Mr. Preston Tyrrell

Seamus Slattery and Kevin Howard

         Not too long ago, the N.E.D. show performed for free at St. Denis. Amanda and Ned inspired us to N.E.D. Nevergive up, encourage others, and do your best. Many people in the audience laughed and cheered when Amanda said her famous, “Oh yeah!” and, “Uh-huh!” In my opinion, and probably many others, she was amazing at ‘yo-yoing’ and could do many tricks. She had a very unique way of telling people to get up, go to school, and get a good education, in her story of how Ned got to St. Denis.

I also think that the teachers enjoyed the assembly- maybe as much as their students- because they love to see their students enjoying what they’re doing,and they got involved, too. When the assembly was nearly finished, Amanda showed us the three kinds of yo-yos that Mr. Hamilton and Mrs. Feldmayer would be selling, courtesy of N.E.D., of course, which were the Cosmic Spin 2, Boomerang, and the N.E.D. Yo.

There was also a sheet of paper with six different tricks, which Amanda showed us how to do, they were the Gravity Gripper, Flip-Flop, Forward Pass (or ‘zap’, as some people call it),Spinner, Walk the Dog, and Rock the Baby. All of the money that they get from selling yo-yos goes to N.E.D. because the N.E.D. show comes toany school free. The N.E.D. show was a huge success and I hope it is for otherschools.

By: Annie Holmes and Tristan Wainwright

A few weeks ago we had the annual St.Denis school Spelling Bee. Everyone did a great job, but only two prevailed to the Scripps Spelling Bee. They’re Aidan Graham and Kate Maginnis, both 5^thgraders. There were 4 8 grade representatives, and 4 5^thgrade representatives. Some words were stellar, axel, chromosome, and compromise.

By Maggie McGovern, Jessica Sulouff,Siobhan Slattery

By: Marina Clark

The visit went really well, of course everyone was super excited about who they were going to meet in just a couple of hours, then minutes, then seconds and then there was a fabulous mass in honor of the schools merging. One of the cantors was from our school and the other from the other school. The choir was from the other school and the altar servers were from St. Denis. Then they came back to their grade class room we played some games to get to know our new friends better. We filled out papers with like what our favorite things were. Then we went outside and 4-7 played kickball, while K-3 did relay- races. The eighth grade and a wonderful group of parents supervised the games outside. Then we had a wonderful lunch of hot dogs, chips, and a drink made by Vera and Barb. Then you would go and play another game outside. I think this was the best day for everyone!

By: Meredith Mackenzie, Annie Holmes, and Jess Sulouff

           In the beginning of January St. Denis welcomed a new gym teacher. His name is Mr. Ruffenach. Mr. Ruffenach loves being a gym teacher. Some of his favorite things are the color blue, chicken, football, and his favorite shape is a circle. Although his favorite sport is football, his favorite team is the Philadelphia Flyers. Mr. Ruffenach has 5 siblings, 2 older brothers, 2 younger brothers, and 1 younger sister. He has 2 dogs. Their names are Oscar and Lily. He went to Hillcrest Elementary School. Previously, Mr. Ruffenach worked at Upper Darby High School. He says that both schools are equally the best. The largest gym class that Mr. Ruffenach ever taught had 45 students in it. Mr. Ruffenach met Ms. Smith and hopes he will succeed as a gym teacher at Saint Denis.

By: Madison Boylan

           On January 27, 2012, the Famous Pennsylvanian Soda Bottle Project took place.This is one of the many projects that the 4^thgraders do. Thanks to Mrs. Croy, this project has been going on for a few years now. Some of the projects were done were on Punxsutawney Phil, Claude Giroux, William Penn andHenry Heinz, but that’s just to name a few. I hope that Mrs. Croy continuesthis project every year.

By: Kailey McCarron

        Every year, Saint Denis School’s Mrs.Ostick comes up with these exciting, and adventurous plays for the students of Saint Denis School to host in. This year, the play is called, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Saint Denis”. Also, this year grades 1-8 may star and/orparticipate in the play. In the play, the participants, and yourself, go fromthe beginning of the world and goes up to todays very own St. Denis!

By: Meredith Mackenzie, Annie Holmes, and Jess Sulouff 

           In the beginning of January we got a new gym teacher, his name is Mr. Ruffenach. Mr. Ruffenach loves being a gym teacher. Some of his favorite things are the color blue, chicken, football, and his favorite shape is a circle. Although his favorite sport is football, his favorite sports’ team is the Philadelphia Flyers. Mr. Ruffenach has 5 siblings, 2 older brothers, 2 younger brothers, and 1 younger sister. He has 2 dogs their names are Oscar and Lily. He went to Hillcrest Elementary School. 

   Before coming here, Mr. Ruffenach worked at Upper Darby High School. But he says that both schools are equally the best. The largest gym class that Mr. Ruffenach ever taught had 45 students in it. Mr. Ruffenach met Ms. Smith and hopes he will succeed as a gym teacher at Saint Denis.

By Ruairi McLaughlin

   On October 20^th, a generous sister named Sister Lisa came to visit.  Sister Lisa is a sister from the order of St. Francis.  She came to talk to us and inspired all kids who were present.  She was kind and funny and she used children for examples and she reminded us that for every good thing, there is always a bad thing.  She said “God never takes a break, but neither does the devil.”.  

   She was going to Haiti a week after she visited us to help Haiti’s children.  It shows a lot of courage to go to a different country to help, and even more after a earthquake, but she knew what her job was and she did it happily.

By: Madison Boylan and Kevin Howard

           On the weekend of January 20, 2012,the Father Judge Science Fair took place. For preparation, we met with Mr.Hamilton who introduced the science fair to the participants. We had meetingsat least once in two weeks. On Fridaythe 20th, from 4-8 was drop off and set up.

On Saturday the 21^st, was judging. On Sunday the 22^nd, was the award ceremony. Almost all of the St. Denis entries won an award. Some were Madison Boylan who won 3^rdplace in sixth grade physical science, Kevin Howard who won 1^stplace in fifth grade life science and best in fifth grade , Anna Schmader and Sinead Healy won 3rd place overall for team project and many more. Congratulations to everyone who participated at the science fair!