Mother McAuley seniors Fiona Biondic and Moira Staudacher work on a project Jan. 23 during the school’s STEM week. (Photo by Kathleen Kelly/Mother McAuley)
Students at Mother McAuley Liberal High School will benefit next year from the school’s participation in Amazon’s Future Engineers program. The school is launching a new computer science course — AP Computer Science Principles — with the help of professional development provided by Amazon. Students in the class will receive cloud-based resources to help them prepare for the AP exam, and those who are successful in the class will be eligible for $10,000 college scholarships. Those same students can then qualify for an internship at Amazon during their freshman and sophomore years in college. “Resources and programs are essential to direct and foster girls’ interest in STEM.” said Eileen O’Reilly, principal of Mother McAuley. “Mother McAuley was founded on the premise of empowering women, and this exciting partnership with Amazon supports our efforts to help our students develop skills and talents that will benefit their own education and career aspirations, while narrowing the gap between the number of women and men in STEM professions.” O’Reilly said she believes that is one reason McAuley was chosen for the program. It’s too soon to say exactly how many students will take advantage of the program, but so far, the number of students expressing interest in either the AP Computer Science Principles class or the Computer Science Essentials class the school already offers is more than double the number of students who are taking computer science this year, said Kim Turnbull, who chairs McAuley’s science department. Turnbull and O’Reilly said the school has already been working on ways to encourage girls to consider careers in programming or engineering. The school participates in Girls Who Code and has a team building an autonomous model car already, and held a STEM week where students who are already involved in computer science introduced other students to some of the things they do. “We want to make sure girls have more opportunity to experience the collaborative side of computer science,” Turnbull said. “There’s a lot of collaboration, a lot of support, a lot of creativity that is needed.” Girls also need to try it to see whether it’s something they want to do, O’Reilly said. “The skill set is different than it is for other math or science classes,” she said. “So just because geometry isn’t your thing doesn’t mean you won’t like this.”
St. Bede School in Ingleside to close despite massive fundraising Father George Koeune, pastor of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish and St. Bede School in Ingleside, announced on March 21 that St. Bede School would close at the end of this school year because of low registration for next school year.
St. Frances of Rome School in Cicero to remain open St. Frances of Rome School in Cicero received welcome news March 6 when the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that the school, which was slated to close in June, would remain open.
Marian’s Sister Mary Jo using newfound fame to talk about God Before she was a sister, Sister Mary Jo Sobieck was an athlete. Sister Mary Jo, 50, started playing softball, basketball and volleyball in elementary school, and she was a three-sport athlete all through high school and her first two years of college. She dropped basketball for her final two years, but stuck with softball and volleyball.