Nazareth students are commonly found interacting with the local community and usually attend Naz while living in the Chicagoland area, but recently Naz students have been competing and researching outside of the country and some, who have come to Chicago from other countries, have been enlightening other students about their cultures.
From March 29- April 7, Senior Alyssa Levato and Junior Emma Reynolds competed in the Irish Dance World Championships in Dublin, Ireland. This championship is the most prestigious competition in competitive Irish Dancing, where the dancers from all over the world come together to see where they place among the world’s best. Levato and Reynolds were two of the top fifteen dancers in their region and therefore qualified for Worlds. They had to practice six days out of the week for multiple hours each day in preparation. The two girls competed individually and as a team with their fellow dance mates in the Mulhern School of Irish dance under the direction of Eileen O’Kane and Coleen Malloy. Though they did not make the final recall for the individual competition, the girls’ team earned twelfth place in the world, which is an amazing accomplishment. Levato and Reynolds thoroughly enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience and are extremely grateful for this opportunity.
“I loved everything about the trip,” said Reynolds, “ Watching all of the dancers perform at this high skill level and dancing ability was absolutely amazing!” The girls want to thank everyone that wished them good luck on their journey and Naz congratulates them on their team’s success.
Additionally, this year, senior Ariane Moreau made the decision to move to the US by herself from Canada for a better opportunity to do the activity she loves best, dance. She lived in Belgium for nine years before moving to Cananda in 2008 where she lives in a little town named Collingwood in Ontario. She is currently living with host family in LaGrange Park and chose to spend her senior year at Nazareth.
“It was a dramatic change to go from living at home with my family and going to my school with my friends, to living in a new home with a new family and going to a new school where I knew nobody, especially as a senior” explained Moreau. However, even though this was a hard transition, Ariane definitely does not let it show. She has made many new friends and she loves her new dance company, Beyond Words Dance Company with Kate Joablonski. She dances 4-5 days a week and does contemporary, ballet, lyrical, jazz and hip hop dance. Dance takes up most of her time here in the US, but back in Canada she used to be involved in every single activity her high school had to offer, which includes alpine skiing, cross country skiing, cross country running, tennis, track, cheerleading and rugby. She does not regret coming to Chicago in the slightest, however, and is happy that she is able to experience the “American Lifestyle”. Moreau noticed some minor differences, such as that in Canada, milk is sold in plastic bags, they do not use a “pesky’ one dollar bill, the letter “Z” in the alphabet is pronounced “Zed” and the citizens put maple syrup in everything, but other than that Canada and the US are not that different. She did want to mention though that she does not have a polar bear as a pet and that she does not live in an igloo. Moreau’s future plans include going back to Canada to work at the end of June, and traveling to Europe to work at the end of fall. She plans on going to college, but her main focus at the moment is to earn some money and travel the world, starting with Italy and spending the ski season in the French Alps. Not everything about her future is set in stone, but her philosophy on life is definitely permanent.
“Live life. Seriously, you only have one, so don’t spend one day of it doing stuff that makes you unhappy. That is completely pointless.” Naz is grateful for being the school that Moreau chose to spend her senior year and hopes that Moreau’s experience here has been worth-while.
Next, from March 31- April 7, Isabella Fiermonte, a senior at Naz, went to Bimini in the islands of the Bahamas to work on a Marine Biology custom research project with 9 other selected high schoolers from the Chicagoland area as well as Indiana. Fiermonte is very interested in marine life, and aside from being involved in many activities at Naz, she volunteers at the Shedd aquarium as an interpreter at certain exhibits and she loves to go snorkeling. She plans on studying Marine Biology at the University of Miami, so this hands-on experience was extremely valuable to her. The program, run by High School Marine Biology, involved the students traveling to the Bahamas and living on an 80ft research vessel.
“I loved being on the boat!” exclaimed Fiermonte, “I slept in bunk below the deck. It was close quarters but tons of fun”. During the trip, Fiermonte and her partner conducted experiments on coral reefs and determined the difference between natural and artificial reefs. They performed a variety of activities in the field such as beaching seines, plankton towing, taking water quality tests and recording underwater surveys of the snorkel sites. The group prepared for the project by participating in 7 hour Saturday classes for the five weeks leading up to the trip. Even though they were long, however, Fiermonte thought they were fun because she was learning about a subject that interested her and she was able to use the water quality labs at the Shedd. This entire experience was one that Fiermonte would not trade for the world.
“I had an amazing time learning new things and meeting wonderful people who have a passion for the same thing that I do. Plus how many times do you get to go snorkeling five times a day?” asked Fiermonte. Naz congratulates Isabella on her scholarly accomplishments and wishes her the best at “The U” next year.
Finally, senior Ana Vrhel will be participating in a volleyball tournament in China with the Lehigh college volleyball team in the Spring of 2013. Vrhel, who will be going to college at Lehigh University and playing on the volleyball team, is excited for this opportunity, since volleyball is her number one activity. She has played volleyball at Naz all four years and plays on a club team called First Alliance. She has been refereeing at local 6th-8th grade volleyball games to get the money necessary for the trip, and Vrhel is convinced the work will be worth it. The trip will begin in Beijing and then start the second week in Shanghai. The itinerary for the trip includes running on the Great Wall, practicing in Tiananmen Square, and midway through that week, Vrhel and her team will take a travel day and go to Singapore. The team will be playing games almost everyday and will compete against other teams such as the Beijing United Team, China Army Team, and the Singapore National Team. The team will also be training with the Chinese professional volleyball team. Ana foresees this trip as being very beneficial and nervous yet excited for it.
“I think I will benefit from the trip I will have a chance to meet other students before school actually starts,” explained Vrhel, “I am a little nervous about the food situation because I am a very picky eater, but other than that the trip seems really fun and I can’t wait to go”. Naz wishes Vrhel good luck on her trip and hopes that the experience is valuable to her success.
