Academic Decathlon Team: Regional & Conference Champions

Left to Right: Walt Wear, Jacob Ramaekers, Broden Kaps, Jacob Bova, Max deMayo, Andrew Ahn, Jon Collins, Michael Fischer,  Alex Hotovy, Cade Johnson, Jared Mikuls, Adam Terasinki, David Cormier (coach)

Mount Michael's Academic Decathlon sweeps their Regional & River Cities Conference Tournaments. They now prepare for the Nebraska State Championship to be held on the University of Nebraska Omaha Campus on February 19th-20th.  Congratulations and good luck at State!

Conference:

Honors:

Jonathan Collins:  2^nd Language/Literature, 1^st Art, 1^st Math, 1^st Science

Broden Kaps:  2^nd Math

Max deMayo:  3^rd Art

Scholastic:

Alex Hotovy:  1^st Lang/Lit, 1^st Art, 3^rd Math, 1^st Science

Jared Mikuls:  3^rd Lang/Lit, 2^nd Art, 1^st Math, 2^nd Science

Jacob Bova:  2^nd Math, 3^rd Science

Adam Terasinski:  2^nd Lang/Lit, 3^rd Art

Varsity:

Jacob Ramaekers:  2^nd Art, 2^nd Math, 1^st Science

Walter Wear:  3^rd Math, 2^nd Science

Michael Fischer:  2^nd Lang/Lit, 1^st Art, 1^st Math, 3^rd Science

Team:

• First place in Super Quiz
• Conference Champions

Regionals:

Honors:

Jonathan Collins:  1^st in Lang/Lit, Music, Art, Math, Economics, and Science

Broden Kaps:  2^nd in Art, Lang/Lit, Math, and Music; 3^rd in Economics

Alternate Honors:

Max deMayo:  1^st in Art and Math; 2^nd in Music and Science; 3^rd in Economics

Andrew Ahn:  1^st in Math, Science, and Economics; 3^rd in Art

Scholastic:

Alex Hotovy:  1^st in Art, Economics, Lang/Lit, and Music; 2^nd in Math and Science

Jared Mikuls:  1^st in Math and Science; 2^nd in Art, Economics, Lang/Lit, and Music

Alternate Scholastic:

Jacob Bova:  1^st in Art, Math, and Science; 2^nd in Economics and Music; 3^rd in Lang/Lit

Adam Terasinski:  1^st in Economics, Lang/Lit, and Music; 2^nd in Art and Science; 3^rd in Math

Varsity:

Jacob Ramaekers:  1^st in Art, Lang/Lit, Math, Music, and Science; 2^nd in Economics

Walter Wear:  2^nd in Art, Economics, Music, and Science; 3^rd in Math

Alternate Varsity:

Michael Fischer:  1^st in Lang/Lit, Music, Art, Math, Economics, and Science

Cade Johnson:  2^nd in Music; 3^rd in Art and Science

Team:

• First place in Super Quiz
• Regional Champions

Knight Scores a 36 on ACT Exam

Congratulations to Jonathan Collins who
recently scored a perfect 36 on the national ACT Exam!

Governor Ricketts, Jon Collins, Charlie Collins
at a ceremony honoring students with perfect scores

Sophomore Respect Retreat

Wednesday, January 7.  The sophomore class got a break from class with a Respect retreat hosted by Youth Frontiers.  The guys were in the gym all day for bonding activities and small group discussions about respecting yourself, others, and standing up for those around you.  The guys were engaged and seemed to have some ‘ah-ha’ moments.  Thank you Youth Frontiers for a great experience. More Photos

A Letter from Michael Sojka ('12) (previously published in the Winter 2014 Michaeleen)

I met with my academic adviser a few weeks ago to discuss what courses I’ll take next semester. As she pulled out my list of completed courses from her filing cabinet, I realized that my time in college was beginning to wind down. It wasn’t that my years at the University of Missouri had flown by, quite the opposite really; the past five semesters have been jam-packed full of new experiences and memories. My adviser showed me the remaining courses I needed to take, and the list was not long. It didn’t hit me until that moment: this is what the Mount had been preparing me for. I guess I had known it all along, from the welcome picnic in 2008 to my college orientation in 2012. I knew Mount Michael was focused on preparing me for college, I just didn’t realize how well it would do that.

I came to Mizzou in the fall of 2012 with a considerable amount of credits from AP courses I had taken at the Mount. This was no surprise to me, all my friends in high school took Advanced Placement courses, and we had been hoping to earn some college credit. I started my first semester with second-semester sophomore standing. This meant all my classes were with sophomores and some juniors. In addition, I tested into 3000-level Spanish, a medical terminology course with juniors and seniors. I completed a minor as a sophomore, after taking just four courses. I can honestly say that I owe that to the years of AP courses and Spanish I took at Mount Michael. The study techniques and passion for learning given to me at the Mount were without a doubt the catalysts for my success.

