CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Catholic High School seniors and Speech and Debate Team members Charles Nenichka and Connor Ruff have been named Academic All-Americans by the National Speech and Debate Association. The award recognizes academic rigor, competitive speech and debate success, and personal excellence.
Of the 141,000-plus student members of the NSDA, fewer than 500 earn the Academic All-American award each year. Nenichka and Ruff are among the top half of 1 percent of all student members of the NSDA across the country.
Ruff (left) and Nenichka (right) are pictured with Head Coach Mary Morales.
To be considered for the award, students must have completed five semesters of high school, earned the degree of Superior Distinction in the NSDA Honor Society, achieved rigorous criteria for grade-point average and/or test score requirements, and demonstrated outstanding character and leadership.
“This national award recognizes individuals who have performed with excellence in Forensics and Academics,” Morales said. “Charles and Connor achieved this distinction also while fulfilling their responsibility as co-presidents of the team and being involved in the school’s soccer team as well. They are great models of striving for excellence in every undertaking.”
The National Speech and Debate Association was established in 1925 to provide recognition and support for students participating in speech and debate activities. Its mission is to connect, support and inspire individuals and schools devoted to giving middle school, high school, and college students access to speech and debate.
— Carolyn Kramer Tillman
CHARLOTTE — Plans for a fine arts center to serve all of the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools are being explored again, several years after leaders put a similar proposal on the back burner.
The MACS Office, the Charlotte Catholic High School Development Office and the Diocese of Charlotte Development Office are eyeing plans for a fine arts center that would be located on the campus of Charlotte Catholic High School and would serve the MACS schools and be available to the broader community.
Since Charlotte Catholic High School moved to its present location on Pineville-Matthews Road in 1995, school leaders have recognized the need for providing a dedicated fine arts facility.
Especially as the award-winning chorus, band, theater and visual arts programs at MACS schools have grown, space has become more limited.
The last time a fine arts center at Charlotte Catholic was considered was in 2011, when planning was also under way for the high school’s stadium renovation and parking deck. The stadium renovation and parking deck were completed in 2015.
Now, plans for a possible fine arts center are being looked at afresh.
A Pre-Campaign Advisory Committee has been working with the schools and development offices, and the diocese has hired the Steier Group, a Catholic fund development consulting firm from Omaha, Neb., to complete a comprehensive feasibility study which will determine whether there is enough support for the project.
Principal Kurt Telford recently updated MACS parents about the proposed project and asked for their opinions through a brief survey. “This study will allow us to gather everyone’s thoughts regarding the plans for the Fine Arts Center,” Telford said. “It will also determine whether there is sufficient support to move forward with a major fundraising effort. Should we embark on a capital campaign, the planning study will help us determine a realistic fundraising goal and identify campaign leaders, potential major donors and a campaign timeframe,” he said.
Plans call for the MACS capital fee to provide $15 million of the project’s total $23.3 million cost.
The approximately 54,000-square-foot fine arts center would house a 650-seat auditorium and a high-quality performance and exhibit space for MACS students. It would also house two art studios and a band room, broadcast studio, ceramics studio, dance studio, dark room and digital lab, photography lab, stage and theater.
Charlotte Catholic’s visual and performing arts classes would move to the new center, freeing up space in the existing high school building for regular classrooms as well as space for a weight room, wrestling room and additional academic uses.
The fine arts center would be located on the site of a gravel parking lot, adjacent to the current gymnasium wing of the high school.
Jim Kelley, diocesan development director, noted that the schools have not conducted a major regional capital campaign since the mid-1990s, when Charlotte Catholic was relocated.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
