CLAREMONT—St. Jeanne de Lestonnac School in Temecula is one of the top five middle school debate teams in the country, following their recent finish at the Middle School Debate National Championships in Claremont, CA. 

 The national tournament was held April 26 at Claremont McKenna College. It was open only to top-qualified teams from each of the 15 middle school debate leagues around the country. Approximately 255 debaters on 85 teams participated, arriving from as far away as New York, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. 

PALM DESERT—Seventeen Girl Scout Cadettes from Troop #1650, based at Sacred Heart School in Palm Desert, recently completed the work of planning, constructing and planting a sustainable garden at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission (CVRM) in Indio. 

Each girl spent more than 50 hours on the project, which they called “The Harvest for Health.”

Eighteen months ago the girls decided to build the garden so the people at CVRM would have a continual healthy supply of fruits and vegetables in their backyard. The effort was part of the girls’ Silver Award project.

Science and the study of God’s many creations

By Mary Pettitt
Science Coordinator, St. Adelaide Academy

HIGHLAND—Science has been an important part of my entire life. 

 I was the child bringing home injured animals or watching birds and lizards in my backyard. I was the grade school student writing extra credit reports on science topics. I was the high school student anxious to get to biology or chemistry class, for the experiments.

SAN JACINTO—St. Hyacinth Academy sent three science projects to the 32nd annual RIMS Science Fair in San Bernadino County April 1-2 and all three received medals for their acheivements. Fifth grader Jazmine Hernandez received silver for her project “Homemade Wind Turnbines” in the Elementary Division. Seventh Grader Matthew Howell received silver for his project “Going Bananas with Ethylene Gas” and Seventh Grader Andres Gonzalez received Gold for his project “School Milk: Carton or Plastic.“ Both Howell and Gonzalez participated in the Junior Division. Andres will go on to the State Competition in May in Los Angeles.

By Andres Rivera
Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO—The Diocesan Ministry with Youth Office is organizing a pilgrimage for Coordinators of Youth Ministry to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and surrounding destinations in Mexico June 5-9. 

The pilgrimage will serve as a retreat or time of spiritual renewal for the Coordinators. 

 The Eagles did it again.

 St. Hyacinth Academy left Aquinas High School on March 1 with their second straight victory in the Diocese of San Bernardino Junior High Academic Decathlon. It was a dominant performance by the 23-person team of seventh and eighth graders as they took first place in both the Logic Quiz and Super Quiz events and had individual winners in the Math, Science, English and Religion competitions.