St. Bede hosts 50th annual Honors Banquet

PERU - St. Bede Academy hosted its 50th annual Honors Banquet on Wednesday, April 24. Students from all classes were presented athletic and academic excellence awards. The following are the award recipients for the 2023-24 school year:

Department Awards

English: Freshmen Ariana Villava; sophomores Chipper Rossi and Weston Heersink; juniors Gordon Chen and Arthur van den Berg and senior Makenzie Hanson

Mathematics: Freshmen Ranbir Saini; sophomore Noah Buck; junior Gordon Chen and senior Yigit Arslan

Science: Tyler Jordan (AP Chemistry), Amie Tomaszewski (Anatomy), Noah Buck (AP Computer Science Principles, Kylie Hill (AP Computer Science) and Gordon Chen (AP Physics)

History: Phillip Gray (AP U.S. History), Arthur van den Berg (U.S. History), Noah Buck (Honors World History) and Weston Heersink (World History)

Foreign Language: Kyra Finley (Spanish I), Genavyve Barnes (Spanish II), Violet Lopez (Spanish III) and Johnna Bogatitus (Spanish IV)

Fine Arts: Ella Englehaupt, Georgina Guo and Isabella Hagenbuch (Special Award in Theatre) and Henry Mertel (Fr. Joseph Heyd, OSB Award)

Distinguished Awards

Fr. Arthur Schmitt, OSB Service Award: Ali Bosnich

Scholar Athlete Award: Isabella Hagenbuch and Logan Potthoff

High School Heisman Award: Ali Bosnich and Zachary Popurella

IHSA All-State Academic Team Nominee: Isabella Hagenbuch and Logan Potthoff

Athlete of the Year Award: Ali Bosnich, Mariella Hermes and Ryan Slingsby

Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Award (HOBY): Lily Bosnich, Noah Buck, Mae Hagenbuch and Emma Slingsby

Illinois Principal’s Association John Ourth Student Recognition Award: Jeanna Ladzinski and Ryan Slingsby

Daughters of the American Revolution Award (DAR): Isabella Hagenbuch

Sons of the American Revolution Award (SAR): Logan Potthoff

College Board National Recognition Program: Ella Englehaupt, Evan Englehaupt, Greyson Marincic, Isabella Hagenbuch, Logan Potthoff and Gordon Chen

President’s Excellence in Education: Ella Englehaupt, Isabella Hagenbuch and Logan Potthoff  

Illinois State Scholars: Ali Bosnich, Ella Englehaupt, Isabella Hagenbuch, Zachary Popurella and Logan Potthoff    

St. Bede Academy International Scholar: Yigit Arslan

Scholastic Top 10 (In alphabetical order): Johnna Bogatitus, Ali Bosnich, Ella Englehaupt (Salutatorian), Evan Englehaupt, Georgina Guo, Isabella Hagenbuch (Valedictorian), Mariella Hermes, Kylie Hill, Zachary Popurella and Logan Potthoff

Academic Awards

Freshmen: Ranbir Saini and Bryce Stuepfert

Sophomores: Noah Buck, Lillian Soliman, Ryan Soliman and Yannis Yong

Junior: Abraham Wiesbrock

Senior: Isabella Hagenbuch

Citizenship Awards

Freshman: Ariana Villava

Sophomore: Emma Slingsby

Junior: Jake Migliorini

Senior: Isabella Hagenbuch

Senior of the Year

Ryan Slingsby

Freshmen field trip combines education, Christian mission and Catholic culture

On April 16, Fr. Dominic Garramone, OSB took the entire freshman class on a field trip that combined education, Christian mission and Catholic culture. He and junior religion teacher Eric Davy accompanied the freshmen to visit a soup kitchen, study stained glass at a 19th century church and attend noon Mass and devotions at another church in downtown Peoria.

The students traveled by two busses to Sophia’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen and food pantry run by a group of parishes known as the Heart of Peoria Catholic Community. The center is attached to St. Joseph Church, where the students met with Sophia’s Kitchen director Claire Crone (who just happens to be a Fr. Dom’s high school classmate!). She described the center’s ministry, which includes serving 400 meals a day Monday through Friday and providing food assistance for the weekends. Prior to the trip the freshmen collected eight large boxes of canned good and non-perishable food as their contribution to the ministry.

