My annual disclaimers: I am not a professional writer.  I'm sure I missed a story or two; If I did, I am truly sorry... 

St. Albert 3^rd Grader, Presley Poor, organized and raised money for a birthday party for 40 children at Omaha’s Lydia House Shelter.

Congratulations to The Doll Family for winning the Freddie Falcon Award at the 2011 Auction! Graduates are: Tami (Van Sant), Liz (Rohling), Jay, Jeff, Mark & Scott.

The unbelievable response from the Field Crew on a moment's notice to the late August storm that tore thru Council Bluffs and destroyed parts of St. Albert.  Many of the volunteers had damage to their own cars and homes but came to St. Albert first to help so the kids could have school the next day.

In 2011, stalbertsportsfan.com set two records: Page Views at 1,040,000 and unique visitors at 187,000.  Thanks to all who help with this site from those who write and post, text, take and post pictures or many of our 'anonymous' fans who help feed us information. 

In March Saint Albert students took part in a speech contest sponsored by Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal financial services organization, which was held at the St. Albert Elementary.  The topic was, A Great American Invention. The winners were

• Jackson Dunning, first place
  
• Kyle Barnes, second place
  
• Clare Noethe, third place

Each of them received a trophy and a gold award pin, and their names will be engraved on the school's speech contest plaque. Gold award pins were also given to the next nine ranking finalists: Clara Genereux, Jackson Allmon, Jacey Martin, Michaela Beezley, Zach Rew, Christine Marar, Ellie Helton, Christian Baer, and Kileigh Cerny. All participants received certificates of participation for their hard work.

This fall St. Albert started a 11^th grade / 8^th grade mentoring program to help with the transition to high school.

The class of 2011 (23 boys & 23 girls) earned $300,000 in college scholarships!

In February prior to the Catholic Schools Week All-School Mass, John & Nancy Kilbride were inducted in the St. Albert Hall of Recognition!

Congratulations to Nate Romano who won Mr. SA 2011!

In May, Catie Faust was honored a the Noon Rotary Club for being an outstanding student & leader and Betty Foxhoven was honored for being an outstanding teacher.

13 students were inducted into the National Honor Society at the end of March.  They were: Sophomores Faye Assmann, Allison Cox, Felisa Cruz, Nathan Dunning, Julianne Johnson, Diana Kelly, Nicholas Rallis, Joshua Sindelar, Brendan Stephany, and Scott Theulen; Junior Ian Baer; and Honorary Members Seungho Baek and Paul You.

Paul You & Kevin Baek participated in the State History Day in Des Moines and presented their exhibit on the Korean alphabet.

The 7th grade Destination Imagination (DI) team placed 3rd out of 9 teams in Ames, IA, and earned a spot to the State Tournament in Ames on April 9th. The team members were Kasi Cox, Katelyn Otto, Emma Eickholt, and Liz Struyk.
Jeremy Kvigne, Fay Assmann, Allison Cox, Jamie Nelson, Brandon Clapper & Connor Strait competed in the Creighton University Physics Field Day in April.

Also in April, the following students competed in the South Dakota State University Engineering Expo: Conor Donegan, Jeremy Kvigne, Peter Jacobsen, Jake Lewis & Jamie Nelson.

Some of the ladies from the Class of 1968 donated new golf bags to the Saintes golf team in honor of their deceased classmate, Jonette Beaver-Wylie.

Congrats to the following students who competed in the Centennial Conference Honor Choir & Honor Band Festival: Pat Martin, Brendan Stephany, Laurie Cruz, Libby Mattingly & Tristan Carman.  Martin & Carman also showcased at the District Contest at Logan in April.

Congratulations to the 2011 Homecoming Court: Girls: Grace Pavlik, Katherine Miller, Karissa Herrington, Katie Herrington, Haley Scanlan, and Sydney Archer. Boys: Josh Cochran, JD Culjat, Macro Naughton, George Doll, Connor Thomas, and Matt Vermillion.

St. Albert Juniors & Seniors raised and donated $1,300 to the Micah House.

1985 graduate, Barbara Simon, is featured in the Omaha World Herald as the producer of the nationally syndicated show, Dr. Oz.

St. Albert began a March Madness raffle to go along with their fall Gridiron raffle.  Although the raffle was a little too complicated for participants, it was successful and many people won good money.

The Junior ‘Jokers’ won the Powder Puff Football Title over the Frosh 25-6.

Congratulations to the Saint Albert Elementary Destination Imagination teams who placed 3rd at the state competition! The two Saint Albert teams who competed were the 6th grade "DIguanas" and the third grade "Fire Girls." The DIguanas participated in the Triple Take Roadshow Challenge, and the Fire Girls participated in Verses.

Nancy Schalles was named the St. Albert Teacher of the Year.
 

The Saint Albert Elementary and Junior High held the 2nd annual Spelling Bee in the auditorium on Friday, April 15th. Grade level winners and the second place finishers from grades 3-8, who competed earlier in the week in their perspective grades, all participated in the Spelling Bee with former Saint Albert High School teacher Mr. Mike Gill as the pronouncer.  Below are the students who advanced from their grade to compete in the Spelling Bee. The grade level winners and the grade level runners up were:

• Grade 3 - Jason Mardesen and Sam Narmi
  
• Grade 4 - Zoe Trager and Christian Baker
  
• Grade 5 - Blake Rallis and Jackson Allmon
  
• Grade 6 - Trevor Rhedin and Emily Casson
  
• Grade 7 - Max Ross and Marc Johnson
  
• Grade 8 - Krisann Stephany and Matthew Weihs

All 12 students competed for the title of Saint Albert Overall Spelling Bee Champion. Everyone did really well and should proud of their efforts! 6th grader Trevor Rhedin and 7th grader Marc Johnson were the last two standing and it took several rounds before Marc Johnson was named the St. Albert Overall Spelling Bee Champion for the 2010-11 school year.

