Embedded Files
St. Joseph High School's Official Student-Produced Newspaper
Editor & Graphic Design: Brody Lilly,'23
Editorial Staff: Bezzie Yitnalem, '23, Katie White, '23 & Nick Sarno-Brown. '24
Advisor: Mrs. Schratz
Photo Credit: Knij'e Middlebrook, '25
SPRING 2023
Senior students Damian Moore and Joe Schratz assist Michael Pater in the tally of Joey Award winners.
Behind the scenes of St. Joseph Day
By Knij'e Middlebrook '25
St. Joseph Day is a time set aside for the students to celebrate our patron saint's feast day. The students and faculty step away from classes on the day closest to March 19; this year it was on March 16. The whole community celebrates Mass, teachers plan activities, and students coordinate the "Joey Awards", the superlative nominations that recognize students from each class.
Michael Pater '08 and Justine Spinelli '23 share their experiences with the new technology that they used to create better voting results for the Joey Awards on St. Joseph Day.
“I think that SJ day is our school's best tradition. It is something fun that everyone looks forward to no matter the type of student you are or what you are interested in. There is something for everyone,” said Spinelli.
This tradition has gone through many generations so it must be difficult to present it in a fresh way, but the senior class attacked this well.
“The planning was difficult, because there is so much to do, but it was definitely worth it,” said Spinelli. "To create the categories we took ideas from past years and changed them up so it would be different.”
To make improvements on the selection of the winner, teacher Michael Pater helped to advance the way voting was done to be more accurate.
“It was a student idea and a lot of people thought it was a great idea. It’s harder to determine the winner by just the loudness of the crowd,” explained Pater.
This was the first attempt to include live voting in the form of a Kahoot quiz for the winner of each award. Students used their iPads to vote for each category. While it was a positive move forward, there are still some issues to work out.
Pater continued, “I’d make sure to be able to fill more people in the Kahoot because we had 3 different ones and had to tally on the fly.’’
Our student body and staff worked together to make it special for everyone. Check out the video in the events section for more details of the day, using the button below.
“A lot of work goes into SJ day!” exclaimed Spinelli.
Photo Credit: Anne Schratz
St. Joseph students featured at the Alle-Kiski Art Consortium Annual Art Show
by Jesse Bernot '23
The Alle-Kiski Arts Consortium has been putting on an annual art show at Penn State New Kensington for years as a way to showcase local talent. Our school began participating back in 2014. The other schools that participate are Kiski, Valley, Highlands and Deer Lakes.
Kathleen Morrone teaches Intro to Art, Ceramics, and Drawing and Painting at Saint Joseph High School.
“I select the work that will be on display and I hang the show at Penn State New Kensington. The whole process takes about 6 hours,” said Morrone.
Many students and their families went to see the wide variety of art displayed throughout the month of March at PSNK.
“It was really nice getting to see everyone’s art and seeing my friends work from other schools,” Thomas Locke ‘26.
The student art show allows community members from all around the Alle-Kiski Valley to see different forms of art, and it gives the individual artists pride about their work.
“Doing art was something that came really easy to me, and I wanted create pieces that I could be proud of at the end of my high school career,” said Aurelia Tomayko ‘23.
SJHS Celebrates Catholic Schools Week
Students dress alike for twinning Thursday during CSW.
Catholic Schools Week includes spirit days for students
By Knij'e Middlebrook, '25
During Catholic Schools Week, a national celebration of parochial schools, SJ students participated in a variety of theme days in order to promote our school spirit.
Taking a break from uniforms is part of what makes Catholic Schools Week special. This year our dress down themes and acitivities were: monochromatic Monday, Mass day Tuesday (regular uniform), a speaker day Wednesday, twinning Thursday, and fun tie Friday.
“I thought the themes were ok,” says Haley Mitchell 26’. Mitchell continued, “ I wish they were more creative, like a pajama day.”
Inventive ideas could persuade more students to participate in Catholic Schools week dress down days, and build even more spirit.
