St. Thomas Hosts Fundraising Auction Saturday

The event is St. Thomas Academy's 48th annual.

Headmaster Mich to Retire After Decade at St. Thomas

St. Thomas Academy's headmaster, Thomas Mich, will retire at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

St. Thomas Academy announced last week that its headmaster, Dr. Thomas Mich, will be retiring at the end of the 2013-14 school year. Mich has worked in education for 48 years and as St. Thomas’ top executive since 2004. The Academy’s board has formed a headmaster search committee and a national search firm will assist in finding a replacement. St. Thomas has more in a press release: “Dr. Thomas Mich’s tenure places him in the revered ranks of the many outstanding leaders and visionaries who have built, strengthened and sustained Saint Thomas Academy for more than 125 years,” said Rick Anderson ’80, chair of the board of trustees. “From his first day as headmaster, Dr. Mich brought confident, statesman-like leadership to the Academy, and …

• Photos (1)

St Thomas Academy Hockey Team Completes the "Threepeat", defeating Hermantown for the State Championship

Thriller of a game completes a solid season for the Cadets

After two blowout victories in the quarter and semifinals of the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament, St Thomas Academy won the championship game Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center in thrilling fashion with a last minute goal, defeating the Hermantown Hawks 5 to 4.   Sophomore forward Tom Novak scored a power play goal with 6.1 seconds remaining to put the Cadets on top for good, and the team won it's third straight State Class A championship.  Matt Perry scored the first three Cadet goals for a hat trick, and Henry Hart scored to tie the score at 4 in the third period.  David Zevnik made 19 saves in goal for the Cadets. The Cadets trailed 4 to 2 after the second period and the comeback victory capped a great season for the …

• Photos (16)

Two St. Thomas Students Earn Perfect ACT Scores

Walker Lee and Connor Plunkett's perfect scores put them in the top tenth of a percent of test takers.

In 2012 more than 1.7 million students across the country took the ACT college entrance exam. Only 781 students—one-tenth of one percent—received a perfect score of 36 on the test. Two of those students, juniors Walker Lee of Saint Paul and Connor Plunkett of Minneapolis, hail from St. Thomas Academy, the school announced Friday. St. Thomas students traditionally score highly on the ACT. In 2012, the STA average composite score was 26.3, compared with a 22.9 average for Minnesota in 2011. Lee is an academic bowl competitor who helped St. Thomas team win the Junior ROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl tri-services crown. Plunkett is a cross country athlete at St. Thomas who has also won academic accolades including the school's Eagle Award. …

• Photos (3)

St. Thomas Student Reflects on Success after Choir Trip to Washington

The trip included personal guided tour of the White House from U.S. Rep. John Kline.

Editor's note: The Saint Thomas Academy Men’s Choir and the Convent of the Visitation Upper School Choir recently took a three-day trip to Washington, D.C. Below is an essay St. Thomas sophomore Nicholas Polaczyk wrote about the nature of success after returning from the trip. Over the years, many a person has searched for the meaning of success and its true definition.  I include myself in this mystery.  I have often run into the same answer from different places, like, “Work hard,” “Push yourself,” and, “You’re gonna have some late nights, kid.”  But none of these answers seemed to fit.  Even my own ideas didn’t make any sense, like being happy with a family, a dog, and a fat paycheck coming in twice a month.  But this doesn’t …

• Photos (6)

Air Force Flies St. Thomas Students to Grand Forks in Recruitment Campaign (PHOTOS)

Students from St. Thomas Academy took a ride in a C-130 on Tuesday as part of an Air Force recruitment campaign.

St. Thomas Academy students from the Honor Guard, rifle team, orienteering team and ranger challenge team were invited to fly on a C-130 on Tuesday, courtesy of the 133rd Airlift Wing at Ft. Snelling. The flight went to Grand Forks and back to the Twin Cities and was piloted by Major Nate Kazek, a St. Thomas alumnus. There was a short recruitment message for the Air Force.

• Photos (5)

Comedic Piggy Bank Video Wins St. Thomas Senior $1,500 from U.S. Bank

Lewie Kloster's YouTube video, "One Ice Cream Cone, Please," won him $1,500 and a chance to compete for an additional $3,000 in prize money. Kloster's video shows the trajectory of two teens—one feeds his piggy bank, one doesn't—and their diverging fates.

The following is a press release from U.S. Bank. A local high school student will be advancing to the finals of a national competition that celebrates financial education. U.S. Bank announced today that Lewie Kloster was selected as winner of the U.S. Bank Preliminary Round of the American Banking Association (ABA) Education Foundation’s “Lights, Camera, Save!” contest. As winner of the preliminary round, Kloster will receive a $1,500 check from U.S. Bank, and will continue as a national finalist in the ABA’s contest. The check presentation will take place at 4 p.m on Wednesday, February 6, at U.S. Bank’s Southdale branch located at 7001 France Ave. South in Edina, Minn. “U.S. Bank is proud to be a part of the ‘Lights, Camera, Save!’ …

•  1 Comment
• Videos (1)

Two St. Thomas Football Stars to Sign College Commitment Letters

Saint Thomas Academy seniors Danny McManus and Mack Marrin, both of Mendota Heights, will sign commitment letters on Wednesday to play college football. McManus will play for Dartmouth and Marrin for Drake University.

The following is a press release from St. Thomas Academy. McManus and Marrin will sign commitment letters during a cermony Wednesday morning at St. Thomas Academy. McManus: As a defensive back, McManus ended his senior season with 97 tackles, 16 tackles for a loss, 4 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries. Midway through the season, he began playing offense, and logged 373 rushing yards for 4 touchdowns, and 6 receptions for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns. In his senior year, he was named: All-Conference, KARE-11 Athlete of the Week and All-Metro Football Team, Pioneer Press Prep Athlete of the Week and Football Player of the Year, All-Pioneer Press Football Team, Star Tribune All-Metro Football Team, Classic Suburban Conference Defensive …

• Photos (1)

'Holy Crud, It is So Steep,' St. Thomas Academy Priest Says After Skating Crashed Ice

The Rev. Nels Gjengdahl skated the first couple peaks and valley of the Crashed Ice course last week, at the invitation of St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.

In the video, filmed by a St. Thomas Academy student on Jan. 24, the Rev. Nels Gjengdahl is perched about two thirds the way up the opening ramp of the Crashed Ice course. (St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman invited the theology teacher to skate a segment of the race.) He releases the railing reluctantly and skates down the ice track, dipping, rising, dipping, rising. Then he stumbles and backslides skates first, slowing as he reaches the parabola's vertex. As he comes to a stop, he turns his masked face toward the cameraman and sticks out his rigid gloves in an approximation of a thumbs up. The voice behind the camera asks Gjengdahl what was the hardest part. "The ice is uneven, it’s very choppy," he says. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Yeah, yeah…

• Photos (4)