What’s happened?
Last month was an important one for the Marquette Catholic High School community. Teachers and upperclassmen students went to a school-favorite event called Kairos. Kairos means “God’s time” or “the right or opportune moment.” It is a Christian retreat program for high schoolers to learn more about themselves and their peers and to become closer to God. The retreat was three days long, from April 20 to April 23, and when the participants returned they were greeted by the community with joy and open arms.
Before Kairos, the school musical “Newsies” opened on April 16. Though the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow for a live audience, that did not stop the cast from putting on an entertaining show. They filmed their entire performance and people bought tickets to view it online.
On April 30, Marquette also earned an endorsement from Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning.
What’s happening?
May has been and continues to be a very eventful and exciting month for Marquette. With just a few weeks left of school, anticipation is in the air.
Marquette had their annual Armageddon Games, which is a competition between grades. The grades compete in different activities for the title of The Best Class and Winner of Armageddon Games. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was not held last year since the event involves high-contact, hands-on activities. This year, though, the games were adapted to fit social distancing and other pandemic protocols. A few of the activities included kickball, relay races, volleyball, basketball, capture the flag, euchre, video games, and tug of war. The games were close, but in the end, the seniors were victorious.
Following Armageddon was the upperclassmen prom, which was on May 14 at the Barrelhouse at Zorn venue. The Monday after prom is the annual Marquette Mulligan, which is a fundraising golf event.
Though the 2020-21 school year is almost over, there are still a few more events left to excitedly close out the year, and these include finals week, honors day, and graduation.
Teacher spotlight
Edwin Shelton is not only the art teacher at Marquette, but is also undoubtedly the sweetest and most caring teacher in the school.
Shelton’s love for art began as a toddler when his grandmother taught him how to draw a horse. From there, art was an escape for him and even helped him when he was struggling in school as it functioned as extra credit.
“Creativity is the thing that can distinguish a person, not only in their careers, but also in their lives. For me it is a place that brings me great happiness, just being in my own world,” said Shelton.
This will be Shelton’s fifth year of teaching at Marquette and he could not be more excited. Before his time here, he worked part-time managing art summer camps and then had the position of a substitute teacher before starting his journey as an art teacher at most of the local middle schools.
Shelton heard about the job here at Marquette from his wife Laurel Izard who was in the position. He then asked her to retire so he could take her job.
Shelton was immediately thrilled by the Marquette community, especially the strong international program. In Shelton's first year, he traveled to China for four weeks to teach art at Zhangdian Experimental Middle school in Zibo, China. He was amazed at the children’s receptiveness to him and everyone’s generosity and kindness.
“It was the best experience of my life,” said Shelton. “I was in total heaven.”
Besides the international program, Shelton’s favorite part about Marquette is the Kairos retreat. He believes that having a safe place to practice expressing how you feel is extremely important, which is why he formed a young men’s group for the school as a way to extend the mission of Kairos.
Shelton’s most recent art show was at the St. Mary’s Art Building on May 7, and his next show is in January 2022 at the Box Factory For The Arts.
You can view Shelton’s art on his website, edwinpshelton.com.
Student spotlight
Lydia Lemmons is a freshman at Marquette who truly uses the art program at Marquette to her advantage.
She is currently a part of the art club at Marquette and is also enrolled in a high school art club at Lubeznik Center for the Arts.
“I love art because it allows me to express myself in a variety of creative ways,” said Lemmons.
Lemmons’ current favorite class is ceramics because she enjoys being able to not only have fun creating the pieces, but also use them in her future college portfolio. Her favorite part about the art department at Marquette is being able to try out different mediums and learning from Art Teacher Edwin Shelton in the process.
“He keeps class very exciting and you never really know what to expect,” said Lemmons. “He is particularly a good teacher during art club because he lets us experiment and do things we otherwise wouldn’t do in class.”
Lemmons recommends that everyone take at least one art class during their time at Marquette because it allows you to try something new and expand your creativity.
Her advice to incoming freshmen is to always put yourself out there, try to experience as many new things as possible that you normally would not try, and to stay open to new possibilities.
Lemmons’ favorite thing about Marquette is how close everyone is to each other and the community that she has found within the school. The Marquette art program has provided her with a safe place to grow, a supporting community, and new opportunities.