Seriously Seussical at SPPS

Above:  Colorful cast members sing a song of Seuss during one of the musical numbers of Seussical, Jr at SPPS.

Ms. Laurie Preston, the new Theatre Arts teacher at Sts. Peter and Paul School in Lexington, sends along this post about the recent SPPS production:




Theater patrons and Dr. Seuss fans were treated to an evening where the
author's stories intertwined at Sts. Peter and Paul Regional Catholic
School's Seussical, Jr.  The musical could be described as a "Dr. Seuss
remix," and delighted sold out audiences in the beautiful W. Paul and
Lucille Caudill Little Theatre. The talented students of SPPS's middle
school took on the challenge of this intricate tale and gave a knock-out
performance.
"It takes some familiar stories like 'Horton Hears a Who!' and 'Cat in the
Hat' and it combines them in a way that all of the character's get to
interact to tell the tale," says new Theatre Arts teacher and director
Laurie Preston.
Along with Preston, the presentation's music director, new Music teacher
Christie Pabin, guided the cast of of nearly 50 actors. 

Featured
performers were Grant Peck as Horton the Elephant, Allie Gregory as Cat in
the Hat, Lucy Dever as Gertrude McFuzz, Maddie Nunley as Mayzie LaBird and
Keely Justice as JoJo.

(Photos by Darrin Carr)

Honor Bands Hit the High Notes (and the Highways!)

At left: the musicians demonstrate their unusual warm-up exercise at the Tri-State Honor Band peformance at MSU

Ms. Allison Weitkamp, band director at MQ and SPPS, and Mr. Banks, band director at Seton, sent along this update:

Some very talented Middle School musicians from several of our diocesan schools hit the road this past fall and winter to join forces with students from all over to make beautiful music. Congratulations to all participants!

 Here are their venues:




Tri-State Honor Band
Nov. 19,  Morehead State University

Seton Catholic School, Lexington: Derby Carter - 7th grade trumpet (shown with Mr. Banks, Band Director)


 Sts. Peter & Paul School, Lexington
Abby Zanone - 8th grade flute
Kathleen West - 7th grade flute
Maura Coriale - 7th grade flute
Ana Segovia - 7th grade clarinet
Abby Beckman -7th grade bass clarinet

Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary, Lexington Elizabeth Boyd - 6th flute
Olivia Williams - 6th alto sax
Lauren Grant - 6th  trombone
Christian Arias - 6th alto sax
Christian Gibbs - 6th alto sax
Michael Hamlin - 6th percussion
Jacob Roberts - 7th alto sax
Elise Maul - 8th flute
Emily Norton - 6th clarinet







EKU Honor Band Dec. 3, Eastern Kentucky University

SPPS: Rachel Buckles - 8th trumpet
Abby Winfield - 8th clarinet
Maura Coriale - 7th flute
Kathleen West - 7th flute

Seton: Daniella Connor - 8th clarinet

Mary Queen: Caroline Quigley - 8th flute

 Kentucky Music Educators Association
 District 7 Honor Band Jan. 6-7
Mary Queen:
Mattie Fogle - 8 clarinet
Abbi King - 8 percussion
Jacob Roberts - 7 alto sax

SPPS: Rachel Buckels - 8 trumpet
Kathleen West - 7 flute
Sam Roller - 7 clarinet

At left: Musicians at the KMEA District 7 performance demonstrate their unusual cool-down exercises!

CCHD Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which is the domestic anti-poverty program of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, sponsors an annual Youth Arts Contest to engage young people in creative justice education.  The deadline for dropping off or mailing artwork to our diocesan Office of Peace and Justice is March 15, 2012.  The judges will select an art entry from the grade 7-9 entries and one from grade 10-12 entries to submit to the national contest.  Call 859-253-1993, x252 for more details.

Complete information is found at http://old.usccb.org/cchd/youth.shtml.  You can also see examples of artwork submitted over the years.  In the meantime, here is the basic information about the goals of the contest:

"Through participation in the Contest, students in grades 7 through 12 can explore the issue of US poverty in the light of their faith and learn about what empowered, low-income persons are doing in their communities to address its root causes through groups funded by CCHD.  Thus, the contest not only education young people about poverty and putting faith in action; it also connects them to local efforts to address poverty."

(As an example of how CCHD has affected poverty efforts in our Diocese, the BUILD organization was able to get started in Lexington about 10 years ago with funding from CCHD, and this year, CCHD funds are helping the Owsley County Action Team develop the Mountain Designs and Crafts consortium in Booneville to create more jobs there).

"The contest is designed to be used across disciplines, at either schools or parishes.  Student artwork can be of any form - for exmaple, video, PowerPoint, short story, painting, song or photography. At schools, the contest can be a tool for English, social studies, art, religion, music, drama and other classes."

"Contest age groupings include grades 7-9 and 10-12.  The grand prize is $500, with a $500 matching grant to a community organization working to fight poverty, plus a trip to a national awards event."

At left:  One of the contest entries from the Diocese of Lexington, 2009.