Year: 2009

By Anne Marie Amacher

DAVENPORT — The challenge was on.

Students in Marianne Agnoli’s Foods 1 classes at Assumption High School in Davenport were to prepare a balanced meal with the main ingredient being chicken. The challenge (a.k.a. the final exam for first semester) included convincing a panel of guest judges in the Aluminum Chef competition Dec. 18.

Each team was allowed to use as many as four boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The teams had one hour to prepare, plate and serve a balanced meal for the four judges and an additional 10 minutes to clean up their kitchen area.

Teams were assessed on a scale of 1-10 for nutritional value of the meal, kitchen safety and sanitation, kitchen management, demonstration of hospitality and kitchen clean-up.

The judges rated the meals on a scale of 1-5 for meal plating/appearance, appropriate temperature, creativity/originality, complementary food choices and overall taste. A comment line was available.

Agnoli gave the teams two weeks to plan and practice preparing their dishes in class and, if needed, at home. Students did not have to come up with original recipes. They could use cookbooks or go on the Internet. The only rule was they could not use prepared foods such as “Chicken Helper.” Written recipes were due on the day of the final.

Teams from the second-period class prepared five very different dishes. Team 1 served a chicken teriyaki shish kabob with rice and a salad. Team 2 offered chicken tacos with bean dip and chips. Team 3 served chicken alfredo on fettuccini with salad and garlic bread. Team 4 presented seasoned chicken with a baked potato topped with cheese, and a Caesar salad. The fifth team served chicken parmesan over spaghetti with a salad.

Hannah Adams, a senior and member of Team 2, said the team found the chicken taco recipe online and used her mom’s recipe for the bean dip. “I feel we presented a really good meal.”

Overall Adams enjoyed the class and learned a lot to help her get through college, she said. The class covered breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers and Christmas cookies, she noted.

Team 4, all sports players, said the competition was “fierce,” but team members felt confident that they did well. One member of the team made homemade barbecue sauce.

Bishop Martin Amos, one of the judges for the second-period class, said, “What a wonderful talent to have to be able to present something appetizing.”

Other judges included Frank Agnoli, director of liturgy for the Diocese of Davenport and Marianne Agnoli’s husband; and faculty and staff from Assumption High School.

Winners of the Aluminum Pan competition were: Period 1: Team 2 (Sesame Chicken) — Mary Beth Bush, Kylie Quigley, Beth Oliger, Elizabeth Solchenberger and Morgan Steffen.

Period 2: Team 5 (Chicken Parmesan) — Joe Daniel, Tom Carroll, Sean Finn and Kyle Nickels.

Next semester Foods 2 class will cover international competition with the final exam once again being a cooking challenge — but with a different ingredient.

Cheryl Drowns, after graduating from the University of Dubuque in 2009, began teaching biology, chemistry, physics and earth science at Notre Dame this year. Almost arriving as Cheryl Westphal, she was married this summer to Cory Drowns and now resides in West Burlington.

Liz Weisinger, a familiar face at Notre Dame, returns to teach business courses for grades six to 12 after serving as an extended substitute for Kathy Eilenstine last year. Weisinger previously worked at Schaffer-Penn in credit collections.

This is her first position as a full-time teacher since she graduated from William Penn University in 2006 and substitute-taught for three years.  She has three children, Greg, A.J. and Sally, and lives in West Point.

w has been added to the retreat schedule at The Canticle, home of the Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton: a New Year’s Eve Retreat.

According to Sister Mary Smith, OSF, retreat minister at The Canticle, the overnight program will be “a prayerful pause at year’s end/beginning and a time to contemplate life’s blessings, looking lovingly at the real and praying, ‘For all that has been, thanks! and for all that will be, yes!’”

Check in time for the retreat will be Thursday, Dec. 31, at 4 p.m. with dinner at 5 p.m. 

The retreat will include presentations as well as sharing silence and story and music.

“We will conclude at 10 p.m. with refreshments and early welcoming of the New Year,” Sr. Smith noted. The retreat will close with a prayer service on New Year’s morning.

“What if life isn’t about what you chase, but about resting in God’s grace?” asked Sr. Smith in her letter to participants. “What if life isn’t about pushing yourself to the limit, but embracing every minute? Our evening will include brief presentations on the gift of stillness that creates love, and on the movement that creates life.  On the brink of a new year rich in possibilities, we will experience the power of pause — for the ‘rest’ of our life.”

To register, call Sr. Smith at The Canticle: (563) 242-7903, ext. 1369. Cost is $20.  “Scholarships are available,” stated Sr. Smith, “but call soon: there is limited space!”

