CM Life in Photos: Basketball Camp

The 26th annual Catholic Memorial Summer Basketball Clinic for boys and girls got underway last week in the school's Ronald Perry Gymnasium. Above: Matt Droney '11 and Kyle Lawrence '10 get ready for a day's work, running 3- to 9-year olds through skills and drills.

Middle School Program students reflect on New York City

The seventh and eighth grade classes finished their year-long study in immigration with a trip to the Statue of Liberty in New York City on Friday, June 4. Three guest bloggers tell the story.

Chris McKeeney '14: "I got dropped off at CM by my dad in the morning, and found out what bus I was in. We had breakfast---bacon egg and cheese sandwiches from the cafe in the bus, and a couple of apples. We got on three buses and left around 6:30am. It was about a 4-hour ride. We watched 'The Incredibles' on the ride down.

I hadn't ever been to New York City. When we came over the bridge we could see it--big, crowded, and a lot of performers on the sidewalks. We walked down to the ferry and took that to Liberty Island. From Liberty Island, we went to Ellis Island, but our group ran too late so we didn't get off to see it. We went straight to the food court where we had chicken fingers and fries."

Gabriel Porter '14: "At Liberty Island we went as a group around the Statue of Liberty. kids were taking pictures of the statue. We took a group photo, and we could see the city from the Statue, it was fun. I had been there two years ago, but this time it was a lot more crowded--there were a lot of schools and families, too. At Ellis Island, I went with two other kids to the immigrant wall, with all the immigrants from A to Z who came to Ellis Island in the first wave. My two friends, Casey Hamel and Beau Starrett, found their ancestors there.

When we got back, we drove on the bus to the harbor, where there was a big ship called the Intrepid. My friend Pat Murray and I went on the simulator. I didn't know what a real plane feels like in [the cockpit]. It was fun to steer one, but it felt scary."

Kevin Lynch '15: "When we got to New York, we were driving by Ground Zero, and I saw how they were building the 9/11 Memorial. It was fascinating. In the distance we could see the Statue of Liberty through the trees. we saw street vendors, and street performers doing their acts.

It was a five-minute ferry to Liberty Island. The boat did a loop so we could see all points of view of the island. We docked and walked around, took pictures with the American flag. It was cool, because when you were out on the boat, the statue looked tiny, but when you got there it was giant. We could see 'July 4' written on it in Roman numerals.

Then we walked around Ellis Island and ate lunch. When we got off the ferry, there was a man playing a steel drum, and everyone was clapping and giving him money. It was great to see how talented everyday New Yorkers were. When we got back to the city, we went to the Intrepid. It was like a museum ship, and we got to go through the halls of it, seeing miniature versions of ships. Some of us went on the top deck to see the jets and fighter planes. I went to the Command Center where I saw the captain's room, with his diary, letters, and glasses. It was cool, seeing that big ship. After the top deck, we went back down and rode a 3D roller coaster ride, then had dinner at a restaurant."

Gabriel: "After the Intrepid, we went to a restaurant where we ate an all-you-can-eat buffet. I ate caesar salad, a hot dog, fries, chicken, a brownie, and an orange soda. After the buffet we took a walk down to the busses, then we went home. On the way home, we watched 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.'"

Chris: "The best part of the trip for me was the battleship, seeing these old-fashioned planes and big helicopters on this huge boat, and fun rides on the boat, and the 3D roller-coaster ride.

This year, we also did a big English binder. We did a lot of stuff about immigration, some writing--poems and reports on our ancestors, biographies, and mixed all of our papers from other classes into the binder. And at Student Showcase Night, we showed it all off."

Gabriel: "The best part of the New York trip was the bus rides! They were fun. It was fun to spend time with your friends and having chants--'Mr. Spaner's yellow hat!' and 'Lemonhead.'

Throughout the year, each class that I had was learning about and tying in the immigration unit. In my Spanish class we did the different Spanish missions in California that immigrants had come to. In Civics, we wrote different papers on the first through fourth waves of immigration. In math, we made different charts on immigrant populations. In religion, we had to write a letter pretending we were a bishop writing to President Obama. We also went to the State House and watched the immigrants sworn in as naturalized citizens at Faneuil Hall."

Kevin: "New York looks better than Boston, but the New York Yankees are there. It's ten times bigger than Boston, but the Red Sox are better.

I liked the immigration study we did this year. I liked seeing how my ancestors came from Ireland and Germany. I'd like to look into that now and I don't think I would have if we didn't study immigration this year. We did a lot of projects that gave us the opportunity to do more with it."

Photos courtesy of Mrs. Ellen Eberly.

CM Life in Photos: Farewell CM, Hello World Cup

The seventh and eighth grade spend their last hours of the school year on June 10 at a cookout and field day. With World Cup fever running high, many chose to compete on the soccer field.