Academic excellence, enthusiasm celebrated at Bishop’s Schools
Young middle school students learn high school concepts with ease
By Erick Rommel
Head Staff Writer
and Chris Donahue
Staff Writer
Although the school year had recently ended, the education did not stop for the approximately 100 students selected to participate in the Bishop’s School.
The intensive, one-week academic program takes students entering the eighth grade and places them in subject specific classes at one of four Catholic high schools in the diocese.
To be chosen for second Bishop’s School, which is coordinated by the diocesan Department of Education, students had to write a 500-word essay explaining why they wanted to learn more about one of four subjects: mathematics, science, technology or theater. Those chosen learned from professionals in their field of interest who teach at the hosting high school
“We’re passionate about what we do,” said Lea Eckert, drama teacher at Bishop Ahr High School, Edison, who supervised the four teachers involved with the Bishop’s School for Theater. “Any time a kid is in front of an adult who is passionate it sends a good message.”
Performing artists
Those selected for the Bishop’s School of Theater learned about acting, dancing, singing and set construction. “I’m completely blown away,” said Eckert, who was particularly impressed that students were learning the original Broadway choreography for A Chorus Line during their dance lessons.
In addition, students created set models for shows such as Annie and Beauty and the Beast and also learned how to perform monologues in front of an audience. “If we can provide them with some of the experiences that the world of theater has to offer, they’re more enriched,” Eckert said.
“I wanted to act. I wanted to see how to do different things. I wanted to learn,” said Charlie Mantione, a student at St. Thomas the Apostle School, Old Bridge. “These were things I wasn’t strong in, but now I came to Bishop’s School and I’m better.”
“You learn a lot in a short period,” said Amanda Centeno, who attends St. Helena School, Edison. “I want to do acting for the rest of my life so it teaches me a lot about my future.”
“I thought it would be fun instead of sitting at home and watching TV,” Centeno added.
Siobhan Barrington, a student at Sacred Heart School, South Plainfield agreed. “I thought it would be a good experience,” she said. “I love the people I met here.”
Web masters
At the Bishop’s School of Technology at St. Peter the Apostle High School, New Brunswick, students created Web pages and put them on the Internet under the guidance of Dax Tartar, technology coordinator and teacher.
They also created presentations using Power Point.
“Power Point especially is used from now to they get to the work world as a presentation tool that is quick and easy and allows you to get a graphic and summarize your information,” Tartar said. “Also, it is visual and the kids seem to like it, and with the Web page development, the world is controlled by the Web, so if they know a little bit about it, who knows where they can go from there?”
The students’ Web sites and Power Point presentations focused on their
particular interest, such as sports or pets. The students learned, for example, how to use images taken from digital cameras or music from iPods and include them in their sites. The importance of giving credit for information collected from the Internet is also emphasized, Tartar said.
“It’s fun and I’m learning a lot,” said Kelly Kultys, who attends St. Stanislaus Kostka School, Sayreville.
“I want to be able to use a computer to help give me advantages in life for a job, school, and just overall make me a better person,” said Shane Lawrie who attends Perth Amboy Catholic Middle School.
Planting a seed
At the Bishop’s School of Science at Immaculata High School, Somerville, honors science teachers Sister Mary Ann Besitka, of the Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Marika Foreman taught students botany and physics lessons.
In Sister Mary Ann’s botany class, students collected 10 samples of leaves and the same number of plants to press into a notebook.
“I just wanted to learn more about the plants and physics and was thinking about taking a major in science,” said Christine Martino who attends St. Ann School, Raritan.
Among Martino’s collection was a Peruvian lily and honeysuckle. “When I go into my dad’s garden I never know what he has in there. Now I will know more than him,” Martino added.
Foreman helped students work on physics projects that included building a car propelled by a rubber band, an egg drop and a tower constructed out of a piece of paper and tape.
The lessons helped students learn theory and principals of momentum and energy.
For the egg drop, the students bought rubber bands and cotton to encase their egg in plastic straws in a way that would absorb the energy after it was dropped from a height of three meters. Each student was given three eggs, with the first two counting as trial runs.
“They not only had to not let the egg break, but they had to explain it using impulse and momentum,” Foreman said. “They had to realize the longer time it takes for the egg to come to a stop the smaller the force.”
Go fly a kite
Advanced concepts were the focus at the Bishop’s School of Mathematics at Cardinal McCarrick High School, South Amboy. There, students learned from Rich Geisheimer and Kevin Burns, both math teachers at the school.
“They’re a lot more advanced than I thought they’d be,” said Geisheimer. “I’m not teaching them easy stuff. We’re doing junior [level] math.”
“I learned trigonometry,” said Tara Wilk, a student at St. Philip and St. James School, Phillipsburg. “I didn’t even know what it was before I came.”
To make the subject fun, Geisheimer and Burns had each student build a kite. They spent a day determining its area and then took the kites to a local park. There, they measured the angle of the kite and the amount of string used. Those measurements were then taken back to the classroom where the students learned formulas to determine how high their kites were in the air.
“We didn’t learn this stuff in school last year,” said Matt Killian, a student at St. James School, Basking Ridge. “Next year I can impress my friends with all the stuff I learned.”
Much of what students learn at the Bishop’s School won’t be needed until they enter high school, but it does give them a foundation for future success. “Are they going to be using this? Next year, probably not,” Geisheimer said. “But in two or three years, absolutely.”
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law