Exchange program
Thirty-two high school students and four chaperones from St. Ursula High School in Hachinohe, Japan, are visiting Louisville for a two-week cultural exchange. The students arrived on March 8 and will leave on March 24. Families from Sacred Heart Academy, Mercy Academy and St. Xavier High School will host the Japanese students.
The exchange students, their chaperones and teachers and administrators from Sacred Heart, Mercy and St. X visited Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum on March 13. That same day, the students met Metro Council members at City Hall.
The goal of the two-week visit is to help the Japanese students learn to speak more fluent English and to share with them a typical American family’s way of life, a news release from Sacred Heart said. St. Ursula students accompany their student hosts to school each day, attend classes and participate in an English conversation course.
St. Ursula was established in Japan by the Canadian Ursulines shortly after World War II. The Hachinohe school is a coeducational school and is located three hours north of Tokyo.
‘Simple Meal’
Students at St. Martha School hosted and served a “Simple Meal” March 12 for members of St. Martha and surrounding parishes.
First-graders made the table decorations and the seventh-graders served the meal. Members of the school choir provided the entertainment.
Debate contests
The Trinity High School speech and debate team competed in the Kentucky Catholic Forensic League national qualifying tournament at LaRue County High School March 1. This tournament qualifies students to represent their school and the state in the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National tournament, which will be held in Chicago in May.
Jorge Rojas-Ortega defeated teammate Pedro Sanchez-Villa to claim the last qualifying spot in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Sanchez-Villa will serve as an alternate for the event. Rojas-Ortega will be joined at the tournament by senior teammates John Moremen and Jackson Rice, who will compete in Policy Debate.
Team members also competed in two Rotary Club speech contests. In order to compete, students were required to write and memorize a 5- to 8-minute speech addressing the subject “Engage Rotary: Change Lives.”
Rojas-Ortega placed third in the Goshen/Prospect Rotary, winning $100 in scholarship money. Moremen won the St. Matthews Rotary event, earning $300 and will advance to the sectional tournament later this month.
Merit finalists
Three Assumption High School seniors have been named finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. They are Nicole Karem, Natalie Webb and Caroline Radmacher.
Play
Mercy Academy will present “The Miracle Worker” March 20 at 4:30 p.m.; March 21, 22 at 7 p.m.; and March 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $3 for students and $7 for adults.
Spelling Bee
Lauryn Grady, an eighth-grader at St. Francis of Assisi School, took third place in the Ford Motor Company Kentucky Derby Festival Spelling Bee on March 15th. She received a $3,000 savings bond and a gift certificate from Amazon.com. Grady previously won the Archdiocese of Louisville’s annual Spelling Bee held Feb. 12 at the Flaget Center.
