Father Thom Hennen discussed his personal story of becoming a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Davenport with the Assumption student body. He also spoke about vocations in the church and how one becomes a member of the clergy.
To watch the video on YouTube click here.
“It’s making learning real.” This is how science teacher Wendy Martin describes AHS’s new STEM BEST partnership with VictoryVR, a Quad-City tech company. From a phlebotomist to a veterinarian and an industrial engineer to a science teacher, Virtual Reality (or VR) is changing the way students learn about STEM careers.
The program, “VR STEM Career Exploration,” uses phone-based virtual reality software to bring STEM careers from throughout the U.S. directly to students, giving them the opportunity to virtually “step into” the worlds of 20 different STEM careers (and growing). Each vignette physically places students in laboratories, green houses, observatories and more as these STEM employees explain the day-to-day duties of their job, their educational pathways and their passion for what they do.
The Iowa STEM Council provided a STEM BEST cost-matched award of $25,000 to Assumption last October based on its proposal to collaborate with a local business and develop a tool that would benefit students not only in Iowa but also across the nation. Come fall, Assumption will begin using the tool in all of its classrooms as well as for career guidance conversations between students and counselors.
The program is available to anyone, anywhere, with a smartphone and access to Google Cardboard or other affordable, VR headset gear. The free app is available now in the Google Play Store and a version for the iPhone will be available in the Apple Store soon.
Come see these smiling orphan faces NEXT WEEKEND as the Knight Players present Annie! Showtimes are March 11 and 12 at 7:00 p.m. and March 13 at 2:00 p.m. Reserved seating can be purchased atwww.showtix4u.com and general admission seating will be available at the door!
Price(s):
Adult – $10.00
Student/Senior – $8.00
It began in the summer of 1979, and has continued the last weekend of June every summer since. For Class of 1980 graduates Tom Thompson, Tim Lawler, Brendan Kelly, Bill McAfoos, Bob Hingtgin, George Gerwe, Matt Nagle, and Drew Bracken, there’s nothing quite like their annual canoe trip on the Iowa River.
This past summer marked the group’s 36th trip on the Upper Iowa River, which started as canoeing all day Saturday, camping on the banks of the river, and continuing the canoe trip Sunday morning.
“Brendan Kelly came up with the idea,” says Tim Lawler. “He used to go camping and canoeing there as a child. We were looking for a cheap weekend getaway, which has now turned into 36 years.”
For Lawler, his best memories are of conversations around the camp fire, where stories range from Prom and college, to careers, marriage, and children.
Recently the group has added a Friday golf outing to their festivities, while cutting back the canoeing portion of their weekend to a half day on Saturday.
“We’re getting too old to canoe that long,” said Lawler. “We depart Sunday morning, because we are all headed in separate directions. We still cook all our meals around the fire, catch up and laugh.”
While each classmate now has his own family and career and the friends are spread across the country from California to Michigan, it remains an important tradition to block out the last weekend in June for the trip, “to reconvene, and pick up where they left off.”
“While we all went to separate colleges and moved to different states, we never lost touch. A lot of us were in each other’s wedding. All of us have children that are older than we were when we started this annual trip,” said Lawler. “Though the conversations have changed over the years, the one thing that remains constant with this group is our love for Assumption.”
“For this group there truly is no place like Assumption,” Lawler said. We couldn’t have said it any better.
