CElEbRAtiNG LEGAciES - St. Pius X Catholic High School

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Campus News and Information... Feeney and Guyton Bring Recognition to SPX Language Arts Program Last year, St. Pius X was recognized in the January 2009 edition of Atlanta Magazine as one of the top 10 high schools in Georgia for its language arts program! The article highlighted our school’s success rate for AP language and literature tests as well as our history for winning state and national awards. This year, our students are once again bringing recognition to our school through their tremendous accomplishments, which serve to reiterate the praise from the aforementioned Atlanta Magazine article. Seniors Ryan Feeney and Diana Guyton have won top recognition in the 2009 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Achievement Awards in Writing. Each submitted an impromptu essay and a sample of their best work to be judged. All submissions were read and evaluated by one high school teacher and one college English teacher. From 1,783 students nominated, 544 were chosen as the nation’s outstanding writers. Eleven students were chosen from the state of Georgia, with Guyton and Feeney being two of those 11. We congratulate them for their achievements! In addition to being recognized by the NCTE, Guyton was published in the Wayfarer’s Diary, a literary journal for Atlanta-area high school students (printed by The Wren’s Nest Publishing Company). Her short story, “Wordless Discourse,” was one of 29 works picked to be included in this special publication. Her work is reproduced below, in its entirety, with her permission. Wordless Discourse As Jacob noticed the distance between her eyebrows shrinking, he chuckled at the thought of her greatest asset and most frequent traitor. Even in silence, she managed to inform him of her growing frustration, of her internal struggles, by manipulating her slender eyebrows. The subtlety of her unspoken pleas for attention surprised Jacob; he had never considered her one who handled reticence well. Yet there she sat, allowing the tension to escalate without even tilting her head in his direction. Jacob stood and shifted his gaze to the stage, desperate to end their wordless discourse. Soon enough she would grow impatient of his insensitivity, sigh dramatically, and wait only a beat before bombarding him with shallowly sentimental ramblings: She would miss him. She did not want him to graduate. She could not imagine a better friend and did not know what she would do without him. As always, she would be charming, affected, rehearsed. By this time, the orchestra had only thirty-two measures to play before reaching the cue for her appearance on stage. Knowing that their silence together in the wings would soon transition into animosity between their voluble characters, Jacob exhaled, relieved by the prospect of suspending reality. *** A sigh! So he, too, swallowed the words piling heavily upon his tongue. He, too, recognized that they would never again wait in the wings — together. Usually, Cecilia depended entirely upon her reserve of icebreakers, her arsenal of anecdotes, and her roster of automated responses; she struggled with silence. She had only managed to keep quiet for this long because for once she had no idea what to say. What can one say to prevent the inevitable from occurring? What can one say to resolve three years of hostility before thirty measures of music are played? What can one say to the reason for most of her regrets? Nothing. Words failed her. Cecilia longed to hear her cue and bury her current frustration in the past. She drew her eyebrows together and wondered how he would react if she were to cry. She decided he would dismiss it as another of her performances, readymade to get her what she wanted. Of what exactly she wanted, however, she was not sure. Cecilia jumped abruptly from her seat, ramming the chair into the table behind it — loudly — and thus causing the actor on stage to drop his line. Eager to distract herself from the commotion, Cecilia fiddled alternately with her costume and her wig and thought about her character’s motivation. The question of her own motivation, however, soon elbowed its way to the forefront of Cecilia’s mind. She acknowledged that she could not make him love her, and probably could not even manage to make him her friend. But only fifteen measures remained before Cecilia’s character would swallow her whole. *** Jacob marveled at the relative length of a mere thirty-two measures, painfully extending his time in close proximity to her. Five-hour rehearsals were shorter than this! He angled himself away from her and crossed his arms in an attempt to end the obligation she apparently felt to shower him with meaningless platitudes. But the scarcity of distance between them made even her unseen actions noticeable; he felt her sidle up beside him and hesitate before gingerly touching his arm. Jacob stared at her, wordlessly pleading that she would make no effort to break their silence in the wings. He knew she would. As he watched her eyebrows rise in dramatic preparation, Jacob knew the delivery of her inane monologue was imminent. He had no interest in her empty words. He had never understood her perpetual pretense. He had no patience for her insincere — Hug? 26