“I would’ve liked the idea of more dress down days,” expressed Kasey Cienik 26’.
Taking a survey for the next Catholic Schools Week, involving more of the student body, could be beneficial in order to make the themes more enjoyable. This could be a chance to showcase our community and gain more input from the people who make it up.
Sam Kamon 26’ suggested, “Instead of a fun tie day it could be changed to a different type of dress down day, like political figures or celebrities.”
Fr. Joe Freedy shares a witness talk during CSW.
Local priest shares his journey with students during Catholic Schools Week
By Sophia Doyle, '25
Father Joe Freedy discussed his journey to priesthood with students during Catholic Schools Week to help humanize his role in the church.
Freedy is a local priest who was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. He attended Bethel Park High School and earned a scholarship to the University of Buffalo to play football. Throughout his college career Freedy found he had a connection to God, and he eventually joined the seminary in Pittsburgh.
During Catholic Schools Week, he visited St. Joe’s to discuss his own personal struggles and shared his unique journey to priesthood. Throughout his discussion, Freedy expressed his own challenges with anxiety and how that has affected his life. His willingness to be open about his personal struggles allowed him to relate to many of the students.
“I like that he talked about his anxiety and ADHD because I felt like I really related to that,” expressed Eva Bajko ‘23.
Many students found that it was easy to listen and connect with Father Freedy through his discussions about faith, sin, and his own journey.
“The way he talked as a speaker made it feel like he was someone you have known your whole life. He spoke very confidently and was able to be funny while discussing serious topics,” shared Sofia Quattrochi ‘25.
Throughout his talk, Freedy shared how he did not expect to join the priesthood, and discussed how he found his own connection to God. Freedy explained how he struggled with sin during college and shared advice to students who may deal with their own struggles and how to overcome them.
“Sometimes we go after false things in attempts to try and bring us happiness,” shared Freedy. “There is nothing you can do to make God stop loving you or to make him love you more.”
While recalling his journey to join the seminary, many students saw Freedy as being a humble man who struggled just like everyone else.
“I liked how he shared his journey to priesthood. It reminded us that he was just an average person who experienced life and struggles just like we do, and how he gradually became more faithful because of those struggles,” expressed Quattrochi.
She continued, “He walked us through the steps that led him to where he is, and I think that is something that helped a lot of students.”
Freedy not only shared advice about faith and sin, but also gave reminders about loving yourself, finding happiness, and relationships with others.
“All of the choices we make in our loves are for our own happiness,” shared Freedy. “We make our own history.”
Freedy’s experiences and discussion resonated with many students and helped them to feel more open and comfortable with struggles they face themselves. His journey allowed students to feel okay with themselves and to be confident in their faith.
“He was very relatable and funny and was open about problems that he has had and where he is at now, which I think helped a lot of students,” stated Bajko ‘23.
Juniors Jamie Noonan and Maggie Bernat add their change to the Penny War. All proceeds went to Chief McIntire's family.
Students remember fallen Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire with service projects
By Taylor Hunkele, '23
Catholic Schools Week took place from January 29 through February 4. This year during Catholics Schools Week, the sophomore class collected snacks for the Brackenridge Borough Police Department where fallen police chief Justin McIntire served. The sophomore’s service project for this school year was to support and thank the police officers for their service.
“Our class wrote cards and collected snacks to give to the police station in honor of Chief McIntire. I think that this was a great thing to do because it showed our purpose which was to show our support,” said sophomore Janna Bloch.
On a larger schoolwide scale, SJHS participated in penny wars. The penny wars are an all school event that is played by collecting pennies along with other coins. Each grade collected coins and put them into respective jugs each day. Students were encouraged to place dollar bills into opposing grades jugs to sabotage them. Each dollar bill counted as negative money, or points against that grade, whereas coins counted toward a positive score. The senior class became the champions of the penny wars.
After the fun competition, all the proceeds were donated to the family of Chief Justin McIntire.
Overall the students raised $274.08 for the family of fallen police chief Justin McIntire.
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