November
Lettuce celebrate new school lunch
By Noah Ralofsky - Knight Writer
Student Journalist - Lourdes Academy
Cathy Steinert, the Director of Dining Services, is excited to promote the new lunch program for the 2019-2020 school year.
With improved menus, more variety, and healthier options, the lunch services at Lourdes has taken a turn for the better, Steinert said. New to the lunchroom this year are homemade pizzas served every day. With different toppings every day, these pizzas come in cheese, pepperoni, sausage, Hawaiian, and more. Senior Tate Fabisch said that he enjoys the variety of homemade pizzas this year. Sophomore Thomas Derleth said that he now gets the lunchroom pizza almost every day.
Steinert said at the new fresh deli station, students have the choice to choose from a flatbread, a wrap, or a sub with a variety of meats, cheeses, and vegetables. Junior Laura Binning said she likes all of the different options she has for her sandwiches at the deli station. The new extra-extra bar has an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables and a different salad every day. Freshman Mackie Stelter said that she enjoys the salads and all of the different dressings and toppings that can be added to the salad. The beverages now consist of Powerade, tea, and lemonade, Steinert said.
Along with the changes to the food choices, Steinert said lunch information can now be found on an app called Nutrislice. This app gives students the menu for the day and a spot to give feedback on the meals. Steinert said that the lunchroom staff is very open to suggestions and likes to hear the students’ feedback to better the menus.
Starting the week of Nov. 11, Steinert said the lunchroom will be serving breakfast sandwiches on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but this is just a sneak peek for what is to come. Starting in January, the lunch room will be implementing a breakfast program where an assortment of breakfast foods will be served in the morning.
Steinert said that students have been responding to the new lunch menu well, for there have been many more a la carte purchases.
Glenna “Pizza Queen” is one of the lunchroom employees. She said she enjoys working the deli and making the students sandwiches and pizzas. Steinert has been working with Lourdes in the cafeteria for the past three years. Her responsibilities are to create the menus, do paperwork and bookwork for DPI, and is in charge of all marketing.
Steinert said she has always worked in the food business whether it be in a school cafeteria or in a restaurant. Steinert has a degree in business management and supervision. Steinert said the cafeteria sells about 100 student meals in the middle and high school every day, as well as 100 meals in the elementary school.
Steinert said she wants all of the students to know that they are always welcome to buy food from their lunch room whether it be a whole meal or just a slice of pizza!
Steinert and lunch room employees excited to promote the new lunch menu.
Lourdes middle school students celebrate Halloween at dance
By Raechel Russo - Knight Writer
Student Journalist - Lourdes Academy
Lourdes Academy PALS, Parent Association for Middle School, planned a dance for students fifth through eighth grade. During the dance, students had the opportunity to dress up, eat snacks, drink punch, and win prizes.
Seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher Mary Anne Saiyed has planned the middle school Halloween dance for the past four years. Saiyed said, “particularly today [Halloween], students are very distracted because of the dance, but it’s to be expected because the dance is so much fun compared to a regular school day.” Saiyed said she began planning the dance, not as a teacher but as a parent when she was involved in PALS.
As expected, the students dressed up for the dance which was held in the commons on Halloween. Seventh-grade students Delaney Ruedinger, Olivia Gelhar, Allie Huizenga, and Claire Kollat dressed as Sesame Street characters. Ruedinger and Kollat said they had the original idea to dress as Sesame Street characters because the characters matched the seventh grader’s personalities. Kollat said she dressed as Elmo because she describes herself as short and bubbly. Huizenga said she dressed as Oscar because “at night, if someone talks to me, I get so irritated. It’s a hint as to why I’m Oscar.” Ruedinger said she dressed as the Cookie Monster because she is funny and loves to eat food.
Finally, fifth-grade student Hudson Sundquist dressed as a dinosaur but may have had second thoughts about his choice. Sunquist said, “It’s so hot in my dino costume. I’m all sweaty.” However, Sunquist won the award for the best animal costume. For his prize, Sundquist had the option to choose between and out of dress code pass or a five dollar gift card to various restaurants. He chose a gift card.
After Halloween, PALS is planning on introducing more activities for the middle school students including another dance in the spring with games in the gyms.
Principal Dave Mikesell photobombs Hudson Sunquist at the school danced.
Seventh-grade friend group dresses as cast from Sesame Street.
Mary Anne Saiyed organized the school dance.
Squires dream of knighthood
By Grace Syson - Knight Writer
Student Journalist - Lourdes Academy
Eighth-grade students are already planning for high school and share their aspirations and apprehensions of becoming Knights.
There are numerous aspects of high school that excite eighth graders when thinking about graduating from middle school and starting high school. Eighth grader Mason Carpenter said he is mainly excited about “all the experiences I will get to have because there are different classes and teachers.” Many other eight graders agreed with Carpenter and said they are looking forward to high school so they can take elective classes focused on what they are interested in learning.
Eighth grader Fisher Mackenzie said he is looking forward to the sports in high school. Fisher said he currently plays basketball for the Squires and plans on continuing to play in high school as a Knight. Eighth grader Kyle Hipple says he wants to participate in cross country, track, and soccer. Hipple also wants to be a part of the yearbook and be involved in fine arts.
Along with being excited, most eighth graders feel a bit nervous about beginning high school. Eighth grader Midori Jungworth said she is most nervous about “the amount of homework.” Jungworth’s favorite subject is math, and she is both excited and nervous to take higher-level math classes in high school.
Another aspect of becoming a Knight that the eighth graders discussed is block scheduling. Carpenter, Mackenzie, and Jungworth said they are all excited about block classes so they can spend more time in each class working on homework and communicating with their teachers. They also said that they believe the hardest freshman teacher will be Mrs. Dolan because she expects the best from her students.
Eighth graders discuss their high school aspirations.
ROTC recruiters visit gym classes
By Tate Fabisch - Knight Writer
Student Journalism - Lourdes Academy
Students from both the middle school and high school in Stacy Smith’s physical education classes were visited by members from the Reserve Officers' Training Corps on Oct. 30.
During the ROTC visit, the students played exciting games like dodge ball with bows and arrows that had foam tips.
According to Smith, the reason the ROTC volunteers came to Lourdes was to inform both middle school and high school students about what it is like to join the armed forces. The ROTC leaders also stressed that being in the military can be fun at times.
Smith’s classes started out with some easy conditioning which then turned into playing dodge ball with bows and marshmallow-foam tip arrows. At the end of each class, the ROTC recruiters handed out a sheet to all the students with information about ROTC.
Both middle school and high school students said that the games were “super fun” and hoped they had the opportunity to participate in another ROTC program. Senior Tyler Johnson said, “You learn to play as a team and how to accurately use a bow and arrow.”
Smith said that the middle schoolers “loved it” because the games were something new, and the students got the gist of how important combat is.
Smith said she is planning for the ROTC recruiters to come to her classes every fall, winter, and spring with different activities every time. She said future activities will include extreme conditioning, an obstacle course, and the bow and arrow games.
ROTC recruiters show students how to shoot bows!
Students playing capture the flag!