Irish Return After Fun Summer
BILOXI, Miss. —
Our Irish return to campus today, August 8th, for the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. Over the summer, many of our students attended camps, worked summer jobs, and enjoyed the break from the day to day of class.
A small sampling of some of our students’ summer activities include (but certainly aren’t limited to) the stories below.
Quinlan Pisciotta attended the FBI Youth Leadership Camp in Quantico, Virginia. She is the second St. Patrick student to be honored with acceptance to this camp. The YLP is open to youth ages 14-16 and acceptance to the program is competitive. The application process requires a detailed application, an essay, and oral interview. Candidates are also assessed of their GPA, scholastic activities, and community involvement. Pisciotta was the only student chosen from the state of Mississippi to attend this session. The program welcomed attendees from all 50 states and included international students as well.
Clayton Stoddard, Nicholas McNew, and James Frazier attended the 2019 United States Naval Academy Summer Leadership Seminar. The honor of attending the Summer Leadership Seminar is only given to 850 high school rising juniors and seniors across the United States.The seminar introduces students who wish to attend undergrad at the Naval Academy to campus life and to get a glimpse of the academic, athletic, and professional training it provides. In 2017, Forbes named the Naval Academy the top ranked public college in the United States. These student’s selection as a seminar participant serves as the preliminary application to the Naval Academy.
Stoddard also attended Mississippi’s Boys’ State where he was elected to serve as Lt. Governor. Todd Fayard, Alex Moore, and Jacob Oropesa also attended the program. Boys’ State is a political simulation with some of the brightest high school students in Mississippi. The participants are split into two opposing parties and go from primary elections all the way up to gubernatorial elections. Parties are divided into cities and counties which also allows political simulation on the county level. Participants also had the opportunity to hear from and meet some of our state senators, congressmen, and Governor Phil Bryant.
Jasmine Stawarski attended a leadership camp with U.S. Representative Steven Palazzo in anticipation of serving as an intern for Rep. Palazzo this fall. Additionally, Stawarski attended a legal advocacy camp where she was awarded the “outstanding witness” award at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
Alaina Olsen traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the 2019 Youth Leadership Camp thanks to Coast Electric Power Association. Olsen was able to meet with Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith as well as U.S. Representative Steven Palazzo.
Maria Puig Garcia served the Hispanic Teen Acts Retreat with the Diocese of Biloxi. The retreat was held June 6-9 at Paul B. Johnson State Park in Hattiesburg. Puiggarcia had a great time serving on the team and expressing her faith with the other teens.
Joelle Smith attended engineering camps at the University of Mississippi and Auburn University.
Carson Kilpatrick and Cohen Weinhofer participated in a baseball tournament at Dreams Park in Cooperstown, NY this summer. They helped their team, the Biloxi Bandits, earn a spot in the top 32 out of 104 teams.
Emerson Morris, Thomas Owen, Teal Salloum participated in the Lott Institute for rising Ninth and 12th Graders. The institute is residential program at the University of Mississippi. The program is highly competitive and only 48 students from across the state were selected to participate. The Lott Institute is designed to develop critical thinking and leadership skills in soon-to-be high school freshmen. Its aim is to cultivate and inspire honest, compassionate, and responsive leaders who will focus on responsibility and stewardship.
Cade Meyers attended the Mississippi Governor’s School. While working in the local community by cleaning up Union Academy, Meyers was interviewed on TV and was featured on the front page of Columbus, Mississippi’s newspaper, The Commercial Dispatch. Meyers had a busy summer as he also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
Gavriella Persing and Quinlan Pisciotta also attended the Mississippi Governor’s School.
Connor McCullough, Avery McCullough, Emily Moran, John Michael Moran, and Devon Murphy served at the St. Gabriel Mercy Center on a mission trip in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
The St. Patrick robotics team, Team Tempest, competed in a summer competition at Gulfport High School. Out of 24 regional teams, the Irish placed third in the two-day tournament.
Irish Volleyball attended summer camp as a team at Mississippi State University. The Cheerleading squad attended their team camp at Auburn University.
This is just a small glimpse of the busy and fulfilling summer activities our students experienced. We are excited to have everyone back on campus here on the first day of school today.
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St. Patrick Catholic High School is a faith-based, college preparatory high school in Biloxi, Mississippi. Established in 2007, St. Patrick is the premier secondary educational institution in South Mississippi and strives each day to Educate Scholars, Train Disciples, and Support Champions. St. Patrick is proud to report a 100% college matriculation rate, ACT and SAT scores that far exceed the state and national averages, and a rich history of Catholic education founded in the traditional roots of our legacy schools of St. John High School, Mercy Cross High School, Notre Dame High School, and Sacred Heart Academy.