Education

At the beginning of the school year, Tracy Kempfer posed a simple question to eighth-graders at Our Lady School in Festus.

"I asked them, 'What do you need from your parents to help you prepare for confirmation?'" said Kempfer, who teaches religion to the eighth-graders in addition to serving as school principal. "I gave them a piece of paper and they just wrote their thoughts out."

The consensus of the anonymous responses struck at the heart of the Catholic faith and the realities of being Catholic — even a young Catholic — in this day and age. The students wanted their parents to ...

Cara Koen aimed her iPhone at the young student standing in front of a brightly colored bulletin board at St. Norbert School. "OK, let's do the come-and-explore part again," she told second-grader Cadence Levin.

Koen visited the Florissant school earlier this month to shoot video promoting Catholic Schools Week. As director of advancement for the Federation of Catholic Schools in the Northeast Deanery, such work is a regular part of Koen's routine.

Cameron Rodgers is comfortable at De Smet Jesuit High School in Creve Coeur, where the sophomore excels in the classroom and on the football field and track.

That comfort level is matched or exceeded at Most Holy Trinity Academy in north St. Louis, where he serves as a tutor and assistant basketball coach. He's an effective leader, assisting the grade-schoolers with their studies and athletic skills.

St. Francis of Assisi School kindergarten teacher Erika Zambo turned to a student and said, "I like your bones." To another student, she asked, "Can I have your bones?"

The students took part in "The Structure and Function of the Human Body," one of 24 interdisciplinary modules of Project Lead the Way-Launch that bring learning to life. The program empowers students to adopt a design-thinking mindset through activities, projects and problems that build upon each other.

Xy=42

xz+zy=xy

Substitution

3(n+4)+3n=42

3n+12+3n=42

6n+12=42

n=5

It was midday, gloomy outside and students filed in for a 90-minute geometry class. at St. John Vianney High School.

Time for a nap at your desk, you might say?

Not for St. John Vianney High School's 360 Math program, where all students worked through math problems on quarter-inch-thick glass writing boards attached to every wall in the classroom.

Charlie Albus wanted to keep it simple in designing a student logo at Mary Queen of Peace School in Webster Groves.

Mission accomplished.

The eighth-grader created the winning logo in a design contest solely for students. Albus' logo incorporated an eagle — the school's sports mascot — inside a badge, with the letters "M," "Q" and "P" on top of it.

Albus described the winning logo as "a really cool example of what our school is all about. It's not too complicated. It describes our school really well."

He called the logo contest "a great idea." About 50 students entered designs.