Christmas Cheer in the Halls

Christmas Cheer has hit the hallways of Saint Rose. Each class and homeroom teacher got creative with the Christmas Door Decorating Contest sponsored by Student Council. The doors of each classroom were designed to make Christmas spectacular in the hallways of Saint Rose. The doors were constructed and decorated during homeroom each morning. The classes
came together to have fun and bond in a positive way and over Christmas cheer. This is a creative and fun way for everyone in the school to get involved and get into the holiday spirit.

The contest is comprised of six categories, which are: Most Religious, Most Creative, Most Attractive, Most School Spirit, Best Execution of a Theme, and Best Office. The winners of each category received a festive bagel breakfast with Santa for the entire class.

The decorated doors are a festive and exciting way to make the walk to classes more enjoyable. The energy from the doors shine on Saint Rose hallways. The holiday themes range from “Sleigh My Name” to “Nightmare Before Christmas” to “Take a sElfie”. The doors are adorned with lights and 3-Dimensional elements along with so much Christmas and Saint Rose spirit. The students and teachers of Saint Rose did an amazing job this year creating fantastic holiday doors. The homerooms had to follow specific guidelines in order to be included in the contest.

The decorations on each door were to cover the door only and not affect the opening and closing or locking of the doors. All the decorations were to be appropriate for a school contest and were to show a positive message for the Christmas Season and school spirit. The judging took place by a top secret panel of faculty and students. The winners were announced via SR-TV.

The contest was a great success this year. Congratulations to all the winners! Merry Christmas!

By Ashley Bock ’18

First Home Boys Basketball Game of the Season!

That time of year has started once again, basketball season! On
Friday, December 15th, 2017, the Saint Rose boys varsity basketball team held their home opener in the MAC. They played against Keyport
High School at 5:30 pm.

After preparing for weeks, the boys team was ready and hungry for
a win. The “belmar zoo” was packed with excited fans and the
bleachers were filled with very enthusiastic family members from both
teams. To add to the fun, all the students Packed the MAC, decked out
in Christmas themed outfits, filling the seats with red and green. The
faithful fans were even willing to show their support on this particularly
snowy night.

Also, the cheer team premiered their Christmas routine to get
everyone in the holiday spirit, dancing to Justin Bieber’s Christmas hit,
“Mistletoe”. They did an outstanding job and kicked off their season
also on a fabulous note.

The boys continued their game, led by the senior players, David
Calloway, Sean Culley, Ethan Tomb, Bob Mahon, Nick Marini, and
John Crowley, along with their new coach, Coach Matt Gathman. After
battling through and playing a terrific game, the Saint Rose Boys
Basketball came out on top! Hopefully, this is setting the stage for a
fantastic season for both the boys and girls team.

Be sure to come and support the boys varsity basketball team at their
next home game on December 21st at 5:15 vs. Asbury Park High
School. Go Roses!

By Emily Brown ’18

This Christmas Season

The Christmas season is finally among us, and the spirit of Christ is in the air. Christmas is one of the biggest celebrations in our religion because as we all know, it is Jesus Christs birthday.

Here at Saint Rose, Christmas is a very fun and giving time at the school. We have the Door Decorating contest, the Ugly Sweater dress down day, and the start of the Honduras donations.

Also, next week on Wednesday, before we leave for winter break, we will have our annual Christmas Liturgy in the Saint Rose Church. This is a time for us to come together as a school community to celebrate the gift of Christ himself and remember that Christmas is not all about the gifts and the tree. It gives us time to reminisce over the amazing story of the journey that Mary and Joseph took to the inn and had a son that changed our lives forever. The gift of Christ has always been the best gift we all receive at Christmas time, and we should all make it a point to remember that while spending the day surrounded by family and friends. Everyone at Saint Rose wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year over winter break, and we will see you again in 2018!

By Sam Apple ’18

Keeping Christ in Christmas

The Christmas season approaches fast, and often times we find ourselves captivated by all the aspects this beautiful season has to offer such as the lights, music, food, and festive events.

However, the majority of us during the holiday season focus most of our time on finding and buying the perfect gifts for our friends and family. Although giving gifts is exciting and seeing our loved ones light up with joy when opening their presents can make everyone happy. Can we be sure that gifts are what Christmas is all about? As Catholics, we believe Christmas to be the day that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary in a stable in Bethlehem.

