At St. John the Evangelist students in grade 6-8 are invited to join the Lourdes High School Chess Club on Tuesdays from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. beginning on the first Tuesday in November. These meetings will continue every Tuesday. At the meetings, students will be divided according to their skill level and receive instruction from an experienced chess coach and players. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in free scholastic chess tournaments at RCTC and compete against chess teams from other middle schools. Students play against other students of similar experience level.
Students interested in participating in Chess Club, please contact Mr. Langsdale at mlangsdale@rcsmn.org.
Lego Robotics is an outreach activity of IBM that invites students to become involved in the programming of Lego Robotics. Using “Mindstorms” software and kits, Lego Robotics helps to promote science, technology, engineering, teamwork, presentation skills, and math education in our school.
Students interested in participating In Lego Robotics, please contact Mrs. Powell at dpowell@rcsmn.org.
Math League is designed as an enrichment program for students in grades 6, 7, and 8. Topics for the five competitions throughout the year are predetermined and offer students opportunities to compete both individually and/ or as a team against other schools in the region and in the state. Math League is a friendly competition between area schools (St. John the Evangelist, St. Francis of Assisi School, RCLS, Byron, and Stewartville) and consist of five meets over the course of four months.
Students interested in participating in Math League, please contact Mrs. Smith at psmith@rcsmn.org.
Students in grades 6-8 celebrate their spelling skills by participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This competition begins at the homeroom level. The winner of each homeroom competition then goes on to compete in a school-wide Spelling Bee. The top three spellers from St. John the Evangelist/St. Pius X compete in the Rochester Catholic Schools Spelling Bee. Our RCS winners will then advance to the Regional Spelling Bee. Regional winners compete at the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
Students interested in participating in Spelling Bee, please contact Mrs. Colleen Streefland (System Coordinator) at cstreefland@rcsmn.org
In January/February, a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) Fair is held. Students in grades 2-8 are invited to create a project, and display it for viewing at our fair exhibit. The projects are then reviewed by volunteer judges and constructive feedback is given to the students. Students may have the option to enter their projects in more advanced competitions such as the Regional STEM Fair or the GATEway STEM Fair which is sponsored by the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented and Mayo Clinic.
Students interested in participating in the STEM Fair, please look for electronic communications in late fall or contact Mrs. Powell at dpowell@rcsmn.org. .
Student Council at the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist Middle School serves the school and the community by organizing and participating in service projects, planning activities to cultivate school spirit, and modeling positive values-based behavior. Students elected to the Student Council practice leadership, responsibility, and cooperation as they work to create a healthy and vibrant school environment where the democratic process and a commitment to productive collaboration are evident. Council members seek to model Christ as they witness their faith to others through their words and actions.
Students interested in participating in Student Council, please contact Mrs. Smith at psmith@rcsmn.org.
Technovation is a world wide technology and app development program for girls in middle school. Teams of girls in grades 6-8 identify a problem in the community, develop a mobile app solution, build a business plan to launch the app, and bring the business to market by pitching it to teams of judges throughout the world. We work with mentors from around the Rochester area to create materials and videos as well as coding a working mobile app.
Girls interested in participating in Technovation should contact: Mrs. Good jgood@rcsmn.org
