At the annual Kenny Awards nomination ceremony, the St. Mary’s High School Performing Arts Department finished the night with SEVEN total nominations for their performance of The Addams Family! What an impressive accomplishment for director and choreographer Heather Ruhland and musical director Ryan Kaminski. And the nominees are:
St. Mary’s High School – Best Musical
Dylan Gurnari ‘22 – Actor in a Lead Role
The Ancestors – Best Ensemble Performance
Isaac Stearns ‘20 – Blossom Cohan Award
Marten Linnan ‘21 – Actor in a Supporting Role
St. Mary’s High School – Outstanding Dance Performance
St. Mary’s High School – Outstanding Costume Design

We then took home two trophies (the first of many for St. Mary’s) for Best Costuming, and Marten Linnan ‘21 won for his supporting actor role as Lucas.

This year, five Lancers were inducted into the Lancaster Youth Bureau Hall of Fame. Sending our sincerest congratulations to Anya Achtyl ’19, Caitlin Bish ’19, Lauren Nawojski ’20, Brianna Propis ’19, and Jillian Szeluga ’20! Such a well-deserved honor.

Junior Jillian Szeluga also honored Russell Salvatore from Russell’s Steaks, Chops & More as one of the unsung heroes of the Lancaster community with an essay she wrote.

These Lancers join the ranks of other St. Mary’s alumni who have come before them and are also in the Hall of Fame: Andrew John Adolf, Stephanie Baran, Katie Bookmiller, Eric Brown, Mike Fattey, Jake Fay, Joe Falding, Alexandra Casillo, Lori Ceppaglia, Joelle Cianciosa, Kendra Ciezki, Daniel Cress, Chelsea Goldyn, Chris Horvatits, Susannah Kaye, Elizabeth Knittel, Megan Koscielniak, Eric Miller, Andre’a Muccigrosso, Chelsea Okon, Katie Bookmiller, Kristen Stoczynski, Erica Swannie, Emily Trepacz, Tom Trzepacz, Joe Trzepacz, Kaitlyn Tytka, Matthew J Walter, Andrew Wargo, Kristen Warner, Madeline Wnuk, and Mr. Pete Herr.

The Lancer First Responders (LFR) brought their program called “Every 15 Minutes” to St. Mary’s High School for the third consecutive year.  The program was the centerpiece of St. Mary’s Pre–Prom Assembly, which demonstrated the true dangers of drunk driving in the hopes to get students to think twice before getting into a similar situation on prom night.

Several St. Mary’s students participated in the drill and acted as the drunk driver, passengers in said car, passengers and the driver in another car involved in the accident, and friends/bystanders of the accident.

Local fire stations and EMT personnel were also on-hand to create the scene. Twin District Fire Company, South Line Fire District, Lancaster Police, and Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Corps helped really set the tone for the drill and brought a sense of realness to the scene. Mercy Flight also landed on the St. Mary’s football field to complete the scene, with one of the injured passengers being loaded into the helicopter.

The Pre–Prom Assembly has been a staple at St. Mary’s High School, but has grown in scope and scale as the Lancer First Responders club took over the assembly at the school three years ago.

Both the baseball and softball teams headed south for a week of spring training while on Spring Break.  The week offered some much-need sunshine and dry fields for the teams to really get some game action in before heading back home for the start of league play.

The softball team took on Walt Disney World and played their games at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. The team had quite the showing and went 7-0 and had two freshmen pitchers throw perfect games!

The Marian Chapter of the National Honor Society completed their year-long service project, which included organizing a school-wide clothing drive for the Response to Love Center. Members of NHS dropped off the clothes and spent the day volunteering in the center’s clothing storage room. Students were also fortunate enough to be taken on a tour of the center with Sr. Mary Johnice Rzadkiewicz CSSF, the head of the facility. The Response to Love Center focuses on the holistic treatment of poverty: loving care of the economically deprived, the spiritually poor, the emotionally battered, the isolated, the wounded and the broken.

A group of St. Mary’s students and chaperones spent Easter Break in several different European cities. One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass in Assisi. As a school that prides itself on the guiding principles of St. Francis, this was an experience of a lifetime for our students.

This group of students also checked out the sites in Florence and Rome.

There were also some very cool Lancer legacies along for this trip! Head of School Mr. Kelleher ’89 is pictured with his mom and fellow Lancer alum, JoAnn Kelleher ’63 (right), and longtime Social Studies teacher Mrs. Connelly ’71 and Dean of Student life & Enrollment Mrs. Drabik can be found enjoying some pizza on the streets of Italy with them as well (left)!

St. Mary’s National Honor Society participated in a Homeless Hangout, raising awareness and funds for those suffering from homelessness in the area. Students had to sleep inside the school with only limited access to food and just the clothes on their backs… and no cell phones… learning to experience just a fraction of what it means to be without. In total, our students raised nearly $500 for the Tri-Community Food Pantry in Lancaster.

In late March, the seniors took part in a walking tour of the Our Lady of Victory Basilica & National Shrine as well as the Father Baker Museum. After learning about Father Baker’s legacy and taking in the beautiful architecture and art of the Basilica, the Class of 2019 had an enjoyable afternoon lunch at Ilio DiPaolo’s Restaurant and Banquet Facility! Thank you, Deacon Robb and Mrs. Powers for setting up a great afternoon for the seniors!