Friday, March 27, 2015

Knights Win Society of American Military Engineers Competition

Mount Michael Team #1: Reed Tiwald, Oliver Jarosik, Chris Riddle, Cameron Bretsen, Logan Kalkowski, Eric Sullivan 
Over the years the Knights have won many awards of distinction at the S.A.M.E. competition but have never won the overall award.  Mount Michael Team #1 came away with the top prize the "2015 Award of Honor" for their project "Home Field Advantage 2.0". The project was to design ancillary facilities for Nate Lafave Memorial Field. The team also won 3 gold and 5 silver medals in the competition.

As part of the award the school recieved a $1500 award to be used to promote the the Drafting program. A 3D printer and new computer are being considered.  This award is sponsored by the Omaha Post of the Society of American Military Engineers.  Like wise the SAME Post has given a $1500 scholarship to any Mount Michael senior who took part in this year’s competition and will be going into Engineering next year.    Team #1: Presentation: Pdf or PowerPoint - More Photos 

Mount Michael #2 won 1 gold medal and 5 silver medals for their project for a Pavilion and a 1,200 seat amphitheater for the school. This team consists of juniors Kalle Haines, Alex Milas, Jacob Ramaekers, Walt Wear, Jeremiah Connealy, Matt Davis, Aaron Meyer, Jacob Bova, J.T. Hudson, and Matt Amao Team #2: Presentation: Pdf or PowerPoint

High schools competing in the competition:  Bennington, Creighton Prep, Gross Catholic, Mount Michael (2) Omaha Central (2), Omaha North (4), Skutt Catholic, Westside (2)

Home Field Advantage 2.0 Project Mount Michael #1



Knight accepted for SAME Air Force Engineering Camp

Joe Coldiron '17
Mount Michael sophomore Drafting student Joe Coldiron applied for and was accepted to the SAME Air Force Engineering Camp this summer. The Omaha SAME Post will be paying the $550. registration fee for Joe.

U.S. Air Force Academy Camp
USAFA SAME Engineering & Construction Camp, June 25 – July 01, 2015

The SAME Engineering & Construction Camp at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, CO is the longest running camp – 15 years. This is a hands-on program with very real engineering activities and challenges.

The camp theme is “Build then Design”. Activities are conducted with this concept in mind. For example, one of this camp’s most popular hands-on construction activities involves the construction and testing of a concrete beam. Students are given a basic lesson on concrete and safety issues, provided with 0.3 cubic yards of concrete, 3 pieces of #4 rebar and then told to construct the strongest 16 foot concrete beam. The campers, working as a Team, have approximately 3 hours to complete this activity and place their beam – this is the Build phase. Just before the end of camp, after the beams have cured, we break the beams, and a professional engineer leads a discussion on beam failure modes and why certain designs worked better than others – this is the Design phase. The idea is to let the students learn by doing and then reinforce the concepts after the practical application. This is typical of all activities during the week-long camp.

These tasks challenge students to use their imagination, as well as their problem solving and teamwork skills. The hands-on experience helps ensure that students see, experience and retain what they learn.

Throughout the week, students also build a sprinkler systems, wood shed, waste water system, test materials and participate in team-building and problem-solving activities. Students tour the USAFA laboratories and cadet facilities and spend time with a local A&E firm.

The USAFA camp is geared toward students interested in joining a service academy and is built on a reduced scale program of what a USAFA cadet in an engineering curriculum goes through using the same world-class facilities used by the USAFA cadets. The camp presents a great opportunity for students interested in attending a service academy to get a first-hand look at life on campus.

Starman Takes Third at State


Congratulations to Zach Starman who finished in 
3rd place in the state speech competition in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Mount Michael Theatre Presents: Inherit the Wind

In the 1920s, Tennessee schoolteacher Bertram Cates is put on trial for violating the Butler Act, a state law that prohibits public school teachers from teaching evolution instead of creationism.


Performances at 7:00 pm on:
Friday, March 27, 2015
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Mount Michael Stage (off the gym)

Tickets: $8/adults and $5/students 
Mount Michael students Free with school ID!
Doors open at 6:30 pm


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Basketball River Cities Conference Honors

Congratulations to Mohammad Elradi who was selected to the 2014-2015 RCC Boys Basketball All Conference Team. 

Receiving honorable mention were Tommy Farhart and Ben Borsch.

Monday, March 16, 2015

AdvancED Impressed by Students’ Work Ethic

Adam Terasinski | Copy Editor
The school’s five year improvement project in writing has seen significant success according to the external review and the steering committee.

Five years ago the school decided to work on improving students’ writing in all classes.. Since 2011, teachers have included more writing in their assignments.. In addition to this, a writing assessment was given during the second semester to the student body to track improvement.

