News

Andrew Beckham, High School Fine Arts teacher, has been selected to present "The Illustrated Book" at the Colorado Art Education Association Fall Conference.

Congratulations to both Anna Sophia Williams and Taylor Cave for their outstanding performances at both the Regional Golf Tournament and the State Golf Tournament this week in Pueblo, CO. Both competed well and finished in the middle of the pack. We are immensely proud of their commitment to training and to the team this season. Well done ladies!

The weather was cloudy but spirits were high as St. Mary’s Academy High School graduated the school’s 143^rd class of students.  The ceremony continued a graduation tradition that began in 1875 when St. Mary’s Academy awarded the first high school diploma in the Colorado Territory.

The Class of 2018 earned more than $9.3 million in scholarships, representing over 87% of the class.  Among the schools granting acceptance to St. Mary’s Academy students are American University, Boston College, Colorado School of Mines, The George Washington University, Notre Dame University, Seattle University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Puget Sound, and Villanova University.

Several students received special awards. Amy Burke, Madison Castle, and Maggie Dubus were given the Shepherdess Award for attending SMA since Kindergarten.  The Sanders Citation was presented to Gabrielle Grant in memory of Helen Sanders SL, a beloved visionary within the Loretto community.  Bianca Garcia and Raegan Rychecky received the Jessie Forshee Award for outstanding academic achievement and Mariah Horvath received the Marian Award, recognizing her as the most outstanding senior in leadership, loyalty, and academic achievement. 

During the ceremony, Gabrielle Grant gave the Invocation, Mariah Horvath gave a Student Address, Madison Castle sang This Time and Margaret Obourn performed Adoration on the violin. Brandi Dotson, SMA Class of 2009 gave the Commencement Address advising the graduates, “as you go forward and enter the next chapter in your life, I hope that you will use the values of faith, community, justice, and respect as your foundation to be powerful pillars of your community.”  Bill Barrett, Academy President, conferred the diplomas along with Jean Armstrong, a Board of Trustees member. In her last graduation ceremony as High School Principal, Kathryn McNamee told the students, “you have made a difference and I know you will continue to seek ways to be powerful agents of change.”  St. Mary’s Academy’s honor choir, SAIMARAC, concluded the ceremony by singing Bridge Over Troubled Water.

St. Mary’s Academy’s Middle School Destination team, The Edible Nacho Belt, placed second in the world at the program’s Global Finals competition in Knoxville, Tennessee.  After winning both their regional and state competition, the team competed against 74 teams from all over the world in both a central challenge and an instant challenge to earn a spot on the podium.  The team competed in Destination Imagination’s Service Learning Challenge, where the team addressed a need in a real community and created a live presentation to highlight the impact of their project.  They were required to create infographs and a storage device that transformed throughout their presentation as they told the story of their project.  The team collected shoes for Denver’s homeless population by holding an SMA shoe drive and going door-to-door asking for donations.  

Using technical and engineering skills, the team then built an intricate storage unit that wowed the appraisers and other teams.  They used their artistic and creative skills to tell the story of their project through a rhyming skit and beautiful artistic backdrops that were hand drawn and painted by the team.  They then competed in an instant challenge, where they had only seven minutes to solve a complex technical problem.  

SMA’s team included Annie Peragine Caley Tamondong Claire Malik, Isabelle May, Kate Seneshen, Maggie Gesler and Rishika Kartik.  Coaches were Chelsea May and Kartik Dakshinamoorthy.

“This team worked tirelessly for nine months to create an incredible presentation about the difference they made in their community.  Their creativity, project management skills and teamwork helped them achieve an excellent result at the Global Finals,” said team managers Kartik and Chelsea May.