Elementary (Grades K-8)

Sacred Heart Model School (3107 Lexington Road) puts a new spin on karate called Recorder Karate! Students earn belts – all the way up to a black belt – but not with kicks and the breaking of boards. Instead, they earn belts by learning to read music! Early mornings, students show up ready to “test for a belt.” Once they earn the white belt, it’s on to yellow…then orange…and so on…all the way to the black belt. Then beads are added, some with sparkles! Students are proud of the rainbow of belts attached to their recorders, and the music teacher is proud of the practice it takes to earn each belt. Come for a listen. Students typically come in to test beginning at 7:00 a.m., but the instructor can be flexible if WDRB would like to tape the sessions. Contact: Anne Blim, 502/736-6448 or via e-mail.

Holy Trinity School (423 Cherrywood Road) recently added a keyboard lab with a state-of-the-art communications system. There are 30 keyboards, and all students (pre-K through eighth grade) are learning how to play the piano. Also, all junior high students are learning to play the guitar. Contact: Jack Richards, 502/897-2785 or via e-mail.

St. Mary School (11311 St. Mary Lane) has an archery team for grades 4-8, a “Minds in Motion” program for grades K-2, a music ensemble of middle school students and a drama club for grades 3-5. Contact: Mary Alice Zettel, 502/315-2555 or via e-mail.

St. Francis School (1960 Bardstown Road) has junior high students engaging in advanced xylophone ensemble work. They are working on advanced xylophone repertoire from the Orff volumes as well as popular music selections. Students are able to run the music rehearsals on their own, which is a testimonial to their development as independent learners. Contact: Paula Watkins, 502/459-3088 or via e-mail.

Ascension School (4600 Lynnbrook Drive) sixth-graders are partnering with the University of Louisville’s Speed School on an engineering project. Right now they are building bridges. Contact: Mary Jo Ellis, 502/451-2535 or via e-mail.

St. Paul School (6901 Dixie Highway) has just outfitted all eighth-graders with their own tablet computers and plans to provide all students in grades 6-8 with their own laptops by next year. The curriculum in eighth grade reflects the change from traditional classes to ones where the students use their laptops all day. Students love the new way of learning and have been very careful with their equipment, which has been loaned to them by the school. Contact: Kevin Brever, 502/935-5511 or via e-mail.

St. Joseph School (320 West Stephen Foster Blvd., Bardstown) fourth-grade teachers and the art teacher are collaborating on studies in Appalachian art and culture. The art teacher’s grandmother was raised in the Eastern Kentucky, and she has an original spinning wheel she uses to demonstrate weaving. The students weave their own small change purse by following the teacher’s instruction. The eighth grade class will be searching for jobs. They have created resumes and will go through mock interviews on Monday, February 7, dressed in professional clothing.

On Tuesday, February 22, St. Joseph School will host a “Radio Dance Disney Party.” Sixth grade students, under the direction of Ms. Valerie Brooks, entered a fitness program to “Get Active, Get Fit.” The students meet the criteria and were selected for recognition. Contact: Michael Bickett, 502/348-5994 or via e-mail.

The St. Bernard School (7500 Tangelo Drive) middle school cheer squad placed first at the Jam Fest Super Nationals two weeks ago in Indianapolis. The cheer team is an extremely talented group, both academically and athletically, and would be happy to perform for FOX 41. Contact: Fred Klausing, 502/239-5178 or via e-mail.

At St. Patrick School (1000 North Beckley Station Road), students in grades 6-8 are rehearsing for the spring musical production of Grease. There are 98 students performing in the play with an additional 20 student stagehands/technicians. Practices are held on Wednesdays and Fridays after school. Contact: Elaine Wnorowski, 502/244-7083 or via e-mail.

