On December 18, In-Game Host of the Pittsburgh Pirates and motivational speaker Joe Klimchak visited and shared insights during a student assembly in the John Paul II Center. 

Meeting a local celebrity can be exciting and somewhat intimidating, but Klimchak made everyone comfortable with his wide grin and even wider humility.

“Everybody starts out average,” he said.

Klimchak had a rough time in school as just an average student who struggled with getting bullied. Despite this, his dream job was becoming an MLB announcer. 

“I remember the first Pirate game I attended as a young boy,” said Klimchak. From that moment on, he became a lifelong Pirate fan doing what he could to get a job with the team. 

Klimchak shared that he was willing to take messy steps to reach his goal. 

“I had to have a level of doing that let nothing get in my way,” he said. “It isn't a choice, you just do it.” 

Leading up to his career he spent his time working in internships, radio stations, and announcing in different places. 

“Nobody likes setbacks or rejection. After two failed attempts, I wrote a third letter so that nothing was left to chance,” Klimchak said.

In Klimchak's early years he worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates as an backup stadium announcer.  While he waited to get behind the microphone, he took any job in the stadium such as a pierogi racer and a Pepsi button operator. Finally, he got his chance to announce and hasn't looked back.

Since then, he has been working as the Pittsburgh Pirates' stadium announcer and their In-Game host for 20 years now.  But it took a lot of preparation and patience on his part to make his dream come true.

Klimchak said, “Some practice until they get it right. Others practice until they can't get it wrong.”

On November 17, 2024, Saint Joseph High School celebrated their 110th Anniversary Mass. Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh and Bishop Larry J. Kulik of Greensburg along with many other priests concelebrated the Mass. Students in each class were involved in so many ways including lily bearing, altar serving, and singing among many others.

“The Mass was a wonderful experience and it was amazing to be a part of it,” said Sophia Ranalli ‘28.

Before the Mass began, students were greeting guests at the door. They were handing out worship aides so the guests and students could follow along during the Mass. The students greeting guests had to be social and kind because they were the face of the school.

“I liked how I was able to meet everyone and to make them feel welcome,” said Chloe Damico ‘27.

Singing was another big part of the Mass. Choir students practiced since the start of the school year for this Mass. They had practices after school and during school assemblies. The choir students were well prepared for the anniversary Mass.

“My favorite song was "Lift High the Cross" because it was the opening song of the Mass and the altar servers were carrying the cross and lifting it high when walking down the aisle,” said Ranalli.

Band students provided music at the Mass. They had to be on time and be a part of the singing. They have been practicing for this Mass for a couple of months with Mrs. Capone and their private teachers.

“I enjoyed performing and was happy to be involved with this event for our school,” said Reagan Aigner ‘28.

After the anniversary Mass ended, students were led outside to the statue of Saint Joseph. This statue is outside of the Science and Technology building, and the bishop blessed it with a special dedication ceremony. A handful of students were lily bearers. Their job was to walk lilies to the vases by the statue. It is a symbol of the legend that Saint Joseph’s staff grew lilies on it when he was chosen as a husband for Mary the Mother of Jesus.

“I thought it was uniquely amazing to watch as I’ve never been to a Mass that large. I felt like I was contributing something, even though it was small,” said Ava Humphrey ‘28.

The 110th Anniversary Mass was a wonderful experience for all of the students and guests. The students were able to bring their families and show how amazing Saint Joseph High School is. This Mass showed how much of a community SJHS is, and how special it is to have such a long history.

“My mom, dad, brother, grandparents, and two family friends were present at the 110th Anniversary Mass. They thought it was fantastic,” said Ranalli.

By Gabriella Carvens '28

On the weekend, students wake up and decide how they want to show individuality, by picking out what to wear. Students cannot dress how they want on school days, due to school uniforms, so they use the weekend to display their sense of style.

“I really like scrolling on Instagram and seeing how people dress outside of school. I feel like it gives me a sense of their personality, and shows how they express themselves,” said Marissa Heath ‘28.

Trends in style are constantly changing. For example, ripped jeans became popular in the late 1960’s. Ever since then, it has been an on and off  trend, but seems to be coming to an end.

Gabriella Palochik ‘25 said, “I prefer not to have ripped jeans because having no rips in them can offer several more practical and aesthetic benefits depending on your personal style and the context in which you’re wearing them.”