This, Christ’s birth, is the true meaning of Christmas. Although now a days the manger in one’s house is often not noticed behind all the presents and the Christmas Mass is just an hour to get through to get home and play with all of one’s new toys and technological devices. We need to get passed what our culture is telling us and keep Christ in Christmas.

There are many ways to keep the holiday special while keeping Christ in Christmas. One idea is to do service in your community and give back to someone who needs help. Another idea to keep Christ in Christmas is to attend mass as a family on Christmas morning or before Christmas Eve dinner and make it a special moment for all to enjoy. It is also nice to set up a
Nativity Scene in your house and make it be the focal point in a room. Make Christmas more about the reason than the gifts and the shopping. It is most important to keep it simple, keep it special, and keep Christ in Christmas.

By Ashley Bock ’18

A New Location for the Boys and Girls Swim Teams

 

The Boys and Girls Swim Teams are switching swimming facilities for practice. For the past few years, both teams swam at The Atlantic Club. Today, January 8th, they will begin to swim at Swim Quest+Fit which is located on Shafto Road in Tinton Falls. This is a brand new facility that opened in the Fall of 2017. The swim team will now have practice right after school from 3 to 4 rather than from 8:45 to 9:45. Students will get ready for practice at school and take a one way bus directly from school to the facility for practice. Seniors are allowed to drive to practice from school as well. This change of facility is a great opportunity for the swim team and the St. Rose staff worked hard for this change.

Swim Quest+Fit is the home of the New Jersey Racing Club (NJRC). NJRC is a swim club for swimmers from Monmouth County. The facility also offers swimming lessons for infants, toddlers, and young children. There is also a 5,000 square foot gym for members to utilize. It boasts state of the art equipment for cardio, strength, and small group workouts. There will also be Spin and Yoga classes provided for members.

Seniors have attended a tour of Swim Quest+Fit so they will be able to show the underclassmen around the facility on the first day of practice. The coaches and the swimmers are very excited about practicing in a brand new facility with a state of the art indoor swimming pool. The team will continue to train at Swim Quest+Fit for the rest of the season.

 

By Sheila Magrini ‘18

Christmas Concert

The Saint Rose High School choir is proud to announce their upcoming 2017 Christmas concert! With extreme hardwork and dedication, the choir has been preparing for this exciting event. The Saint Rose High School choir is a great environment to express your talents and

love for music, as you perform at many events.
The choir practices are usually held from 2:30-4:00p.m. at the high school. They mainly practice a variation of songs ranging from popular music such as Adele, to the music you typically hear in mass.

Jada Weedon, Class of 2019, was interviewed by The Courier about the Saint Rose High School choir:

The​ ​Courier​: “How does being in the school choir prepare you for the school plays?”
Jada​ ​Weedon​ ​‘19​: “We practice singing three part harmonies which help us during the play. They prepare us for the play because it’s important to know which part you’re singing, especially when you throw dancing and singing into the mix.”

The​ ​Courier:​ “What do your choir practices typically entail?”
Jada​ ​Weedon​ ​‘19​: “We practice songs for upcoming events as well as audition songs. Miss Madden, the choir teacher, has helped me a lot with being comfortable during auditions.”

The Christmas choir show will be held on December 14th, at 7:00p.m., in the school’s little theater. The choir will be singing a variation of classic holiday songs. Come support your local choir at Saint Rose High School for a night of extreme holiday spirit!

By Madison Kinnevy ’18

Progress Reports

Progress reports will be issued this week on. It feels as if the second marking period just began, but it is already time for progress reports to be mailed home. In a little over a month, it will be time to prepare for midterms and the end of the second marking period.

With progress reports marking the halfway point in the quarter it is important to take a moment to look at your grades and determine what you need to work on. This will ensure that when report cards are issued, you are pleased with your grades. Progress reports should remind you to evaluate your goals for the end of the marking period, the improvement you need to make, and the areas of your strengths. If you are looking to improve your grades, make sure to attend your teacher’s extra help day before a test, put in extra time working on a project, or working with a National Honor Society tutor. This is also an important time to check Schoology for missing assignments, so they can be made up before it is too late. Taking these steps can help you achieve higher grades and make improvements before the end of the marking period. It is important to know the resources you have access to and use them when needed. Since Midterms are approaching, it is important to be on top of the work teachers are assigning and the concepts they are teaching.

