What’s Happening: Making History Across the Board
November in Northwest Indiana is generally that cold and dreary time of year when the Christmas season has not quite started, but it is still too cold and dark outside to do much of anything.
Despite the gloomy weather, the halls of Andrean were full of excitement and celebration this month. Why? Within a span of two weeks, the Fifty-Niners brought home three trophies, two state titles, and a theatre perfect score. With victories in academics, athletics, and fine arts, the Niners clearly have several reasons to celebrate.
At the beginning of the month, the volleyball team made school history by winning the IHSAA Class 2A State Championship against the Christian Academy Warriors. After falling just short of state last year, the girls used every opportunity since then to make it down to Muncie. All their hard work, starting with a rigorous summer conditioning program, finally paid off. This time, they were ready.
“Winning state means so much to me,” said Captain Christina Dal Santo (12). “Ever since my sister and I were in grade school, we couldn't wait to come to Andrean and play volleyball. We have always dreamt of winning state, and for it to finally happen is an amazing feeling.”
Just a week later, the spell bowl team competed at Purdue University in the Academic Spell Bowl State Competition. The team, coached by Mary Kopil, last won state in 2015. After earning State Runner-Up last year, the team was determined to bring home the gold.
Words like Oberammergau and pusillanimity make winning state for spell bowl an impressive feat. However, this year’s team, almost entirely composed of returning spellers, had the extra advantage of experience and determination. In the end, the team had three perfect spellers and two near-perfect spellers and earned a record-breaking group score of 69 out of 90.
Finally, the Andrean Theatre Company competed at the regional competition, earning first place and a perfect score for their performance of Death of a Salesman. Zachary Scalzitti (12) earned the Best Actor Award, and Paul Maicher (12) earned the STO All-Star Award. The troupe’s stellar performance earned them a place at the state competition in January.
What’s Coming Up: Time to Give Back
Christmas is right around the corner, and, at Andrean, this means a season of giving. The end of the year is generally filled with a wide variety of service projects hosted by Andrean’s various organizations. Just recently, Andrean’s National Honor Society rang bells for the Salvation Army at the Walmart in Merrillville. Other groups, including Interact Club and the theology department, will also be hosting their own events this Christmas season. One of the school-wide service events will be the December formation day. On this day, underclassmen will focus on the importance of being grateful during Thanksgiving and Advent, while the senior class will split up and go out into the community.
Some of the projects planned for this day include going to St. Anthony’s nursing home, volunteering at Catholic Charities, leading the underclassmen retreats, and working on art projects with elementary school children. These formation days are new to Andrean this year, but students are familiar with the program’s message.
“In a Catholic school, we need to know that it is not just about us and it’s not just about what we’re going to do to get into college or to have a successful career,” said Dean of Students, Jaycob Knazur. “It’s also about what we do with it for others.”
Teacher Spotlight: Paula Etheridge
As a teacher of 37 years, Paula Etheridge has a lot of experience in the classroom. Before coming to Andrean last year, Etheridge taught at Seton Academy for 29 years. Now, she teaches economics and psychology.
In several of her classes, Etheridge tries to employ hands-on learning techniques on a regular basis. Her most recent endeavor is a project called “Shark Tank,” which she assigned to her senior economics classes.
“I asked the students to create or design a new technique, method or invention that each group was to ‘pitch’ to the sharks for an investment of money in order to help put their idea into production,” Etheridge said.
The outcome exceeded Etheridge’s expectations. “Several of the products were so good that I think they could actually sell them to real customers once they were perfected,” she said.
Each presentation was unique, with products ranging from color-changing paint to a recipe app to heat resistant dinnerware. For Etheridge, these types of hands-on learning experiences can bring education to life.
“I really believe in hands-on experiences because it shows students how they can apply the concepts to a real world situation,” she said. “It is also a fun way for learning to take place, and it gives the students a chance to solve problems.”
Student Spotlight: Zachary Scalzitti
Senior Zachary Scalzitti has always had a flair for the dramatic arts. After starting his acting career in middle school, Scalzitti has been involved in nine productions throughout high school, including one show at the college level. Each show has been fairly unique, with genres ranging from fairy tale retellings, to dramas, to comedies.
Out of all the shows he has acted in, Scalzitti’s favorite is easily Peter and the Starcatcher. For him, the show itself (the story of Peter Pan’s life before meeting Wendy), as well as his memories of the production, were simply magical. Peter and the Starcatcher also provided Scalzitti with his favorite role to date: Black Stache.
“Black Stache sealed the deal in my dream to be an actor,” Scalzitti said.
The role was definitely an important one for Scalzitti, as it earned him the title of Best Actor in Indiana at the state competition last January.
Just recently, Scalzitti has repeated his success, earning Best Actor at the regional competition for his portrayal of Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman. Biff is one of the most difficult and complex roles that Scalzitti has ever performed. The character’s personality is starkly different from Scalzitti’s own demeanor, so, as an actor, he especially has to work on putting himself into the right state of mind.
After high school, Scalzitti plans on majoring in theatre in college with the goal of becoming “a starving actor until [he is] in the right place at the right time.”
For him, the most difficult aspect of the whole process is the uncertainty of his future.
“I️ have a one in a million chance of making it somewhere in life. Of course I’m going to take that risk, but it’s scary to foresee a possible future of failure for me,” Scalzitti said. “I️ love acting more than anything. However, it’s difficult to make a career out of it and make it somewhere.”
In the upcoming months, Zach will be preparing for the Death of a Salesman state performance as well as South Suburban College’s performance of Rapunzel and the Frog Prince, in which he plays the Frog Prince.