Macy Strauch said, “Learning about the soup kitchen on this trip gave me chills. Just with how many people they are helping out and how much they have changed their community.”

Fr. Dominic then took the students on a tour of the church, pointing out various features of the beautiful stained glass windows which came from a studio in Germany. Most of the windows depicted the life of Christ, so our young scholars were able to identify many of the images from their studies of the Bible. One of the unique features of the church is a window depicting Jesus as sowing the seed of the gospel. Closer examination reveals that the seeds are actually tiny crosses.

After a boxed Subway lunch, the students boarded the busses to travel to Sacred Heart Church across from the Peoria Civic Center. This parish, founded in 1878, was where Fr. Dominic attended grade school and he learned to serve mass in the church. Sacred Heart was recently renovated, and features exquisite mosaics and frescoes, including many images of saints from North and South America. The students attended noon mass, and stayed afterwards for the weekly special devotion to St. Anthony, which included a blessing with a relic of the saint.

Kerstin Williams appreciated an experience which made their classroom learning more relevant: “The trip was a great way to connect the topics we learned in class to the real world.”

Fr. Dominic said that he got such a good response from the students that he hopes to make the event an annual tradition.

If you would like to help fund next year’s freshman field trip, please contact Fr. Dominic or the Development Office.

St. Bede Academy announces third quarter honor roll

Mr. Nick McLaughlin, principal of St. Bede Academy in Peru, has announced St. Bede’s honor roll for the third quarter of the 2023-24 school year. 

Seniors: Aubree Acuncius, Alex Ankiewicz, Johnna Bogatitus, Bella Boggio, Ali Bosnich, Ella Burris, Summer Conlin, Madelyne Dalton, Rubi De La Torre, Erin Dove, Tessa Dugosh, Ella Englehaupt, Evan Englehaupt, Evan Entrican, Daliayah Farris, Seth Ferrari, Molly Gonzales,  Isabella Hagenbuch, Gavin Hahn, Makenzie Hanson, Katelyn Harth, Macy Hartt, Mariella Hermes, Teagan Hewitt, Kylie Hill, Jeanna Ladzinski, Henry Mertel, Ariella Mudge, Ava Mueller, Kyra Newman, Khue Nguyen, Kristina Penaverde, Zachary Popurella, Logan Potthoff, Anna Rudenko, Hunter Savage, Kaelyn Schwemlein, Sierah Shaver, Casey Shearer, Aubrey Siebert, Ryan Slingsby, Madison Stanbary, Reagan Stoudt, Marly Tillman, Vy Tran, Amanda Wojcik and Katherine Zeller.

Juniors: Teer Ao, Haiden Ator, Andrea Brandner,  Qiyu Chen, Ziheng Chen,  Garrett Connelly, Jordan Coventry, Trayger Davis, Alondra Delao, Lorelei Denny,  Madalyn Dittmar, Bailey Engels, Avery Entrican, Yibo Fan, Grady Gillan, Phillip Gray, Mirella Haskell, Halden Hueneburg, Elizabeth Huffaker, Tyler Jordan, Yuno Kawai, Maci Kelly, Sadie Koehler, Jaxon Kozak, Lin Le, Violet Lopez, Haohongze Ma, Haiqing Mao, Greyson Marincic, Jack Maschmann, Quinn McClain, Victoria Mendez, Jake Migliorini, Grace Millington, Adeline Mitchell, Mason Moreno, Aidan Mullane, Kaden Nauman, Ryan Nawa, Kaden Newman, Huy Nguyen, Alivia Payne,  Mason Ross, Emma Smudzinski, Zixuan Song, Alan Spencer, Nhi Ton, Mina Trandinh, Arthur van den Berg, Samantha Wagner, Tyler Walsh, Abraham Wiesbrock, Kefei Wu, Solomon Zhang, and Jinhao Zhao.