In March, 1992 St. Albert graduate, Shawn Kenney, broadcast the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on ESPN.  Then in the fall he began doing play by play for college football on ESPN.

Congratulations to the Junior High Math Counts team who placed 2nd at the regional competition. They placed 2nd out of 17 teams and received a 1st place finish for small school.   For the Junior High team, the team members were Jenna Cox, Lucas Luke, Tessa Punteney, and Krisann Stephany. Jenna, Tessa, and Krisann -  all placed in the top 10 individually as well.  Travis Miller was the alternate.  The team competed at Drake University on March 18th in the State Competition.  The Intermediate team competed well too! The team members were Nicole Hilderbrand, Christine Marar, Harriet Siegrist, Emily Casson, Ellie Helton, Joe Veit, Willian Hanafan, and Christian Baer.

Joe Nicholas (Dad to Andy (1995), Ben (1998) and Allison (2000)) won the 2011 stalbertsportsfan.com/St. Albert Alumni Association March Madness Tournament! Joe & Jake Waters (2010) were the only 2 out of 149 people to have the eventual champion, Connecticut.

Congratulations to Mary Lou McGinn who served as Grand Marshall of the 2011 Pride Day Parade in Council Bluffs. Mary Lou is known to all Saint Albert folks as the mother of several Saint Albert grads, all eight of her children, and the grandmother of current Saint Albert Sophomore John McGinn and Saint Albert Kindergartener Connor McGinn.  Mary Lou is currently a member of the St. Albert Ambassadors and her husband, Joe, is a former St. Albert Area Board President.

Mary Lou’s son, Dan (1979 graduate), was honored at the Qwest Center in March in front of a crowd over 1,000 people for his work with Project Harmony.  Dan was given the ‘Kids First Award’ for his Commitment & Distinguished Service to Children in the Omaha/Council Bluffs Community.  Later in the fall, Dan was named Mr. Habitat for Humanity!

Congratulations to the Saint Albert students whose work advanced to the state competition. Below is a list of state Catholic Daughter winners. First place winners at state will compete at Nationals this summer.

State Catholic Daughter Winners

• Victoria Kragskow -- 1st place Art, Division 2
  
• Ellie Helton -- 1st place Computer Art, Division 2
  
• Madison Dunning -- 1st place Poetry, Division 3
  
• Zoe Trager -- 3rd place Essay, Division 1
  
• Eric Assmann -- 3rd place Computer Art, Division 3

Saint Albert journalism students took home three awards at the annual University of Nebraska at Omaha High School Journalism Banquet. The newspaper and yearbook staff competed against 28 schools in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area.  Senior Noah Diaz and junior Katie Corzine received first place for their in-depth story about Facebook. The pair created a fictitious Facebook persona and "friended" most everyone in the school to demonstrate how easy it is for an outsider to infiltrate students' personal circles. This was the second consecutive year Diaz and Corzine won first prize in the in-depth category.  Sophomore Laurie Cruz captured third place for yearbook design for her work on the "Pep Rally" pages in the upcoming 2010-11 yearbook.

Congratulations to Jake Cool and Emily Prichard who were Saint Albert's 2011 Prom King and Queen! The 2011 Prom Court included: Tori Cushing, Alexa Graham, Becca Hilderbrand, Jacque Klein, Emily Prichard, Sarah Zajic, Kevin Bissell, Jake Cool, Brennan McNitt, Jordan Pettit, Nate Romano and Mickey Russell.

DaBrainiacs won the 1^st Annual World Mission Trip Team Trivia Contest.  Members were Lisa McChesney, Jo Lewis, Tim & Melanie Donegan, Mike & LuAnn Bissel and John & Diane Erixon.

2011 St. Albert 4^th Grade Invention Convention Winners: Keely Socha and Caitlyn Hanafan: Cup of Stuff; Hannah Mock and Maya Rose Lusk: Flashlight Shoe; Mary Milbrath: The Fun Kennel; Reegan Walford and Jayce Dales: Massage Slip-In; Alexis Otto: Desk Book Pack; Veronica Svajgl and Abby Barnes: Sleep Keeper.

Congrats to Maureen Snook & Haley Klusman who were named All-American Dancers at the National Dance Alliance Camp in July.  In addition, Maureen Snook was awarded the Excellence in Leadership baton, which is given to just one dancer in the entire camp.

Another successful St. Albert Alumni & Friends Golf Tournament was held in September.  This year’s proceeds will be going to the Tom Burke Memorial Scholarship.  The winner’s were Father Mike Berner, Randy, Chelsea & Bob Bissen at -14.

The Visioning Process that John McHale began a few years ago as Board Chairman that is now being instituted at St. Albert.

Another successful Houser Hustle was held in the fall.  The numbers were down a little bit this year, but with a great cause that the event goes for this event should be strong for years to come.

A great fall musical was held in October.  This year it was ‘Once Upon A Mattress’.  If you haven’t been to a fall musical, you need to get there this fall.

Dozens of St. Albert students & staff joined others from the community on July 1^st at The MAC to help fill sandbags for the St. Albert community.

Noah Diaz competed at the All-State Speech Contest in the Storytelling and Musical Theatre categories.

A great Auction costume party was held in late October at the Old Market Embassy Suites.