St. Peter's showcases advances in STREAM

Interested parents can call to schedule visit

What generations of St. Peter R.C. School students once knew as their cafeteria/rolling skating party room is now home to a library, tech hub, STREAM labs, a robotic playground … and a stack of academic trophies.

The next generation’s accomplishments – and the work of its teachers – were on display Tuesday, as the Lewiston elementary and middle school hosted a “Night of the Arts and Sciences.”

Current and future parents were treated to a program that included performances from the band, chorus and drama clubs; an art gallery; science experiments; and, of course, ice cream sundaes.

The goal was to further educate the public on St. Peter’s recent advancements in STREAM – or science, technology, religion, arts, engineering and math.

Among the highlights:

Science

“Our STREAM programs and our science programs have become huge,” librarian and website coordinator Elizabeth Coffey said. “Dr. (Robert) Campo is our middle school science teacher, but he also does something with all the grades from pre-K all the way through eighth grade, called ‘Dr. Science.’ And he goes into each classroom once a week and does a really intensive science lesson with them. It's really cool. He's also been heading our astronomy club this year.”

At the “Night of the Arts and Sciences,” Campo’s students worked with a Van de Graaff generator and with gas trapped in a liquid.

Dr. Robert Campo, aka “Dr. Science,” works with students on science experiments to display at the St. Peter R.C. School “Night of the Arts and Sciences” showcase event.

Dr. Mark Gaynor’s students work in the robotics playground.

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Technology/engineering

“Mr. (Mark) Gaynor, our technology director, he heads up our robotics club,” Coffey said.

“Mr. Gaynor took a team of kids that are in our robotics club to the Extreme Games this year, and we placed fourth (amongst Buffalo diocesan schools).

“The kids built the robots, the VEX robots, completely from scratch. And it's all the kids. He gives them the guidebook, and then they work on building it completely themselves.”

Coffey said, “One of the other big things that we've done the last few years is we have sent a team of middle schoolers – this year, it was all eighth graders – to the Future City Competition that goes on in Western New York. And so, essentially, what they have to do is they have to come up with a concept from scratch, and they have to do literally everything from planning to execution to creating the model. And the whole point is the city has to be entirely functional all on its own.”

Students built an aircraft carrier that doubled as a floating city. This project also took fourth place – but this time, students were competing against all Western New York middle schools.

Art/religion

“Our art teacher, Mrs. (Annie) Rychlik, has been working hard all year on different projects with the kiddos,” Coffey said. “A lot of the classes made their own rosaries, and so she has put those up. A lot of them have made their own statues of Mary.

She explained, “Through the Foundation of Catholic Schools, we applied for a grant award, and we were the winners of it this year. We received a $3,000 grant from them for the work that the art teacher did. She has focused in on a lot of the saints, like when there's been a specific day of a saint in the Catholic Church.”

Samples of writing and art were on display in the “gallery” hallway on Tuesday.

Moreover, “Our drama club has grown over the last few years. Third through eighth graders make up our cast, and fifth through eighth graders can do stage crew – and they help Mr. Gaynor, our technology director, with lighting, sound, smoke machines, strobe lights – all kinds of great stuff” on recent shows including “Moana JR.,” “Aladdin JR.” and “The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition.” “It's been really, really cool.”

“We have five directors: our pre-K multi-age teacher, Mrs. (Jennifer) Morello, is the main director; and then Miss (Melissa) Kuter, our pre-K-3 teacher, Mrs. (Susan) Meitus, pre-k multiage teacher aide; and myself are the assistant directors; and then Mr. Gaynor is our technology director, who does all the lights and sounds and all the really cool stuff,” Coffey said.

“Our drama club, the last two years, has had almost 50 students participating, between the stage crew and the cast.”

Music students, meanwhile, are working with noted Western New York artist and music teacher Ray Barry, and with Kim Mortise, an instrumental music instructor from the Paul Effman studios in Buffalo.

Take a tour

“What we're really looking at is if there's someone who is interested in seeing more, to call the school office and request a tour,” Coffey said. “We've been doing lots of tours over the last couple of months for prospective students. Our enrollment is an open enrollment most of the year, but we are looking at trying to get the word out to the community. We are, right now, in the height of enrollment for the fall.”

For more information, call 716-754-4470 or email office@stpeterrc.org.