CM Gallery's Photo of the Day: Frankie visits CM

Mr. Donovan's biology classes got a special visitor in Frankie, a three-foot long iguana on loan for the day. View more photos in the CM galleries...

Al Harris '09 Reaches 1,000 Career Points

Thirty seconds into the fourth quarter of his team's first-round matchup against O'Bryant in the Division II South playoffs on February 25th, Al Harris '09 drove to the paint, pulled up in traffic and arced a six-footer into the basket.

In doing so, he recorded his 1,000th and 1,001st points in a Knights uniform and became only the 6th player in school history to achieve four-digits in the record books as a leading scorer. Harris would go on to score 23 points in the matchup.

In the 71-61 win over O'Bryant, the senior captain (pictured above with his mother Diane and grandmother Alfreda on senior night), moved his team into the quarterfinals of the south bracket.

Previous 1000-pt. scorers for Catholic Memorial include Ron Teixiera '65, King Gaskins '72, Ron Perry, Jr. '76, Bruce Higgins '93, and Christopher Donald '06.

CM Gallery's Photo of the Day: Mardi Gras at CM

Students in Mrs. Sittig's French classes celebrated Mardi Gras on February 24th with the construction of masks in their classes. View more photos in the CM galleries...

February poise brings March Madness

CM's five winter sports teams have made their way into the postseason due to individual and team efforts. A look at some of the results they've seen already and the outlook ahead:

Basketball: Coach Denis Tobin and his 8th seeded Knights look to defend their 2008 state championship as they face O'Bryant on Wednesday night in the first round of the Division II south brackets.

Hockey: After winning their 6th consecutive Catholic Conference Championship, CM's hockey team received a number one seed in the Division 1A "Super-8" tournament, which kicks off Sunday, March 1 at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell. They will face the winner of the play-in game (Winchester/Springfield Cathedral) in the first of three games in the Super-8 tournament. Game times TBA.

Swimming: CM's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Sean Farrell '09, John Mackie '10, Ryan Clifford '11 and Matt Farrell '11 came in 9th place in the Division II State Swimming Championships on February 21. CM swimmers (including James Myers '09) also qualified and competed at the state meet in the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke events.

Track: CM brought home two medals from the Division II State Meet at the Reggie Lewis Center on February 22nd. Nahed Lakkis '09 came in 2nd place in the 1000-meter event (2:36.85), while Ed Colvin '10 came in 3rd place in the 2-mile event (9:36:89). Both times were personal bests for the runners, who head to All-States on 2/27. Ryan Pai '09 also competed in the meet, coming in 12th (out of 23) in the 55-meter hurdle event with a time of 8.32 seconds.

Wrestling: Josh Boyd '09 earned a state championship title by defeating Beverly's Tom Cacciola in the Division II State Championship held at North Andover High School on February 21. Also earning honors at the state meet was Josh Rosario '09, who came in 6th place in his division. Both move on to the All-State meet on 2/28 at Salem High School.

Senior Service Heads to New Orleans: Michael Lombardi '09

Last summer, Michael Lombardi '09 attended the National Student Leadership Conference at New York University, a 10-day program for high school seniors in business and entrepreneurship.


"It was fun," he said, "We did a lot of simulations, building our own companies and we had a lot of guest speakers. And we got to stay in one of the dorms at NYU."

Lombardi liked the experience so much that he decided to devote his Senior Service Project to the organization's work. This winter, he signed up for the Alumni Service Program of the conference to spend a week in New Orleans over his February vacation.

"We’re going to be rebuilding family houses. There were some overseas opportunities, but they conflicted with school dates, so I picked this."

Unlike most seniors on their service projects, Lombardi chose to make an extra effort and include travel in his service plans. "I like helping people. Usually I go skiing over vacation, but I wanted to help. A lot of people are ignorant about the destruction that's still down there and I’ll be able to see what it's like."

Globe's Scholastic Art Awards Recognizes Six CM Artists

John Repucci, Brennan Williams, and Matthew Ferrick '09 have been named Silver Key winners in the annual Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards competition. With graphic design and art pieces they composed in Ms. Ann Malachowski's art studio classes at Catholic Memorial, the students competed against over 3,000 students in the state.

The contest recognizes the top artists as Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention recipients. The Silver Key awards go to "work demonstrating achievement worthy of recognition on the regional level." Also receiving recognition as Honorable Mention candidates for "work demonstrating artistic potential" were Joe Botcsh '11, Leo Stapleton '11, and Seungjin Park '11.

The three silver key winners were invited to receive their awards at a reception on Sunday, February 8th.