For more information and driving directions to The Canticle, see www.clintonfranciscans.com  or call (563) 242-7611.

It all began with a trip to Mexico last summer. For Notre Dame High School senior Connor Sheagren, it was a truly eye-opening experience.

 “I was stunned by the homelessness and the amount of suffering I observed and felt determined to do something in my own community to solve these problems,” he said. The poverty and suffering he saw affected him deeply.

The 17-year-old’s experience came about last summer through the “Youth in Mission” program sponsored by his ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) church group. Only 25 students from across the country were selected for the trip. Applicants had to write a 1,000-word essay on “Serving Christ in the World” and submit letters of recommendation. Once Connor was chosen for the program, he found his life would never be the same.

Connor’s decision to take action led to his organizing “Hands and Feet,” a service club comprised of 15 high school students at Notre Dame with the goal of completing a service project at least once a month. Thus far the group has participated in the UNICEF project in October, which raised $467.30 that would go to needy parents and children in Third World countries. 

In November, the students sponsored a door-to-door canned food drive and collected 405 items for St. Vincent de Paul’s food pantry in Burlington. Currently the group is working on “Toys for Tots,” along with local postal carriers, to collect toys for needy kids in the area.

The name of Connor’s club, “Hands and Feet,” is derived from the concept that “We are the hands and feet of God,” the idea that it is every person’s responsibility to help those less fortunate. Notre Dame’s school board officially sanctioned the group as part of the school’s extracurricular offerings, and Principal Ron Glasgow agreed to sponsor the students.

“Connor set himself apart when he organized his group, set objectives and a plan of action,” he said. “Then his group executed the plan. It is now a part of Notre Dame and I hope we can continue this group after Connor graduates.”

Connor is no stranger to service. He earned his Eagle Scout honors last March and has more than 575 hours of community service throughout his high school years at Notre Dame.

Connor, a Lutheran, is among the 12 percent of non-Catholic students who attend Notre Dame. He aspires to become a pastor in the Lutheran church, and being at ND has helped him along this path. “Attending Notre Dame has challenged me and opened my eyes to possibilities in my life. I could really feel the Holy Sprit working through me here, especially in religion class,” Connor said.

Connor has many other ideas for his group’s service projects in 2010. The students would like to paint murals over graffiti in the downtown areas of Burlington, organize clean-up efforts near the river and around the highways. He is also anxious to seek solutions for social problems, such as exploring preventative measures for teen suicides.

The Hands and Feet effort will not end with Connor’s graduation next May. Sophomore Hannah Ebbing is anxious to lead the program for the next two years and grow the group even more among the upcoming grades.

Connor lives by the philosophy of Mohandas Gandhi, who wrote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” He adds, “Those who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.”

No doubt Connor will be one of those “crazy” ones, and thank God for him.

By Celine Klosterman

BURLINGTON — Roy Ertz says he got a “darn good education” from the Sisters who taught him at St. John and St. Paul schools in Burlington.

So last week, he donated $88,000 to benefit today’s teachers at Burlington Catholic schools. The money will go toward a new retirement fund for faculty and staff at Notre Dame Elementary and Notre Dame Junior/Senior High. From 2011-2021, the funds will help Notre Dame match contributions to the Betty and Roy Ertz Retirement Fund.  Betty, who died in 2005, was Roy’s wife for 63 years. 

Ertz said he made the gift “out of a realization that my own life was very strongly influenced by my 12 years of Catholic education. I wanted to give something back.”

He also wanted to honor the memory of the Sisters who taught him, said the retired military and civilian pilot and former service-station owner. “They were very good teachers, top of the heap.”

The donation is Ertz’ latest act of support for Catholic education. He belonged to a committee in the 1950s that oversaw the building of Notre Dame High in 1957, and he and Betty sent their eight children to Catholic schools. 

Ron Glasgow, principal of Notre Dame Junior/Senior High, said Ertz’ donation helps solidify the establishment of a retirement plan, which Glasgow had looked into since becoming principal three years ago.

“It was a matter of ethics to me that I’d get this done for the faculty and staff,” he said. “After giving years to Catholic education, they certainly deserve more than a pat on the back.”

Most Catholic schools in the Davenport Diocese offer a retirement plan. 

Glasgow said it took time for the creation of a retirement fund at Notre Dame to gather support, but the schools ultimately began offering a plan for teachers and staffers this year. This summer Notre Dame held a golf tournament that raised $7,000 for the plan, which is being funded without tuition money.

