School News
Here at Father Marquette Catholic Academy, we want our parents and community members to be informed about our student accomplishments, important updates, and inspiring and informative articles. Check our news and events page often for all the latest happenings.
Fifth graders chose a trade to research while learning about daily life in the 13 colonies. Students researched what kind of training was needed, what tools were used in the trade, what kind of items were sold, and how products were made. This culminated in a Colonial Fair in social studies class where students used colonial "money" to purchase items from various colonial shops. There were a few bakers, a carpenter, a cabinetmaker, a milliner, a few colonial taverns/inns, a blacksmith, a farmer, and a few general stores. Fun was had by all of the colonial workers!
The Lenten season is here, and students and staff have created a neat Lenten prayer activity that students will be able to interact with in our building. Each classroom door, from PK to middle school, is decorated with a station of the cross. Classes plan to prayerfully walk the Way of the Cross through the school stopping to look and pray at each station.
Historically, people would go to Jerusalem and walk the path Jesus took to be crucified, stopping to pray at different significant points along the way to meditate on what happened there. Eventually, over time, those stops became the small images that we have today in our churches.
The eighth graders are stepping into a new tech world to record group podcasts based on their research report topics from February. We will make shows available for your listening pleasure soon!
The Lego Club met weekly to build Lego creations and program Lego spike prime robots centralized around a sled dog racing theme. Word block coding was used to program robotic functions such as straight-line movement, turns, marker sensing, black line detection using reflection, sound, and text effects. Coding of these tasks required logical problem solving, basic measurements and math skills, angle configurations, light reflection monitoring, and more! Teamwork and core values were used to build Lego creations such as a representation of team names, dogs, training farm scenes, sled dog trucks, dog sleds, and iconic downtown Marquette buildings. Other fun icebreakers and holiday builds were also created! After each build, the students worked together with their team to present their build and the robot’s task through storytelling.
In December, a Last Sled Dog Training Day competition took place. Father Tim (he coached a robotics team in the past), along with local MARESA technology integration specialist and Lego master educator, Gaby Eyzaguirre, judged each team on their presentations, core values displayed, Lego build, and robot performance.
Congratulations to the overall winning team: Fabulous Froggers! The rest of the teams were awarded according to their strengths evaluated during the competition.
In February, a mini competition took place called: Lego Up Sled Dog Race. Iconic Marquette buildings and green spaces were built and then placed to create a downtown Marquette race course that the robots needed to navigate and then stop at the black finish line.
The club as a whole grew in its respect for each other, encouragement, learning to deal with unexpected problems, and perseverance. Personal strengths were discovered and then shared with the group to work together to perform the tasks assigned. As a group, we celebrated and encouraged these different strengths as well as recognizing and embracing certain weaknesses.
Student Quotes:
“Our first competition build was sled dog trucks and sled dogs. We built these things to represent transportation to the U.P 200. Our second competition was programming our robots to push our sled dogs to the finish line. We also built iconic Marquette buildings lining the U.P 200 race course. We learned a lot about how to program robots, like how to stop at a black line which was our finish line. We also learned to not give up even when things are breaking and not functioning.”
- Silas Loewen (4th grade) and Noelle Espinoza (3rd grade)
“The clock tower is the building we chose! It was a fun project because it is an old building full of history. Programming was probably the most fun but also most difficult thing to do. The dogs and the trucks were definitely hard but we tried to build them as close to the real thing as possible!”
- Jillian Boburka and Charlee Schlicht (4th graders)
The first graders have been studying our solar systems in February. They recently all did a presentation on something that interested them. It was a family project and they all did amazing!
Ice cream and ice fishing! Mrs. Lund turned the sensory tub into an icy lake where kids tried their hand at ice fishing. Another day, they made the biggest ice cream cone ever with 14 scoops (we counted them each time someone added a scoop), and then the children each got an ice cream puzzle where they had to spell their name using the scoops!
Four lucky students were picked up by Officer Durand and Chief Grim of the Marquette City Police Department at their houses bright and early on a Monday morning for breakfast at Huron Bakery. The officers brought them to school in their cruisers afterward! The families won the prize in one of the Father Marquette Catholic Academy baskets at the “Evening with the Eagles” auction.
A big thank you to the Marquette City Police Department for donating their time and donuts and all that they do as liaisons to Father Marquette Catholic Academy!
