CHARLOTTE — Students at St. Ann School presented “living rosaries” to honor and pray for the diocese’s Bishop-elect Michael Martin, who will be installed as bishop later this month.
Students represented different parts of a rosary, taking turns to present different prayers as teachers explained the upcoming leadership change.
“It’s a beautiful example of how prayers can be said with motion, and the children get a lot out of it,” said Principal Celine Little.
“(The bishop-elect) has a big job in front of him and we are excited for him, but we also know he needs all our prayers…Hopefully, these prayers for him will help him feel the love we have for him here in Charlotte.”
— Photos and video by Troy C. Hull
CHARLOTTE — Our Lady of the Assumption School Principal Tyler Kulp stresses the importance of being a good writer to his students. Now, four OLA students’ hard work has paid off in the North Carolina Reading Association’s Young Authors’ Writing Project.
One student, Rosemary Tapia-Garcia, won at the state level, and three more received accolades at the county level: Arianna Jenkins (7th grade), Clare Quinn (6th grade) and Ephrem Quinn (5th grade).
Through the project themed “Reflections: Celebrating the Me I See,” young authors were encouraged to write about how they see themselves as an individual, a friend or a member of a community.
Eighth-grader, Rosemary Tapia-Garcia, brought some judges to tears with her powerful state winning essay.
“I had to think about what I wanted to say. I just thought about my childhood. I didn’t think it was going to have such a big impact,” Rosemary said. “It feels good I guess because it was something important to me. Thank you to my parents for everything they have done for me.”
Here’s an excerpt from her winning essay:
“When you’re ten all you would think about is how you’re going to be starting middle school next year. You thought about how you would dress and act like the older kids. It would be like entering into a whole new world. When you’re twelve you have already experienced what middle school is like and it’s not like you thought it would be. People change and you change. They aren’t as nice or as mature as you thought they would be. You don’t think or act the same as you did when you were ten.”
— Troy Hull