Thirteen CM Students Qualify for Forensics Nationals in May

Thirteen CM Students Qualify for Forensics Nationals in May

Catholic Memorial School’s Forensics team has had a record-setting year since September, earning top individual and team trophies at tournaments in Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. Last Saturday, February 7, the team earned ten spots for thirteen individuals to go to Nationals in May.

At the Boston Catholic Forensic League Qualifiers Tournament at Shrewsbury High School, thirteen individuals qualified for the Grand Tournament, which will be held in Albany, New York over Memorial Day Weekend. Those earning a spot at Nationals included Brian Murphy and Gregory Sabina '09 (Duo), Mark Macchi '09 and Ethan Madden '11(Duo), Patrick Simas and Chris Masterson '10 (Duo), Andrew Rogantino '12 (Declamation), Marcus Jackson '12 (Declamation), Kevin Donnelly '12 (Declamation), Dominic Montalbano '11 (Declamation), Ethan Madden '11 (Declamation), Sean Steinberg '10 (Original Oratory), and Joseph Botsch '11 (Debate).

Head coach Rob Croteau praised the team’s overall effort, from winning 5 of the 6 spots in Declamation to earning its first entries in Public Forum Debate. “In a year when our team was supposed to be in rebuilding phase,” said Croteau, “we have demonstrated again that hard work and commitment to this team reaps many rewards.”

Peer Ministry Hits the Road

Catholic Memorial’s Peer Ministry class has grown over the past few years to become a model for other schools in the area, and Mrs. Ramsdell’s class took its best practices on the road on January 29th to the 2nd annual GIFT retreat, hosted by Notre Dame Academy in Hingham.

Last year, Mrs. Ramsdell started GIFT—“Growing in Faith and Teamwork”—to get Catholic schools from the Boston area together once a year to talk about what they do well and what they could improve.

Above: James Schmidlein '09 speaks about CM's peer ministry
at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham on January 29th.

“I thought it was important for our kids to realize that we have a shared Catholic identity with these schools,” said Mrs. Ramsdell, “and that despite our rivalries, at our core we're all Catholic schools. It’s important for the kids from these schools to come together and recognize that.”

With the peer ministers from several Catholic high schools in the area giving talks on community, teamwork, faith and service, the leaders from all schools share one day of reflection with one another.

“The kids had a great time. They got a lot out of it,” said Mrs. Ramsdell.

From CM came David Falco ’10, Brendan McNabb ’10, and seniors James Schmidlein, Joe Cauteruccio, Steve Sullivan, Trevor Boyce, Kurtis Bucszynski, and Sean Mahoney.

“It's wonderful to see our kids grow as leaders and recognize the strength of our programs,” said Mrs. Ramsdell. “What they contribute to our lives…can spread to other schools and students too.”

The Peer Ministry course is a Theology elective which department chair Brian Scott and former campus minster Shivonne St. George began offering in 2006.

Steve Sullivan ’09, who enrolled in the class last year and re-enrolled this year, was impressed by how much the GIFT retreat has grown in just one year. “It’s so important, once in a while, to not go out of the textbook for a change, to get to know other people and learn from them,” Sullivan said.

Asked what best practices of peer ministry he learned from other schools, Sullivan cited creative ideas with the missions collections as one example of something that could improve.

Other schools, reported Sullivan, were impressed with CM’s leadership in citywide events like the Walk for Breast Cancer and benefit concerts.

“Thinking about what you do well and hearing about these great ideas from other schools,” Sullivan said, “there was definitely a lot to take in.”

Interview with CM Hockey Defenseman Phil Rossi '09--by Kevin Walsh '09

The 2009 Hockey season is in full swing and the varsity team (6-3-3) is looking to bring home the first state championship banner in that sport since 2004.

I posed a few questions to senior defenseman, #13 Phil Rossi and I asked him a couple questions about the season and what he thought about the Knights' chances.

Q: What were your expectations for the season this year?
A: We were looking for the same thing as we are every year we step onto the ice. To be the best and to bring back another state championship and win the Catholic Conference.

Q: How did the team look at the beginning of the season?
A: We looked good, judging from our scrimmages with Mt. St. Charles and Fairfield Prep. We move the puck well and we have a strong couple of lines. As long as everyone steps up and does their job, I think we should be good.

Q: How is this year's team different from last year's?
A: We need a lot of kids to step up on defense. Last year, we had a strong D with Pete [Starrett '08, Harvard '12]. We also have a lot more experience at forward with a lot of kids who returned from last year.

Q: Is having a lot of young talent helpful this year?
A: It can help and hurt us. There will be mistakes made, but it is how we learn from the mistakes that will help us become a strong and successful team.

Q: How does the Conference look this year?
A: It's up for grabs. There's no one team that is really dominating. Everyone has a chance to take first this year.

Photo courtesy Linda Rossi P'06 and '09. View more photos of the team by visiting the CM Photo Gallery.