Although there are many popular trends that people enjoy, there are also ones that people would love to get rid of. 

“I would get rid of jorts because I think they look very weird, but also because I cannot rock them,” said Luca Schiano di Cola ‘25.

Another important consideration in style is shoes. A survey given to some students revealed that the average number of shoes high school students own ranges anywhere from 5 to 8 pairs. One shoe that is very popular and trendy right now for women and young girls is the Classic Ugg Mini II Boot.

Junior Haley Mitchell said, “My go-to shoes are my Ugg's because they're comfy.” 

This trend is popular with many girls for more than just comfortability and style, but for practicality too.

Palochik said, “My favorite shoe right now would be my Ugg's since it's cold.”

With the start of winter, and colder temperatures, students are also starting to wear hoodies or jackets, even inside of the classrooms. A big debate going on currently is whether jackets or hoodies are better. 

Camille Swink ‘28, said, “I like hoodies.  An oversized hoodie with baggy jeans is really cute.  I also think hoodies are more comfortable.”

Students grow and learn to find themselves in various ways throughout their lives, with fashion preferences being one of them.

Heath said, “Fashion is something that changes very often. And while some trends stay longer than others, it is always nice to see how people use clothes to show their creativity and individuality.”

By Sophia Ranalli '28

School has been around for centuries, but it is only in recent years that it co-exists with technology. If you walk into a classroom, you can see students and even teachers on their iPads, laptops, and aquos boards. This could be viewed as a distressing sight, because it can appear as if no one is paying attention to the teacher, but it can, in fact, be beneficial. 

One of the greatest benefits about technology and its new way of interacting in the classroom is that students and teachers can have all books, audios, messages, and videos at their fingertips. These can be really helpful for students when it comes to researching, because before technology made a great development in the world, people had to find the exact books that they needed and they had to find pages on their own and copy off of the text in the book by themselves. Now those tiring days are over, and students are able to finish assignments very quickly due to being able to look up anything they want at any time.

There are some problems with technology being so easily accessible now.  For example, artificial intelligence, or AI, has entered the classroom as well, and although it seems like a really good thing, it can in fact be really negative. Students can use AI to do assignments for them, and they don’t put any effort into the project, and as a result they don’t get the chance to learn from doing the homework. And it can be difficult for teachers to tell if the student used AI or not. Some parts of AI could be negative to a student, and they could get incorrect results from the resource and not even know about it. AI is not always going to be 100% accurate, although it’s programmed to be, although it may be hard to see, because of how fast it’s developing, AI is still learning and doesn't know the answers to everything just yet. So when students look up things using AI, they expect the answers to be correct, but they can possibly be completely wrong. 

However, there are some benefits to the AI in the classroom. For example, it can help tutor students in ways that teachers aren't able to. Like, if a student needs to answer a question about a book character, the AI can pretend to be that character and the student can simply ask them the question; the AI can then answer efficiently and with character-accuracy. Another example would be that the AI can personalize student learning by analyzing student performance data and this can be the best way to help students who need extra help. 

Overall, technology can be both an extremely helpful and negative tool in the classroom. It’s very important to notice both the negatives and positives when it comes to deciding if certain technology and assistance should be banned from schools. Personally, I think that instead of banning specific technology from schools, it would be better if they could monitor it and see if the way that students and even teachers are using it is a healthy and beneficial way.

By Staff Writers

On Tues., Nov. 26 Theology classes welcomed 3 Franciscan Sisters from Toronto, Ohio for the day.  Students listened to their vocations stories and asked questions about their way of life.  The following is a list of quotes our staff writers recorded from the visit:

"God has a plan for our good-our greatest good." -Sr. Mary Gemma

"Try the religious life out.  If doors start closing left and right all around you, then you know it's not for you.  Keep your possibilities open." -Sr. Emma Ruth

"Jesus wants to be the love of our lives." -Sr. Emmanuelle

"God lets you choose your path in life, but He prepares the way."-Sr. Mary Gemma

"This is what YES feels like." -Sr. Emma Ruth

"We get the opportunity to embrace a new name as a sister." -Sr. Mary Gemma

"Everyone has a vocation that's a call from God." -Sr. Emma Ruth

"Pay attention to your desires and gifts because God has placed you there for a reason." -Sr. Emmanuelle