For fifth grader for a day, fourth grade students were invited to visit the middle school. Each child had a locker and followed the daily schedule. They were able to ask their teachers questions while participating in lessons.
In language arts, students were challenged to write a quick persuasive speech on a topic provided in our Voyages in English textbook program. They had tons of fun sharing their thoughts with each other.
The teachers truly enjoyed the group's enthusiasm for learning! The teachers cannot wait to have you in class every day!
Our second graders recently made stone soup after reading some different versions of the classic tale. Students each brought one item or ingredient in to add to the soup. They found that by working together and sharing they were able to make a delicious meal.
Students came dressed in their brightest on the 100th day of school on Wednesday, February 8. Students were wearing their shades, and lucky for them, it was so warm out! We had t-shirts on at recess in February!
The PK Gold did an activity based on the book One Hundred Hungry Ants. Mrs. Thill hid 100 plastic ants around the room. The students found the ants and placed them on a grid that had 100 spaces.
In the second grade, they read scripture about the Tower of Babel. They were then challenged to build the tallest tower they could with 100 marshmallows and 100 toothpicks. The tallest tower was 21 centimeters high. The students concluded that the base of the tower was the most important part, and God gives us that grounding we need!
Fifth through eighth grade students attended a volleyball camp at Father Marquette Catholic Academy (FMCA) right before students left for Christmas break. It was a great warm up for the upcoming season! Mqt Youth Volleyball Club, which runs the volleyball season program, helped FMCA to purchase a whole new volleyball net system this year. This allows us to hold games here at FMCA! With donations from a few others, FMCA got lines painted on the gym floor and bought a few more volleyballs and a ball cart to really get the athletes game ready.
Deacon Gregg St. John performed an Epiphany blessing on the third grade classroom. He blessed the door by writing over the mantle 20+C+M+B+23. This stands for the year and the first letter of the three names of the kings who visited Jesus on the Epiphany. The three kings came from around the world representing all peoples in our search for God.
The Father Jacques Marquette Knights of Columbus Council 17,772 had its annual "Keep Christ in Christmas” poster contest awards and pizza party on Wednesday, January 4 at the St. Michael Church.
Over 90 contestants participated in the contest and put into art their vision of Christ and the Holy Family as the center and meaning of Christmas in their lives. Participants were presented Knights of Columbus award certificates as well as monetary prizes for the winners.
- Ages 11–14: 1st place - Rowan Stenberg, 2nd place - McKayla Balmes, and 3rd place - Madalyn Croney
- Ages 8–10: 1st place - Hannah Shandonay, 2nd place - Florence Zender, and 3rd place - Lucia Valenzuela
- Ages 5–7: 1st place - Elena Valenzuela, 2nd place - Sonja Ylkanen, and 3rd place - Florence Winkler
Pictured from left to right: Back row- Rowan (Mom), Hannah, Madalyn, and McKayla
Front row- Florence Z., Sonja, Elena, Lucia, and Florence W.
Father Marquette Catholic Academy K-4 earned $451.76 during their snack sale which was used to purchase a pizza party for all the residents of the Jacobetti Veteran's Home, along with Christmas treats! The K-4 students also visited the Jacobetti Veteran's Home to spread Christmas cheer through caroling. Thank you to all parents for helping us teach the importance of thinking of others, as Jesus taught, during this holiday season.
Father Marquette Catholic Academy (FMCA) received an awesome new addition to our facility. Yardbuilders, LLC and about four cars filled with junior and senior MSHS building and construction class students arrived in our parking lot with a brand new playhouse for our elementary playground.
The MSHS geometry and construction class worked this semester to facilitate this partnership. MSHS freshman, Natalie Schetter (also an FMCA alumnus), had suggested FMCA as an entity to receive one of their projects. This class, made up of freshmen and sophomores, learned terminology, made the plans, and built the playhouse. Mr. McFarren, the 15-year veteran teacher of both classes, stated they make quite a few projects a year but they donate one to two locally.
The students at the MSHS are proud of their work and gain a sense of gratification with a quality build that they can give back to the Marquette community. FMCA is grateful for their thoughtfulness and also to Yardbuilders for helping bring the playhouse over. Our students are having a great time exploring and imagining!
Please join us for our enrollment night on Wednesday, February 22 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. You will have the opportunity to meet the teachers and principals, discover the classical curriculum difference, explore classrooms, and more! All faiths are welcome, and families are eligible to apply for generous tuition scholarships. Please see our enrollment night flyer for more information.
