Freshmen Firsts

For many students, the process of entering into high school can be intimidating and nerve racking. I remember the feeling of leaving my beloved middle school and coming to the Academy for Freshman Registration and having so many questions about high school life. Many parents and future students may be feeling the same jitters that my parents and I experienced four years ago. No worries, I’m here to assist any prospective students on their journey OA! 

Everyone interested in enrolling in the Oldenburg Academy is encouraged to come out on Saturday, February 18, 2012! Saturday, from 9 am to noon, the school lobby will be filled with friendly and helpful people like Mrs. Lancaster, the guidance counselor, who will be more than happy to answer all questions about scheduling and classes offered here at the Academy. Along with Mrs. Lancaster, Mrs. Kuntz will be present to help answer any questions or concerns with finances. A representative from Schoolbells will be rounding out the registration gang to give information about the uniform options and the representative will also have sample skirt and other uniform piece sizes for incoming students to try out. If Saturday is a conflicting day for registration, don’t fret! There will be another opportunity to meet and answer questions on Tuesday, February 21 2012 from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm. 

All incoming freshmen and parents are encouraged to come! Also, students will have a chance to vote on their official class T-shirt designs. 

As my final year at the Academy is coming to an end, I wish the best of luck to all students and their families who are taking their first steps to four fabulous years at the Academy.  Trust me, the time here is amazing and goes by far too quickly! 

~Emily Oesterling ’12

Senior Year…Rocking the College Acceptances!

For many of the seniors, the college discernment process here at OA is nearly complete. However, scholarship applications are starting to be picked up daily. Finishing high school and moving on to the next phase of life is very exciting for all of us. However, there is still a lot of work to be done before we pack up and head out next fall. Everyone has worked rigorously over these past few years to get the grades, rock the ACTs and SATs and to participate in every sport and activity that time permitted to fill and boost that resume. Truly, it has really paid off; no pun intended. It is only the middle of February and the senior class has already racked up an impressive $1,237,700 and that is mostly all merit- based money from what students have reported! We all know that there are some modest (or for lack of the word “lazy”) students who just haven’t found a moment to report to Mrs. Lancaster the scholarships they have already received… We are still working hard to fill out applications to get more money.

We have had acceptances to a wide variety of colleges and universities in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, New York, South Carolina, Colorado, Arizona, and even Hawaii, to name a few. It will be sad to see my classmates venture out around the country, but I know college will be a great experience for all. I think it would be nice to live somewhere warmer, (because next year’s winter is bound to be horrible to make up for this one) but it will be nice to be centrally located in Bloomington, IN. College is a time to see new faces, meet new friends, cope with dorm life, wear something that doesn’t say “Oldenburg,” have no curfew, cram for tests, write dozens of papers, but most importantly, find ourselves; who we truly are. I have had a great time at OA and will miss all of my friends next year, but I am ready move on, move out and enjoy these next four crazy years that bring about new experiences everyday!

~Rachel Irrgang, Class of 2012

Catholic Schools Week – My Last One!

It’s crazy to think that this is last Catholic School’s week I will ever celebrate. This is the last week when the senior class will rejoice at the thought of competitions with the grand prize of an out of uniform day and an afternoon of an all school movie. It was our first time sitting in the front row for Father Carl’s energetic homily about Catholic schools across the country, and it was also our last time.
Catholic schools week may seem totally lame to public school kids but for us it is something we always look forward to. We get to honor our favorite pro sports teams, represent the coolest colleges, enjoy shorter class periods, eat a free breakfast with tons of variety and even trade our embroidered sweaters in for a funny nerdy costume for the whole day. We also got to purchase an out of uniform pass or a jeans pass to support the Smile Train Fundraiser for children in need of palate surgery, which was led by sophomore Lizzy Bachus and freshman Hallie Kile. Not only could we dress down for the week, but we had the opportunity to have all-school competitions like the dodgeball tournament we had on Thursday. Each grade participated with the faculty members making up the judges table and our secretary, Jackie, as the announcer. It was a really fun way to end the day and not to mention I was pretty psyched that the senior class won! We were all rewarded with an early dismissal to enjoy the gorgeous weather on Thursday and on Friday we watched The Help in the auditorium with the whole school, the faculty and even a bag of freshly popped popcorn for everyone.
Catholic School’s week has been such a fun experience for me for the past 8 years. Although my classmates and I are all stepping towards a whole new environment on our college campuses, I’m sure we will all appreciate the Catholic education we received and the fun celebrations like these that we experienced at Oldenburg Academy.