I also wanted to get involved in college. At Mount Michael, I was a part of numerous organizations and groups. This helped me connect with other students and learn to manage my time. My first semester, I joined the club rowing team and pledged a fraternity. I had a part-time job in addition to 17 credit hours, but I was able to make it all work, largely in part to the time-management skills I learned at the Mount. I would set aside time to make sure I was getting my work done, something instilled in us with nightly study halls at Mount Michael.  I was able to get highly involved while still maintaining the GPA and social life that I wanted. I can’t attribute that to anything but the years I spent at the Mount.

Another facet of Mount Michael that I appreciate now is the professionalism it afforded me. Other than the ability to tie a tie and look professional, I’ve been able to build healthy relationships with faculty members, advisors, employers, and the list goes on. I’ve landed internships, served in leadership positions, and done freelance work with several clients. Over the summer, I developed, shot and produced videos for a local carpenter and for the Office of Advancement at Mizzou. I did this through my own networking and efforts. I’m able to do these things because I already have the skills needed to succeed, and they don’t teach you those things in classes. Those are the attitudes and behaviors expected in the real world, and the ones that were expected of us at Mount Michael. 

Currently, I’m the copy editor at Mojo Ad, a student-staffed full-service advertising agency that produces work for national clients. We are developing a campaign to increase trial usage and brand awareness of Blue Diamond Almond Breeze in 18-24 year-olds. I’m the only junior in a team full of seniors, but I’m not intimidated: I have the education, professionalism, interpersonal and time-management skills needed to succeed. And I accredit much of that to my time at Mount Michael.

Sometimes I take a look at my college career and wonder where I would be had I chosen to attend another high school. I’m attending the world’s top journalism school, and it’s no walk in the park. But I don’t feel overwhelmed or under prepared; I feel like I’m exactly where I should be. I’ll be graduating next fall with minors in business and Spanish and a degree in Strategic Communication.

After graduation, I plan to apply at various agencies in Chicago, Kansas City, San Francisco or Los Angeles. Ideally, I’d like to get into video advertising, but I’m keeping my options open. I’m confident that I’ll find something that is both challenging and enjoyable, and I’m able to have that confidence largely because of the years I spent at Mount Michael.

Dash going one step ahead with College Classes

Leo McGrath | Staff Writer for "The Mount"

Everyone has that one person who excels at the thing you are terrible at. The person who is a natural at math when you can barely figure out what the word “cosine” even means. Or someone can write a five page paper in the time you write a para­graph. Well, freshman Dash Wedergren is that guy. He loves what many students struggle with - coding

While many students hate the prospect of having to learn visual basic, this kid just can’t get enough of it.

photo by Randal Esquivel

Dash’s study habits and work ethic not only show in coding 

but in his schoolwork as well.

“I first got into coding in seventh grade,” Wedergren said. “I started out using websites and books to teach it to myself.” The whole concept comes easily to him, and he is passionate about it. He has his own webpage you can visit at blog.mrjimbuckles.me. He even started taking college level classes online, specifically focused on security, last year.

He started with a cryptology course through Stanford’s free online course site, Coursera. Cryptology is the process of making a website or software secure, so it is harder to hack. Currently, he is working on a surveillance law class through the same site. “But I’m going to start another cryptology course soon.”

He has even started coding outside of this. “I actually code on [Github], helping companies commit code,” Wedergren said.

Essentially, he helps companies make their websites secure on a “web based hosting service” called github.com. Github allows new coming companies develop their websites, and Wedergren helps them out.

Wedergren codes in Node Javascript, or Node JS for short. Node JS is a program like Mount Michael’s Visual Basic, but more detailed and higher quality.

In addition, Wedergren said that “Visual Basic only works for Window’s Architec­ture Machines, while Node JS only works in Javascript.” Try to think of it as a different language, so the different types of code wouldn’t make any sense in the other’s program.

Wedergren attends an user group that gathers once a month at Blue Cross Blue Shield to explore pro­gramming in JavaScript. In these meet­ings he discusses topics ranging anywhere from new developments in the program to new libraries (which are collections of pre-written code or lessons that help the programmers in coding).

“It’s really cool,” said freshman Kane Koubsky. “I’d like to learn how to do it, but it’s really hard. Jokes about him hacking into the government have spread through our class.” Many other freshmen who have given programming a shot have also come to respect Wedergren. And just like Koubsky, they look forward to Computer Applications class next year to see just how talented Dash Wedergren really is.