Father Marquette Catholic Academy presents their annual gala fundraiser, "Evening With the Eagles". Save the date for Saturday, February 4, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. at The Landmark Inn, 230 N. Front St., Marquette, MI 49855. You can view our Evening With the Eagles flyer for more information, or purchase your tickets online today!
Please join us for our open house on Tuesday, August 30, 2022, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at 500 S. Fourth Street, Marquette, MI 49855. Come meet your teachers and explore your classrooms! All are welcome.
Scholarships are available, and we are offering 20% off for new k–8 families. For questions on how to register, contact us at (906) 225-1129 or via email.
Please take a moment to view our school supply lists below to prepare for the upcoming school year. We are looking forward to a great 2022–2023 school year!
STEM classes can get mighty grubby sometimes as Father Marquette Catholic Academy’s (FMCA) Alex Gencheff’s science students have discovered. While digging up lawn for four more raised vegetable and herb beds, they discovered an infestation of Japanese beetles. The project is supported by the MSU extension nutrition education program.
Like other upper peninsula residents, students are digging up a relatively new kind of grub that has been eating their lawns all winter and are now going to emerge soon to eat anything with a petal or berry. The attached females and males will soon be found together voraciously munching on their favorites - roses, peonies, and raspberries. They are not fussy though. They will eat almost anything.
Rowan and Colt Stensberg, regular after-school student volunteers, added to the count of 103 curled c-shaped grubs that fifth grade students found earlier during STEM class in a 10 by 20 foot area.
“There are too many! These are nasty to pick up,” stated Colt, as he flung another grub on the ground and joyfully stomped on it.
“We are digging them up so they don’t emerge and damage our gardens as adult Japanese beetles,” his sister Rowan explained.
Now found in most states including local lawns and gardens, they are doing major damage to homeowners’ lawns, landscaping, garden crops, and commercial orchards. Often lawns are gone before owners realize there is something seriously wrong. What may start looking like winter damage turns to bare spots and then the ravens, crows, and other flocks of birds may move in and decimate the lawn overnight. Skunks, moles, and birds can’t keep up. Local neighborhoods have bare ground instead of a lawn due to Japanese beetle grub damage.
FMCA students urge residents to research treatments online. There are no cures, but several control methods will help avoid an expensive disaster in local yards.
Microscopic beneficial nematodes are being used in 30 states. They attack the grubs and eat them but are harmless, relatively inexpensive, naturally found in the ground in low numbers, and must be applied now before the emerald green beetle emerges. They are applied again in fall to kill the eggs hatching into grubs that merrily eat your lawn again all winter. Park Cemetery volunteers in Marquette have found the beneficial nematodes effective and easy to apply to save flowers and shrubs.
There are also heavy-duty special chemical treatments that are different from the usual grub control. They may be harmful to children and pets.
Once the beetles emerge and attack fruit trees, shrubs, flowers, and gardens homeowners have few options other than netting or picking them off and placing them in soapy water. They seem to be immune to normal sprays that will, unfortunately, kill honeybees and other beneficial insects. Simply shaking them off or using a water hose to knock them off to the ground will help them lay their eggs. Each beetle is protected by a hard shell and will simply lay hundreds of eggs for next year to continue their cycle.
Written by Iris Katers.
We are excited to bring you our first annual Father Marquette Golf Scramble on Saturday, August 13, 2022! Come out, enjoy a day on the course, and support our fantastic school!
Teams of four will have an enjoyable day golfing on the Heritage Course at the Marquette Golf Club. We will have raffles, gift baskets, proximities, drinks, prizes, and a steak dinner.
Please note:
- $500/team, paid in full by July 15, 2022.
- Shotgun start at noon.
- The cost includes the cart and dinner.
- Return the registration form and payment to the FMCA Office.
If you are not golfing and would like to join your golfing friends after, we have a "dinner-only" option for $50.
Sponsorships:
Please consider sponsoring our event with these exciting opportunities:
Volunteer:
Is golfing your hobby? Do you just like helping out? We need you for:
- Acquiring donations/sponsors
- Day of logistics
- Other odds and ends
Email Jessica Hanley if you can volunteer.
*If you are a parent, these hours can go to your 2022–2023 service hours requirement.