Gulf Pine Catholic

16 Gulf Pine Catholic • March 20, 2020 Spotlight on Schools OLF Elementary sent six sixth grade students, Michelle Jumpa, Olivia Parker, Dale Smith, JayKorsak, Logan Sheppard, Jet Johnson andCoachCarol Shinn. to compete in the MathCounts competition held at the Tradition Campus of William Carey. The MathCounts Foundation is a nation-wide program for students in grades six-eight who compete in a series of in-person contests. Fourteen schools competed in the local competition. “This a great opportunity for our students to take what they learn in the classroom and use these skills in a competition, said Cindy Hahn, principal. “It is fun to see our students get excited about math.” The participating schools included Bayou View Middle School, Bel-Air Elementary, Colmer Middle School, Gautier Middle School, Hancock Middle School, Harper McCaughan Elementary, Long Beach Middle School, Our Lady of Fatima Elementary, Pass Christian Middle School, River Oaks Elementary, St. Patrick High School, St. Stanislaus, and Stone Middle School. Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School, Biloxi OLF Elementary kindergarten student, Brooke Ryan, became a national sensation with her ability to recite all 45 U.S. Presidents in order. On President’s Day, Laurie Johnston’s kindergarten class did the morning announcements for the school. As part of the announcements, Brooke recited the 45 U.S. Presidents in order over the intercom. PE teacher, Finley Hewes, heard Brooke’s recital and knew this was special. After receiving parental permission, he recorded a video of Brooke reciting the presidents. The video was placed on the OLF Elementary Facebook page and became an immediate sensation leading to a call from WLOX to film Brooke. After the WLOX news story, ABC News and Good Morning America picked-up the video. A large crowd of students and their families packed the parish hall for the second annual St. Valentine’s Family Dance. This event, sponsored by the Men’s Club, included a generational dance, hula hoop contest, funniest dance move and a conga line. Chris Krohn, president of the OLF Men’s Club, helped organize and put together this fun- filled family event. “It was a special night,” said Krohn. “We had people of all ages on the dance floor. It is great to see parents and their children having fun together.” Left, Michael Keysor dances with his daughter, Riley Keysor The second grade class led by Valerie Spires just completed a two-week unit studying “Famous Americans”. As part of this project, each second grade student was assigned a famous American and asked to write a report about the person and create a “paper doll image”. “This project is a great way to bring history to life,” said Spires. “Students learn more when they are actively engaged with the subject material. They enjoyed creating the image of their famous American.”