Meredith Brown
Class of 2012

Homecoming!

Everyone finds winter dragging on and on after Christmas break, right? For us Oldenburg students, there are two bright weeks to look forward to in January. One of those is Homecoming, which happened this past weekend. Friday, we were all excited to don jeans and proudly show off our new Four Star School t-shirts. We love any reason to wear jeans. The cheerleaders had planned a pep rally. There, the sports teams and players got to talk about their overall seasons. The whole school also participates in fun little games. Normally, you might think high schoolers wouldn’t care about such games, but once again jeans were on line. Classes got competitive for the chance to wear the coveted item. Selected students from each team battled it out over sock, pillowcase, and one-legged races as well as the macarena. The other students help by cheering their classmates on. By the way, my class won! As did the juniors.

Saturday night, the big homecoming game rolled around. I only caught the end of the junior varsity game, but I saw enough to know they dominated over the Ravens. Between games, the Homecoming court was announced. It’s really exciting to see my friends nominated, and I cheered really loudly for all of them. I would like to tell the Oldenburg varsity team scored a win, but they didn’t. They did, however, play a good game; I know I wasn’t the only fan who enjoyed watching the dunks, even if they weren’t delivered by a Twister! Like most of the other seniors, I debated about going to the dance. Eventually, enough of us decided to go, and I’m glad we did. It ended up being a fun time, and it was my last Homecoming dance ever.

This week, I have the second highlight of January to look forward to: Catholic Schools Week. It’s only uphill from here!
-Meredith Goodall ’12

Senior Season

This winter season has many seniors participating in winter sports. This is the last year for the seniors to show off their talents and skills on the court, mats and pool. I am a senior myself, and I know that I will miss basketball when I graduate from high school. But this basketball season has been best, especially with the senior privileges. Automatically, the other team members look up to seniors to lead the team. Seniors always get the back of the bus and first dibs on jersey numbers. But the most important aspect a senior receives is a game dedicated to them, formally called, “Senior Night.” This is the time for the seniors to recognize their greatest achievements, favorite memories and people to thank. My favorite part of senior night is the gifts the lower classmen give to the seniors. It is always neat to see the creative gifts the lower classmen come up with. The girls’ basketball senior night is January 31. I want to give a shout out to my senior girls on the basketball team, Katie, Ann and Ashlee!
I also want to give another shout out to my other classmates. On boys basketball team, Jordan Hyland, Mark Hetzer, Alex Kirshner, Michael Maple and Tiff Kolks. And to Chrissy Wanstrath, Nathan Zitnick and Matt Swanson on swim team. Both of the teams senior night is February 24. Lastly, but not least to Connor Cates who does wrestling. Congrats to all the seniors who participate in a winter sport. Good luck with the rest of the season!
-Amber Teaney ‘12

Technology at OA

As both teachers and students at Oldenburg Academy learn more about our iPads, we are finding great new applications to use in the classroom. These educational “apps” cover a vast variety of subjects, including art, music, science, history, english, health, and religion! “Apps” like iBooks, the Bible “app,” and the Constitution “app” all allow students to browse through texts with ease, and applications including “MyCongress” and the periodic table “app” interact with users to provide crucial information. I have taken three screen-shots* of some of the iPad applications I find the most useful.

In iBooks, by searching for a key word or phrase, students can locate every page on which the word or phrase appears (Far left). In chemistry class, students can use an interactive periodic table “app” to  view specific information about every element by simply touching the chemical symbol (Middle). Applications such as “MyCongress” are useful in history and government classes to access key facts about state and district leaders by entering a student’s zip code (Far right).

*By holding down the center button and the screen-lock button simultaneously, students can send a picture of what is happening onscreen to the iPhoto library. 

-Jenny DeCilles ’12

1…2…3…4…Stars!

Oldenburg Academy has been named a four-star school by the Indiana Department of Education for the 2010-2011 school year. This is the second consecutive year that this outstanding recognition has been received by Oldenburg Academy. In order for a school to achieve the Four Star School Award, the school must be in the top 25th percentile and have made adequate yearly progress. “It is an honor to serve in the capacity of Principal for a school with such an honor,” said Mrs. Bettina Rose. “On a daily basis I see students, teachers, and parents who are fully dedicated to the mission of the Academy, and I am amazed at the amount of pride each group has for OA. It takes everyone to earn this type of recognition by the state… congratulations OA!” Way to go faculty, staff and students on receiving such an honorable award!

-Megan Dennis ’12