concert at SMA, enjoy seeing students take their first steps toward life-long learning and playing music that begins with a few simple measures.
Click here for more music photos.
Five SMA Teams Advance to State
Destination ImagiNation® Competition
St. Mary’s Academy Lower students again showed creative problem-solving and critical-thinking skills originality, confidence, and team work as five teams will advance to the state finals of Destination ImagiNation® on April 26 at Dakota Ridge High School and Summit Ridge Middle School.
Destination ImagiNation® is organized around team challenge with includes aspects of engineering, structure-building, theater, world cultures, and improvisation. Each team writes and performs an eight-minute skit that presents their solution to the problem presented.
Eleven SMA teams participated in Destination ImagiNation®, with eight in competitive levels and three in the non-competitive category for kindergarten through grade two students.
These are some of the individual team results in the competitive levels:
While some SMA teams will participate at the state level, two Lower School assemblies showcased the incredible talent and dedication of all the SMA teams and the hard work of their coaches and parents. Thanks and congratulations to Barbara Peister, third grade teacher, who coordinates the Destination ImagiNation®, program at St. Mary’s Academy and parents who serve as team managers. Their commitment to their teams is extraordinary!
The First-ever SMA Online Auction Is Happening Now!
The first ever SMA online auction is up and running! Make sure to take a minute to peruse the site, found on the SMA website home page. The online auction features front row tickets to HONK!, this year’s all-Academy musical, which is currently sold out with the exception of the tickets featured on our online auction. The online auction also exclusively features tickets to the first-ever Gala After-Party at the Hotel Teatro. This is an opportunity not to be missed! Tickets to the After-Party include entrance to the party, two drink tickets per person, and a late-night breakfast! 
The online auction provides the opportunity to bid on other exciting auction items such as two entrance tickets to Disneyland, a home patio furniture set, a gift certificate for a teen driving package, an a temporary membership to a nanny service, and much more!
April 25 will be here before you know it! Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of a wonderful and exciting SMA community event. Join us as we sail to Italy, through the Mediterranean, and on to the Caribbean! Send in your RSVP cards now! Tickets are $150/person, $300/couple and may NOT be purchased at the door!
Thank you for all your support and generosity! We look forward to seeing you on April 25 at 6pm at the Seawell Grand Ballroom in the Denver Center for Performing Arts!
There are still lots of ways to get involved! We will need lots of hands on the day of the event and the night itself. For more information, please feel free to contact;
Anna Modic, Events/Annual Fund Coordinator
303-762-8300 ext. 282 or anna_modic@smanet.org
For more information on event sponsorship or for another auction donation form, please clickon these links: auction donations, sponsorship opportunities, sponsorships/ads.
Learning, Growing and Having Fun
One of the many reasons why St. Mary’s Academy is such a special place is because it offers students countless opportunities to learn, grow and have fun. While most of these opportunities take place on SMA’s campus, there are times when students have the chance to venture out into the community and take in some exciting events that are happening there. Here is a short synopsis of field trips that some SMA students took recently.
Kindergarteners See Sleeping Beauty
What happens when you bring together an “in-your-face” princess, a smart aleck half dragon and a prince who, despite his good looks, falls short in the bravery, talent and competence departments? These and other colorful and unpredictable characters made for a bold and very funny performance of Sleeping Beauty that SMA kindergarteners attended in March at the Mizel Arts & Culture Center in Denver.
After the performance, the students had the opportunity to talk about the show and ask questions of the cast members. The students also took a backstage technical tour so they could see, first hand, how a theatre performance like Sleeping Beauty comes together on stage. It was a day of fun, fairy tales and discovery for all!
Grades 4 and 5 Visit a CSO Concert
In February, grade 4 and 5 students attended the CSO Youth Concert that was held at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver. To add to the excitement, students rode the Light Rail to get to the concert, which was a first-time experience for many of them.
The CSO Youth concert was conducted by Maestro Scott O’Neill who has been at SMA recently as part of our ongoing SMA/CSO Partnership. The concert, titled “What Makes an Orchestra,” demonstrated the different sections of the symphony orchestra and how sound waves work. In the end, students had rave reviews for the concert and for the ride downtown!
MS Students Enjoy Modern Dance at Ellie Caulkins
In March, Middle School Dance elective students attended a special student
matinee of Modern Dance works performed by the Colorado Ballet as part of their Repertory Series. This special performance was held at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Three modern dance works were performed including “The Leaves are Fading” by Antony Tudor, “…smile with my heart” by Lar Lubovitch, and “Straight Line to Never” by Dwight Roden. Exposing SMA students to modern dance helps them expand their understanding and appreciation of different dance styles and shows them new ideas for choreography. The students were amazed at how the dancers made even the most difficult steps look so easy.
HS Math Students Attend Calculus: The Musical
In February, SMA HS students enrolled in AP Calculus and Introduction to Calculus classes went to Heritage High School with teachers Gerry Harnett and Mary Berlin to see Calculus: The Musical, a comic “review” of the concepts and history of calculus. Written and performed by Marc Gutman, a former high school math teacher, and Sadie Bowman, an actress, this show uses musical parodies that span genres from light opera to hip hop to introduce and illuminate concepts such as limits, integration, and differentiation. The show was a big hit with everyone.
Good Health Starts Early!
Recently St. Mary’s Academy Lower School held its annual Health Fair, a day full of lively, interactive presentations focused on good health. For many years St. Mary’s Academy has welcomed many visitors in health-related fields, including SMA parents, to the annual event to discuss with students how to live healthy lives.
Mary Kolbach, Beth Hansen, Mike Gleason and Linda Marsh contacted who speakers for the presentations. Thank you to the SMA parents and relatives who shared their expertise as presenters or who arranged for speakers.
Click here for photos of the health fair.