Sophomores: Margaret Arkins, Ava Balestri, Genavyve Barnes, Landon Boggio, Lily Bosnich, Johnnie Brown, Noah Buck, August Burr, Drew Carboni, Caden Carls, Chuanyang Chen, Anna Cyrocki, Emerald De La Torre, Jose De La Torre, Simona Desai, Haoxuan Du, Madeline Fabish, Gino Ferrari, Harrison Fess, Ashton Gonzales, Mae Hagenbuch, Brody Hahn, Weston Heersink, Aiden Hermes, Zachary Husser, Isaac Kang,  Breanna Martinez, Lili McClain, Ella Mudge, Sophia Ni, Jillian Pinter, Xiangyi Ren, Carson Riva, Chipper Rossi, Mark Rudenko, Alyssa Savitch, Emma Slingsby, Lillian Soliman, Ryan Soliman, Shujie Song, Devin Steil, Khoa Tran, Julian Villava,  Peiwen Wu, Xindi Wu, Hongsheng Yang, Yannis Yong, Kian Zeller, Sora Zepeda, Ruihan Zhang and Yijing Zhang.

Freshmen: Faith Ankiewicz, Yesenia Avila, Caleb Barto, Chloe Brandt, Sean Brayton, Brody Burris, Calen Cass, Geno Dinges, Maegan du Preez, Kate Duncan, Kyra Finley, Grace Gahan, Eden Galvan, Cecilia Giacalone, Gavin Gillan, Raudel Hermosillo Jr., Brennen Hirst, Emma Huffaker, Yejun Jang, Lila Koehler, Ella Lamboley, Chenxuan Lin,  Landon Marquez, Lucy Maus, Emma Mavity, Stuart McGunnigal, Stephanie Ni, Niko Pappas-Anniballi, Chase Riva, Olivia Ross,  Ranbir Saini, Alaina Schulz, Nancy Shi, Macy Strauch, Bryce Stuepfert, Lex Tillman, Alec Tomsha, Judith Torres, Maleigha Trench, Carter Vasquez, Ariana Villava and Kerstin Williams.  

Drama Department to perform Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'

This year’s annual Spring Musical weekend is just around the corner and the St. Bede Drama Department is proud to present their rendition of Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Musical Director Lisa Griggs said this beloved story is one that appeals to all ages, but especially younger audiences. People of all generations treasure the bubbly music and characters of this story about a rebellious 16-year-old mermaid, Ariel, who is fascinated with life on land.

In this production, we will hear all the songs we’ve come to know from Disney; songs like, “Part of your World,” “Under the Sea,” “Kiss the Girl” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”

The musical production features multiple roles, and many students who are first-time performers of the Spring Musical tried out and made it in this year’s show.

A total of 33 students (13 freshmen, nine sophomores, four juniors and seven seniors.) make up the set roster, plus there are a number of stage crew members, known as Stage Rats, who are responsible for the set décor and props.

Aside from the entire production as a whole, Griggs is most excited about the sea props, tap-dancing numbers and the show’s creativity in suggested scenery.  This year’s Spring Musical is sure to be a splash!

Don’t miss out on your chance to see it! Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 22, and Saturday, March 23, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 24, in the Abbot Vincent Gymnasium. Tickets are $10. Everyone is invited!

St. Bede Academy earns AP Computer Science A Female Diversity Award

Pictured are students who represent female diversity in computer science at St. Bede Academy. They are: Ella Englehaupt ’24 (from left, standing), Bella Hagenbuch ’24, Kylie Hill ’24 (from left, sitting) and Andrea Brandner’ 25

PERU – For the second consecutive year, St. Bede Academy has earned the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in the AP Computer Science A course.

St. Bede is one of only seven schools in the state to earn this honor. Schools who receive this recognition have expanded girls’ access in AP computer science courses.

“We’re thrilled to congratulate our female AP computer science students and their teachers on this step toward gender parity in computer science education,” said St. Bede Principal Nick McLaughlin. “We’re honored that our school earned this distinction and look forward to seeing these young women and others pursue and achieve success in computer education and careers.”

AP Computer Science A students learn to design and implement computer programs that solve problems relevant to today’s society. AP Computer Science A, which first debuted in 1988, continues to grow and female participation has increased 69% since 2017 to 24,147 women. Overall AP computer science course participation has increased 147% since 2017, broadening STEM career opportunities for more students.

Providing female students with access to computer science courses is critical to ensuring gender parity in the industry’s high-paying jobs and to drive innovation, creativity and representation. The median annual wage for computer and information technology occupations was $100,530 in May 2021. However, women represent just 24% of the five million people in computing occupations.

The 1,127 schools across the nation that receive this year’s AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award serve as inspirations and models for all U.S. high schools.