This month, Valley Catholic High School’s own 16-year-old Eloise Kim took first prize at the Jefferson Symphony Young Artist Competition final round, held in Arvadad, Colorado. She competed by performing the Beethoven 4th piano concerto. Eloise was the youngest contestant and came out on top over all other finalists, whose ages ranged from 16 to 23. Other finalists included students from renowned conservatories and universities from all over much of the US and the world such as Juilliard, Music Institute of Chicago, Yale School of Music and the Belarusian Academy of Music.

Along with first prize came many awards most notably, Eloise will be performing all three movements of the Beethoven 4th piano concerto with the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra in Colorado March 22. For more information on the prizes she won, click here.

Valley Catholic Middle School’s own Michael Leslie won first place at our school- wide National Geographic Bee. Michael will have the chance to represent Valley Catholic at the state-wide competition in the spring. The three other finalists were Nivedita Mandal in seventh grade, and Elise Sunderland and Ria DeLaRosa from eighth grade.

The National Geographic Bee is an educational program of the National Geographic Society and is a nationwide geography competition for U.S. schools with any grades fourth through eighth, designed to encourage the teaching and study of geography. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to your generosity, parent participation in the Annual Fund has been increasing since September. Curious about how your child’s grade is doing? Click here to see progress by grade through December 31. Check for continued updates at your school or on www.valleycatholic.org.

If you haven’t made your tax-deductible gift to the Annual Fund yet, it’s not too late to help bridge the gap between tuition and the true cost of education for your student. You can conveniently make your gift online at our secure website. Simply go to www.ssmofoundation.org and click on the GIVE ONLINE button. Questions? Contact Melissa Maxwell, Director of Development, at mmaxwell@ssmoministries.org.

Two Valley Catholic Middle School teams will be competing in Bonneville Power Administration’s Science Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 31. The event will be held at the University of Portland.

Valley Catholic Middle School science teacher June Poling says that the two teams have been studying very hard for the past four months to train for this event.

The Regional Science Bowl is a fast-paced academic competition where students answer science questions ranging from earth science to physical science to life science, math and general science. It is a proven tool to encourage middle school and high school students to excel in math and science and to pursue careers in those fields. Since 1992, Bonneville Power Administration has touched the lives of more than 9,000 students and teachers.

Every year between five and ten schools in each state are invited to apply for the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. This year Valley Catholic received a letter from the Siemens Foundation naming Valley Catholic as a nominee; the letter begins with this explanation of the award and how schools are chosen:

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that using data from the College Board’s AP Report to the Nation, your high school has been identified as having one of the best student success rates in AP math, science, and technology courses in your state. This distinction qualifies your high school to apply for the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. Only a very select group of high schools in your state have been invited to apply for this award.

Valley Catholic students’ 2007 AP Calculus AB average was 4.03. Last year it was 4.25. Both figures are extraordinary. And these scores were not earned by just a few: forty-nine students took the AB exam in the last two years. And almost every student who has taken Calculus BC (second-year) has earned a 5, a record very close to unique. Also, every student who takes an AP math class takes the exam.

AP Biology enrollment has grown from eight students to twenty-four in the last three years. In the last three years Valley Catholic has added courses in AP Chemistry, AP Physics B, AP Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, and AP Physics C Mechanics.