The 25 participants who signed up this year will get $100 in June toward their retirement. Notre Dame hopes to eventually match contributions of up to 2 percent of participants’ salary, said Deb Trine, the schools’ business manager. Ertz’ donation will further that goal, she said.

Ertz hopes his gesture will inspire others to support Notre Dame. “I’m a great believer in Catholic education,” he said.

Our local Pax Christi USA chapter, activated in the Quad-Cities by Ollie and Bert Finn in 2004, has been among the approximately 150 discussion groups that responded to the call for defining what peace and nonviolence mean at the grassroots level.

This call came from the national Pax Christi USA group, in response to an invitation of the American bishops in 2003 to better live out the beatitude: “Blessed are the Peacemakers.”

Using the directives of the national group, entitled the “People’s Peace Initiative: Called to Something New,” local members over the past six months discussed the difference between the peace Jesus offered at the Last Supper and the peace that the world gives. This required a deep look at our own experiences in living and becoming peace on a daily basis and the challenges it entails not only in our personal life, but in our families, neighborhoods, communities, parishes, nations and the whole world.

Our discussions concluded by sending a report to the National Office of Pax Christi USA. The report centered on one main question requested for all groups to answer: “What is essential for the Church to understand and cultivate peace in the twenty-first century?” Our local group made five recommendations.

Our local group is eager to share this report. If anyone wishes to receive a copy or eventually join a peace-sharing group, please call Roberta Moran (facilitator) at (563) 359-0867 or mail your request to 510 Grant St., Bettendorf, Ia., 52722. To read the national report got to www.paxchristiusa.org and click on “The People’s Initiative: Called to Something New.”

Roberta Moran

Bettendorf

The test results are in, and once again Notre Dame leads the pack in college preparedness, surpassing the state average on ACT scores. The recent graduates of 2009 did outstanding on the tests, posting a composite score of 25.1, well over the state average of 22.4.

Even more impressive was the percentage of ACT-tested students who are ready for college work. The results show that 91 percent were ready for college English composition, 70 percent for college algebra, 78 percent for college social science and 55 percent for college biology. Moreover, 52 percent all reached proficiency in all four categories compared to the state average of 29 percent.

“This is the highest we have scored in five years,” said high school principal Ron Glasgow. “What is most significant is that every senior at Notre Dame takes the ACT. In other schools, only the students who sign up to do so take the test.”

The class of 2009 distinguished itself in another area as well: scholarship awards. When the final amount was tallied, the graduates had amassed $2.2 million in scholarship money.

And as the ACT scores of the class of 2010 start to come in, it appears the students have also excelled (some with scores in the 30s). The study that compares their performance to that of the rest of the state won’t be available until fall of 2010.

Among this year’s seniors who are starting to bring in academic accolades is Zach Champion. Zach has been named a “Commended Student” in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program. Commended students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2010 competition by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

The outstanding test scores can be attributed in part to the school’s emphasis on academic excellence. Notre Dame has been increasing its honors class offerings since fourth-year Spanish, physics, anatomy and calculus were designated honors classes and weighted more heavily in grade point averages than other classes (an A is worth five points instead of four, etc.).

This year, an honors math course has been added to this list. Pre-calculus is offered to juniors and seniors who have finished Algebra II, have a high ACT score, and have passed the Compass math placement test at Southeastern Iowa Community College. Pre-calculus is taught by Claire Bohlen.

Another new class is pre-algebra. This replaces eighth-grade math in an effort to get the students ready for algebra. April Hamma teaches this course.

In addition, Notre Dame continues to challenge students by offering Advanced Placement classes, which have been part of the program since fall 2004. Students enrolled in such courses take online classes in the computer lab and are monitored by a Notre Dame instructor. Currently two seniors are taking such classes, Emily Bohnenkamp and Andrew Schilling.

Emily is enrolled in U.S. history. She says, “It’s time consuming and challenging, but I’ve learned a lot…I want to study history in college, and this is a good way to get a head start.”

Andrew took U.S. history last year and is currently studying AP statistics. “Last year I took the AP U.S. history exam and was able to earn college credit. This year I thought that the AP statistics class would be very practical; I want to study political science in college, and stats are an important part of research in political science.”

With honors classes, AP courses and the expanding foreign language department it’s clear Notre Dame aims to keep pace with the emphasis on rigor and relevance in education right now.

In addition, the emphasis on implementing the Core Curriculum throughout the school system will ensure that students are well prepared for whatever awaits them after high school.