By Mike Yerly, St. Isidore School Development Director
The 2016-17 school year was one filled with impressive accomplishments and achievements by the Class of
2017, which graduated May 28. Here are some highlights from a very talented class which now adds 29 strong to the St. Isidore School (SIS) Alumni roster:
- Bloomingdale Character Counts
Julia Ryan - Diane Neary Christian Athlete Award
Noah Kuchler and Julia Ryan - St. Isidore Christian Citizenship Award
Sean Barry and Julia Romero - Athlete of the Year Award
Amelia Arms and Josh Schellinger - St. Isidore Christian Scholarship Award
Samantha Szewczy - SIS Spelling Bee Winner
Keely Graf - President’s Award for Educational Achievement
Robert Bansil, Katelyn Basel, Wesley Ittner, Jamison Maloney, Julia Romero, Haley Schoder, Nicholas Shute, Nathan Topp, Maggie Wiatr - President’s Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement
Grace Ahern, Sean Barry, Maggie Breyne, Nick Felty, Keely Graf, Ethan Ho, Noah Kuchler, Sofija Matonis, Julia Ryan, Joshua Schellinger and Samantha Szewczyk - VFW Patriot Pen Essay Winner
Stephanie Macasu - St. Francis High School Scholarship for scoring in top 10 on freshman entrance exam
Maggie Breyne
Unique New Enrichment Program to Further Challenge St. Isidore Students in 2017-18
An exciting new program that will be introduced this coming school year will find St. Isidore only the second school in the entire Joliet Diocese to offer it. It has two unique parts:
Defined as an enrichment program, in one part, all students in grades K-8 will take part in a “push in” segment. Specially trained current SIS teachers Lisa Conte and Andrea Kuchler will be visiting classrooms weekly or bi-weekly to facilitate “brain stretching” activities. The goal is to encourage students to think more critically and stretch their reasoning skills.
The other part of the program is a “pull out.” Students that have been identified by a logical reasoning test and standardized IOWA scores will be enriched in reading and math. Grades 3-6 will be eligible for that with 2nd grade possibly taking part during second semester.
Principal Cyndi Collins says that all St. Isidore students in participating grades will be given the opportunity to participate in one or both parts of this new educational endeavor.
STREAM Event Also New for 2017-18
The acronym STEM is a major push in elementary schools nationwide these days, standing for an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Mrs. Collins adds that St. Isidore has taken the program one step further by adding an R (Religion) and A (Arts) to it when it is introduced this coming school year. She says that while many schools have moved to STEAM (adding an A for the Arts), we’re adding the Catholic Component of R as well – for Religion.
All students in grades K-8 will be working on a STREAM project – some whole classes as a group, some in pairs, some individually. The general idea is for students to find something they question or “wonder” about, explore it, set up some questions to research, do the research and then create some type of project to demonstrate their knowledge and what they’ve learned. The event will occur in April and parents/guests will be invited.
A committee of teachers worked this past year on planning the projects and the new STREAM event.