St. Mark’s, St. Thomas More students win art awards
WILMINGTON — Four St. Mark’s High School and seven St. Thomas More students have received Delaware Regional Scholastic Art Awards.
From St. Mark’s, seniors Spencer Shannon and Kara Barbes each were Silver Key winners. Shannon was recognized for mixed media, Barbes for painting. Their work was on display at the Arts Center/Gallery at Delaware State University in Dover until Feb. 11. That evening, all award winners were honored.
Seniors Rob Bennington (drawing) and Megan Lee (painting) received honorable mentions.
From St. Thomas More, Jessica Wearden won a Gold Key and two Silver Keys in painting, Alex Wittig won a Gold Key in drawing, Christine Petrosky won a Silver Key in mixed media, and Samantha Robeson was a Silver Key winner in painting.
Honorable mentions went to Robeson (printmaking), Anna Loffreda (drawing), Melissa Micek (mixed media) and Stefanie Sels (painting).
The program is open to students in grades seven through 12.
St. John the Beloved team wins cheerleading title
WILMINGTON — St. John the Beloved won the 2012 diocesan varsity cheerleading championship as part of the St. Mark’s High School cheerleading competition. The Eagles won with a score of 202.7. Our Lady of Fatima was second, followed by St. Peter the Apostle and Christ the Teacher.
St. John the Beloved also won the junior varsity division, while Our Lady of Fatima took the “game day” division.
St. Elizabeth junior receives Rotary award
WILMINGTON — Mackenzie McCracken, a junior at St. Elizabeth High School, will receive a Rotary Youth Leadership Award this month for her community involvement, service and leadership activities, according to the school.
McCracken will attend a national RYLA conference in Chevy Chase, Md., over the President’s Day weekend with 145 high school juniors from across the country.
Salesianum grad selected in soccer draft
Mike Volk, a 2007 Salesianum grad, was selected last month in the supplemental draft by the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. The Red Bulls took Volk in the second round of the supplemental draft, which acts as the third through sixth rounds of the MLS draft following the two-round Super Draft.
At Salesianum, Volk was a two-time first-team all-state selection.
St. Elizabeth’s dedicates yearbook to AD
WILMINGTON — St. Elizabeth High School dedicated this year’s yearbook, “The Magnificat,” to longtime athletic director and football coach Joe Hemphill in a ceremony Jan. 30.
Hemphill received a plaque featuring the yearbook’s dedication. It notes his service to the school over 40 years.
Hemphill, who has won three state championships in football, is also a graduate of the school, where he played football and baseball.
St. Mark’s grad receives art internship in Italy
Clara Menton, a 2007 graduate of St. Mark’s High School, has been accepted into the Peggy Guggenheim Collection’s internship program in Venice, Italy, beginning next month.
The three-month internship will be the fourth trip to Italy for Menton, who lives in Newark and who majored in art history and Italian at La Salle University, from which she graduated last year. She will assist in the daily operation of the Guggenheim Museum. Interns are assigned to guard the artworks, help the staff, and act as docents (guides), and they could be involved with projects such as preparing catalogs or the installation of exhibitions. Each intern also is required to present a talk to museum staff. To qualify, the interns had to be able to hold a conversation in Italian.
The museum is located in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal, where Peggy Guggenheim lived and where much of her art collection is still located.
DART kicks off annual poster contest
WILMINGTON – Students in grades six through 12 are invited to enter DART First State’s 12th annual Transit Poster Contest, which is designed to encourage children to learn more about public transportation and to see their artwork on display. The theme of this year’s contest is “Don’t Text and Drive! Commute Smart, Ride DART.”
Posters must be submitted by March 16 to DART First State Poster Contest, Marketing Department, 119 Lower Beech St., Wilmington, DE 19805. Individual schools are asked to hold contests first, and then submit their winners to DART First State. Students in eligible grades are also allowed to enter apart from their school.
More information is available at www.dartfirststate.com or by calling 576-6016.
Four Scouts in diocese earn Eagle rank
WILMINGTON – Four Boy Scouts from troops in the Diocese of Wilmington have earned the Eagle Scout awards.
Brothers Daniel and Matthew Bleacher, and Marcus Miller, all in Troop 285, sponsored by St. Elizabeth Parish, recently earned their Eagle Scout awards for projects they did at the Delaware Children’s Theater in Wilmington.
Daniel Bleacher, a 2011 graduate of St. Elizabeth High School now attends Wilmington University, worked on a landscaping project on the grounds of the building. Matthew Bleacher, a St. Elizabeth senior, completed a makeover of the large-item prop room, and Miller, a senior at Howard High School of Technology, worked on the small-item prop room.
Nicholas Serpe, a member of Troop 88, sponsored by St. Anthony of Padua Parish, renovated the band and equipment rooms at Salesianum School, where he is a senior.
The trio from St. Elizabeth received their awards, the highest available in Scouting, on Feb. 26. Serpe was recognized on Feb. 12.
Padua senior honored by Better Business Bureau
WILMINGTON – Alana Whitmarsh, a senior at Padua Academy, received the Student Ethics Scholarship from the Better Business Bureau and will be recognized at the organization’s 47th annual dinner in Wilmington on March 12. The scholarship is worth $2,500.
The bureau selected Whitmarsh based on her academic and leadership qualities. She is an honor student and class officer, and she is very involved with the school’s Blue-Gold Club as an ambassador for the Project UNIFY program. She is one of the founding members of Padua’s Students in Action team, which helped earn the school a national Jefferson Award last year.
In addition, Whitmarsh is a standout track athlete for the Pandas. She recently signed a letter of intent with St. Joseph’s University.