“Our main goal, the writing goal, has shown that writing has improved in a variety of different classes,” Sister Carol Jean VanDenHemel, O.S.B. said. VanDenHemel was part of the steering committee, which spearheaded the writing project. Her duties were to score the assessments and write the written report about the projects goals with English teacher, Eileen Sullivan.

The AdvancED group spent hours writing up their observastions in the conference room.
photo by Adam Terasinski
The written reports were accompanied by a series of graphs and charts. Looking at the statistical data alone, I could tell that our writing scores have improved,” said Curriculum Director Jason Mackeprang, who converted the reports into data.

The statistical data and written reports are considered “hard artifacts” that show the school’s progress. These artifacts were one piece of a comprehensive report given to a group from AdvancEd, a national accrediting organization comprised of state and local officials.

“Two of the representatives are from the state itself and the others are nominated by Mount Michael,” said VanDenHemel. The school sought to nominate people who had a background working with Catholic Schools in the area.

While writing was the main goal, it was not the only area that AdvancED evaluated. Group members observed classrooms and also interviewed many students to grasp an idea of what it is like being a student at Mount Michael.

“They were impressed most by our students and spoke very highly of the work our students do,” VanDenHemel said, “they got the impression that our students know why they are here and that made us [the faculty] very happy.”

In terms of improvement, the committee did note that technology is an area of weakness for the school.

“It’s more than computers though,” Mackeprang said, “it’s the staff’s development with technology and incorporating all of that into the classroom effectively.

Head of School David Peters has been working to hire a full time head of technology in an effort to remedy some of the technological issues. The final decision will be announced in the coming months.
 

In addition to technology, the next area of focus will likely to come from surveys that students fill out. While the five year period focusing on improved writing has ended, writing will still be incorporated across the school’s curriculum and measured with the assessment currently in place.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Basketball District Champions!

Video Highlights: District Semi Final -  District Championship - Alumni Support Team

For the first time in a decade the Mount Michael Knights are headed to the state basketball tournament in Lincoln.  In the district championship game the Knights soundly defeated the Blair Bears 70-44.

In the state tournament the Knights are eighth seed and will play first seed Gretna (24-2) at 7:00pm on Thursday March 12th at the Devaney Center. In early January Mount Michael lost to the Dragons 57-72.
Image by Joe Mixan Photography - Click photo for larger image
Omaha World Herald - State Bracket

World Herald Stats:
Mount Michael  12 16  18 24—70
Blair                       9    4    9 22—44
MM: Mohamad Elradi 4-9 3-6 12, Tommy Farhart 7-9 3-3 18, Ben Borsh 4-4 3-3 12, Jake Batenhorst 6-6 4-4 19, Garrett Raabe 2-3 1-1 5, Raymond Dorsey 0-3 0-0 0, Mick Steier 1-1 0-0 2, Logan Larson 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Kalkowski 1-1 0-0 2, Reed Tiwald 0-1 0-0 0, Harrison Hohman 0-0 0-0 0, Conor Luff 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-37 14-17 70.
Blair: Ethan Cox 0-0 1-2 1, Vance Janssen 5-13 7-8 17, Nolan Kirwan 0-3 0-0 0, TJ Loudner 2-12 1-4 7, Jacob Jones 3-3 0-0 6, Jacob Sorensen 5-8 0-0 13, Matt Brunkhorst 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Rahlfs 0-1 0-0 0, Derek Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Tim Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Brandt Radloff 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-38 9-15 44.
3-point goals: EMM 6-11 (Elradi 1-2, Farhart 1-1, Borsch 1-1, Batenhorst 3-3, Dorsey 0-3, Tiwald 0-1), B 5-21 (Janssen 0-6, Kirwan 0-2, Loudner 2-8, Sorensen 3-3). Total fouls: EMM 14, B 17. Fouled out: Janssen. Technicals: none. Turnovers: EMM 10, B 13. Rebounds: EMM 17 (Elradi, Batenhorst 3), B 17 (Sorensen 4). Field-goal percentage: EMM .676, B .395. Free-throw percentage: EMM .824, B .600. A: 800 (est.).
Go Knights!
Photo by Joe Mixan


Photo by Bro Luke

Monday, March 2, 2015

Jackson Thompson Earns 1st State Swimming Medal for a Mount Michael Swimmer.

Aqua-Knight Jackson Thompson ('16) accomplished a first for the Mount by winning a state tournament swimming medal, placing seventh in the 100 yard butterfly. Thompson also finished thirteenth in the 100 yard backstroke and was part of the tenth place 200 yard medley relay and the fifteenth place 400 yard freestyle relay. The Skutt Catholic / Mount Michael Benedictine swimming and diving cooperative team placed seventeenth overall. In state swimming and diving all teams and individuals compete against each other regardless of school classification.

Previously, a Knight, Kevin Koch '11, Medaled at state four  consecutive years in diving. The first year was during the Burke/Mount Michael coop. The subsequent years he dove for Skutt/Mount Michael. During those four years he never placed lower than 5th at state.