Even though it may seem like the marking period is flying by, remember there is plenty of time to improve your grades and master new concepts. The grades on the progress report are not final, so continue to work hard and keep up the good work. In the second half of this marking period try to stay focused, stay organized, stay on top of assignments, and work hard to ensure you are working to the best of your ability.

By Sheila Margini ’18

Door Decorating Ends on Thursday

Christmas time is approaching fast! One of the famous St. Rose christmas traditions include the Christmas door decorating contest. This contest is sponsored by the student council. Every year, students and teachers in each homeroom create christmas-themed pictures and designs to put on the outside of the doors. The specific christmas door themes of this year are three very popular holiday songs: winter wonderland, santa claus is coming to town, and the twelve days of christmas. The doors will be judged by a secret panel of faculty and students, and the best doors that fall under six different categories will be honored. The six categories are: most religious, most creative, most attractive, most school spirit, best execution of theme, and best office.

Doors can be decorated between November 27th and December 7th. When creating your door, make sure it follows the guideline that were specified on the flyer. The christmas decorations cannot cover windows or block movement into classrooms. Also, the doors may not prevent doors from opening, closing, or locking.

Madison Kinnevy of homeroom 12D is especially excited for the door decorating contest. She stated, “My favorite christmas contest door from past years had the design of Santa going down a chimney. I thought this was a funny idea and the most creative door Saint Rose has ever had. This year, I think it would be good idea to create a door that depicts gingerbread men with a gingerbread house.”

Winners will be announced on December 12th on SR-TV. The top winners of each of the judging categories will get to enjoy breakfast with santa on December 19th. Good luck!

By Maddy Looney ’18

Sports Schedule This Week

Winters sports are in full swing this upcoming week, with multiple teams have their first games, matches, or meets of the season. On Monday the 4th, the Varsity Boys Bowling Team will travel to Ocean Township High School for their first game of the season after school. The Varsity Girls Basketball Team are having a scrimmage on the 5th against Gill Saint Berbard’s away at 5:00 pm. On the same day, the Boys Varsity Ice Hockey team has a game at Middletown South High School at 7:50 pm. On the 6th, the Varsity Swim team has a home meet at 8:30 pm at the Atlantic Club against Holmdel High School. The bowling team has another meet on the 7th at Point Pleasant Boro High School after school. On the same day, all Boys Basketball teams have scrimmages away at Middletown South High School. On the 8th, the boys ice hockey team has their official home opener at 8:30 at Jersey Shore Arena in Wall Township. Go out and support our Purple Roses next week!

By Sam Apple ’18

The Impact a Coach Can Make: Girls Basketball

This new coach has the girls basketball team incredibly excited and optimistic about what is to come this season. The enthusiasm coming from the team is positively overwhelming and it is all coming from their new coach, Marybeth Chambers. Not only has she been in the high level basketball competition for years to come, but Marybeth too played basketball throughout her life. She remarkably played right here at St Rose High School in her four years here. Not only is she an alumni of our school and program, but her daughter is as well. Coach Marybeth has been a huge part of the community since she graduated, which makes it even more exciting to see here in our school coaching the girls. Having someone that knows basketball itself so well is not the teams only advantage this upcoming season. They have a coach that can put herself in their own shoes, being that she was a girls basketball player in our very St. Rose gym. Senior Ariana Dalia says, “The whole team is really excited for this upcoming season especially with Marybeth Chambers as our coach. We can already tell she is going to be super effective on the team and I’m excited to have a coach who genuinely cares to help each player improve their game.” The season looks bright for Coach Marybeth and the team!

Mnay of the girls on the team play for the Jersey Shore Elite travel basketball team, in which Coach Marybeth had been their coach this past spring and summer. This was an amazing way for many of the girls to get to know her, and for her to get to know them and how they play. From the very beginning they saw how much they learned from her and were happy that they could do it all as a team, being that each player saw the court.  Senior Elizabeth Marsicano says, “She has such great energy and always pumps us up for anything we are about to do. She is all about being a team and playing together, which is what we needed. We all love her and are excited to play very hard for her.” A coach has a huge impact on a team and their players and as of right now, Coach Marybeth has already made a huge mark on the girls positivity, skills, and team chemistry. She has a large basketball family and everyone here at St. Rose is very enthusiastic abut being another piece to that! We are excited to see the outcomes of this optimistic season and see how the connection between the coach and the girls shows on the court! Good luck to the girls basketball team!

By Brittany Lopes ’18