SBP students celebrate Catholic School’s Week

Middle School students at St. Bernard Prep celebrated Catholic School’s Week, a nationally recognized week taking place the last week of January.

Catholic Schools Week focuses nationally on celebrating faith, academics, and service projects. During this week students celebrated with a flashback decade day, wacky-tacky day, patriotic day, hat day and favorite team spirit day.

Academic leaders in the classroom challenged each other with their skills in the areas of math, science, social studies, religion and spelling.

Honors were awarded to Jalen Lee, Math; Garrett Marti, Science; Chris Woods, Social Studies; Anna Gongre, Religion; and Wren Thornton, Spelling.

School President, Fr. Joel Martin, OSB said every week at St. Bernard could be classified as Catholic School’s Week. “While we may not be out of uniform, and play games on a weekly basis, we are focused on providing a quality education in the Benedictine tradition.”

St. Bernard students come from many religious backgrounds. Classes in theology are taught daily. At the seventh grade, students learn about the life of Christ which includes – His life, miracle, parables, sacraments and commandments. Eighth grade students study church history; the mystery and the marks of the Church, the Age of Enlightenment, the Renaissance, and the Church in North America.

“Our students are consistent with service projects whether it be food drives for St. Vincent DePaul’s Food bank or semi-monthly visits to the nursing homes,” Fr. Joel said.

St. Bernard invites the public to visit the school on Sunday, March 4 at 2 p.m. for Open House.

St. Bernard students participate in “Theology on Tap”

Eight seniors from St. Bernard Prep recently attended the first of four “Theology on Tap” events at Newks Restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama. Geared toward young adults, 18 to 35 years of age, these gatherings provide an opportunity to introduce theological topics and to create an opportunity for ongoing discussion and faith sharing.

The topic: “Which came first: the Church or the Bible” was presented by John Martignoni who is the Director of the Office of the New Evangelization and Stewardship for the Diocese of Birmingham.

Martignoni provided a springboard for excellent questions and discussion. Fr. Bede Marcy, OSB, who accompanied the students, was very encouraged by the feedback from his seniors. “The presentation was well received, and provided great discussion for the bus ride home.”

Students are looking forward to participating in the next “Theology on Tap” on March 14th. The topic will be “Faith and Culture” presented by DeKarlos Blackmon, a former SBP student, currently the Supreme Knight of the Knights of St. Peter Claver, and parishioner at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Huntsville.

Students in attendance were : Elaida Dimwamwa, Lizzy Giddens, AnnaCaroline Keefe, Jake Lewis, Sean Moriarty, Gabriel Pautler, Madeline Schweers, and Halle Webb.

Sciaroni to represent St. Bernard at All-State

St. Bernard is celebrating a first in the music department. Eighth grade student, Will Sciaroni, is the first Saint Bernard Band student to audition for the Alabama All-State Band.

Band instructor, Lester Harris, is thrilled with Sciaroni’s accomplishments. “The tryouts are very rigorous because there is a lot of memorization of scales and arpeggios just to be allowed into the room where you can perform the All-State Etudes.”

Sciaroni was recently first chair in the Cullman County Middle School Honor Band and placed 4th in our District to represent Saint Bernard at the annual District Honor Band Festival on February 17th and 18th at Cullman High School.

Sciaroni is the son of Lou and Kim Sciaroni of Decatur, AL.

Booster Club Drawdown Successful

AL It was an evening to celebrate at St. Bernard on the Saturday before "Super Bowl Sunday" as the St. Bernard Athletic Boosters raised funds for the athletic program by hosting their annual draw down.

“This is something that has been going on for several years at St. Bernard, and has been a great way of interacting with families, alumni and friends of our school community,” said Buster Ros who helped spearhead the project. “Since we host it just before the Super Bowl, the date is easy for people to remember."

More than 400 people attended the $100 ticket event which featured a giveaway of cash and prizes totaling almost $13,000. Guest were offered appetizers consisting of assorted cheeses, fruit, spinach artichoke dip, crackers, toasted bread, brie caramel apple cheese, and meatballs. The main course consisted of Roast beef, baked chicken, tossed salad, waxed white and green beans, yellow rice, roasted and baked potatoes, rolls, cheesecake, lemon and red velvet cake.

Winners of the draw down were as follows:
$10,000 – Neal Morrison, who notable bought the very first ticket this year. $1,000 – Marcus Clark; $750 - Josh Arndt; $500 –Bridgette Warner; $250 – Pat and Mary Russell; and $100 and a 32” HD TV – Wanda and Jorge Naranjo.

In addition to the draw down, guests were treated to a wonderful silent auction, and had the opportunity to purchase keys to open treasure chests.

Proceeds from the event will be used to support the athletic and other needs of St. Bernard Preparatory School.

Fr. Joel Martin, President of St. Bernard Preparatory School said he could not have been more pleased with the event.