St. Edward School (9610 Sue Helen Drive) K-3 grade students participate in the Minds in Motion program. The program was developed by Candace Meyer, M.S. The Minds in Motion maze, which Meyer designed for the school environment, is a series of 15 different activities that students do in sequence. The activities are aimed at improving balance (heavily influenced by the vestibular system), gross and fine motor skills, and eye-tracking ability, as well as bilateral integration (left and right brain working together). The underlying logic is that these skills are directly related to reading, motor planning and behavior, among other things. Some of the exercises students do that provide vestibular stimulation include walking on a balance beam, balancing on balance boards, rolling on a mat, various eye tracking tasks, skipping and crawling. It takes a class less than 10 minutes to go through the maze, and they do it almost every day. (Other Catholic schools such as John Paul II Academy, St. Mary Academy, St. Raphael, and Ascension also participate in this program.) Contact: Susan Jones, 502/267-6633 or via e-mail.

St. Raphael School (2131 Lancashire Avenue) holds weekly value sessions. This is a time when the entire school gathers as a community to enjoy student-led presentations about core values. The second-grade class will be presenting on the value of forgiveness Monday, February 21, at 8:10 a.m. St. Raphael School also holds the Minds In Motion program every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:15 to 8:45 a.m. in the gym. Contact: Dr. Paul DeZarn, 502/456-1541 or via e-mail.

St. Leonard School (440 Zorn Avenue) has an archery team. Through fund raising, the school has purchased all the equipment to supply the team. Besides being a fun sport, the students are learning more about their math skills, physics, focus and concentration. Contact: Linda Kinderman, 502/897-5265 or via e-mail.

Secondary (Grades 9-12)

St. Xavier High School (1609 Poplar Level Road) has a robotics class in which students program vehicles to perform all sorts of unusual functions. They offer an unusual forensic science course and a construction engineering course. They have a booming intramural program with 700 students participating on 70 intramural basketball teams; the teams play on Saturdays and Sundays. Contact: Mike Littell, 502/637-4712 or via e-mail.

Mercy Academy (5801 Fegenbush Lane) has a unique service program for which they have won national recognition. The program extends throughout all four years and includes a focus on awareness (freshmen); direct service (sophomores); systemic change (juniors) and taking action (seniors). During senior year, students reflect upon all they have learned for the first 3 years and prepare an action plan focused on a social justice issue. Action plans include education, direct action and advocacy components. Plans range in activity from meeting food, clothing and housing needs to development of education programs for at-risk students to adopting immigrant families. Contact: Jeanine Triplett, 502/671-2010 or via e-mail.

Trinity High School (4011 Shelbyville Road) English teacher Mr. Jason Daniel is doing an innovative, international project in three of his sophomore English classes. The project is an online exercise called “Debunking Stereotypes.” Students connect online (through discussion forums) with other classes around the world and share their stereotypes of others’ countries. The other countries try to invalidate (or validate, as the case may be) the stereotypes by providing first-hand evidence. The goal of the project (besides providing great lessons in writing, audience, online etiquette, cultural literacy, etc.) is to dispel myths and bring cultures closer together by finding common ground. Feedback from other countries is coming in. Mr. Daniel and his classes will view the Academy Award-winning movie Crash for further discussion about stereotypes. Contact: Jason Daniel, 502/736-8222 or via e-mail.

Sacred Heart Academy (3175 Lexington Road) has a madrigal, which is an a cappella choir of about 20 girls, that dresses in Renaissance attire and sings the music of that period as well as other four-part harmony music. These students are all part of a larger a cappella choir that has been invited to sing at the Vatican this summer. Fifty students will travel to Italy, where they will sing during a performance in Florence and then travel to Rome to join other choirs to sing at the International Festival of Choirs in Rome; they will actually be singing during a Mass at St. Peter’s in Rome. Sacred Heart Academy also has a club that promotes appreciation for various ethnic backgrounds, and this club will host a multicultural fair and dinner on Friday, February 4, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Students, faculty, parents and guests from all four campus schools participate. Families bring items that illustrate their cultural roots; there are ethnic songs and/or dances; and students and families prepare ethnic foods. Contact: Beverly McAuliffe, 502/897-6097 or via e-mail.

Presentation Academy (861 South Fourth Street) has a fitness club. Members meet twice a week in the Humana Foundation Wellness Center, a state-of-the-art fitness conditioning facility located in the Presentation Academy Arts & Athletic Center, and learn about fitness and nutrition. This club is open to students of all fitness levels. Contact: Ruth Hans, 502/583-5935 or via e-mail.