A Big Year for SPX Girls’ Cross Country! SPX Girls’ Cross Country Team Wins State Championship Title Congratulations to Coach Debbie Guilbeau and the varsity girls’ cross country team on winning this year’s State Championship Title! This has definitely been a season to remember for the team. In October the girls clinched the Region 5-AAA Championship Title, defeating Johns Creek and Dunwoody. On November 7, the team faced Creekview and Flowery Branch for the state championship. By the end of the meet, the girls were crowned 2009 State Champions! Debbie Guilbeau, who has been Head Coach of the girls’ cross country team since 1994, recently shared her thoughts on the girls’ season. “Of course, I am very proud of the entire team, but I’m especially proud of our top seven runners: Kathleen LaPorte, Devon Dabney, Erin Osment, Taylor Glenn, Sarah Fristoe, Holly Kilpatrick and Katy Gilbert. These girls fought hard all season to keep us among the very top teams in the state.” To top off the season, Coach Guilbeau received additional recognition for her team’s successful season when she was recognized by the Atlanta Track Club (ATC) and the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) as the AAA Coach of the Year! Guilbeau was thrilled, saying, “It was a tremendous honor to be recognized as AAA Coach of the Year, however, the team’s success would not have been possible without the help of assistant coaches Ashley Curlette ’02, Sara Geiger, Kristin Kramer ’98 and John Provenzano.” Senior Kathleen LaPorte Earns Cross Country Accolades SPX senior Kathleen LaPorte was named to the Atlanta Track Club All-Metro Cross Country Team for her third consecutive season. LaPorte also paced her teammates to the AAA State Championship in Carrollton finishing sixth overall. According to the Atlanta Track Club Web site, the ATC honors the state’s best high school runners and coaches in both cross country and track and field. In addition, the Club names the All-Metro team at the conclusion of each season and honors the boys’ and girls’ Coaches of the Year. The ATC also helps fund the Georgia High School Track and Field Hall of Fame. The selection to the All-Cross Country team is one of many honors LaPorte has earned in her career. She has been named the St. Pius X Runner of the Year each of her four years at SPX, as well as St. Pius X Most Valuable Runner for the 2008 Track & Field season. LaPorte was also named to the Foot Locker South Region team in 2007, and captured the Southern Region Cross Country Championship in 2007 and 2008. In addition to her on-course success, she was named the recipient of the 2009 George B. Maloof Award—the highest honor a student-athlete can receive at St. Pius X. LaPorte said, “The selection to the All-Metro team is a great honor because it shows all the hard work that goes into cross country, and the selection is a validation of that hard work for everyone selected.” LaPorte, a two-year captain, holds the school record for cross country with an 18:58 time over a five-kilometer course. She was the state champion her sophomore year and was state runner-up as a freshman. She also runs track in the spring and is very active in the cross country team’s “Running Against MS,” an ongoing project to raise funds and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis. Head Coach Debbie Guilbeau stated that LaPorte has been an instrumental part of the program since her freshman year. “Kathleen is our No. 1 runner! She led us to the championship at region and at state. She is a selfless leader, both on and off the cross country course.”
Page 1 and 2: S T . P I U S X C A T H O L I C H I
Page 3 and 4: From the Alumni Association Preside
Page 5 and 6: George B. Maloof, legendary footbal
Page 7 and 8: “Schools are more than hall ways;
Page 9 and 10: program,” Samantha explains. The
Page 11 and 12: Alumni Association Events Summer Al
Page 13 and 14: 2nd Annual Career Forum A Success!
Page 15 and 16: The inaugural running of The Finish
Page 17 and 18: A Letter from Principal Spellman De
Page 19 and 20: St. Pius X 2009 - 2010 Annual Fund
Page 21 and 22: Don’t forget! Annual Fund FAQs: Y
Page 23 and 24: The Campaign Explained Why is there
Page 25: Alumni Join Our Faculty and Staff S
Page 29 and 30: The team’s next challenge would b
Page 31 and 32: Rekindling the Fire of Our Faith A
Page 33 and 34: Lion Lines. . . keeping up with alu
Page 35: In Memory of Elizabeth Messner “S

CElEbRAtiNG LEGAciES - St. Pius X Catholic High School

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