shops to keep warm,

maybe even spend the

day wandering the Al-

bright-Knox or the

Burchfield Penny art

galleries. Throughout

the winter, tours of

Buffalo neighbor-

hoods, like the historic

Allentown are offered.

These tours are far

from boring affairs,

and usually include a

multitude of interest-

ing stories and anec-

dotes about one of

Buffalo’s most eclectic

areas. The winter is

also the best time to

catch a concert at one

of the great indoor

venues Buffalo has to

offer. Smaller scale

concert halls like the

Town Ballroom and

the Tralf offer a more

intimate concert set-

ting and they have

concerts nearly every

week. If one wants to

venture outside into

the cold, there are

plenty of skiing oppor-

tunities. Even the Buf-

falo Zoo is open for

When it is winter in

Buffalo, the simple

act of getting out of

your house can be-

come a stressful and

tiring adventure. How

can you traipse about

town when it takes

twenty minutes and

two shovels to get of

your driveway? The

key to enjoying Buf-

falo in the winter is

flexibility and a good

sense of humor. If

you’re looking for the

perfect snowy Buffalo

afternoon, bundle up

and hit the Elmwood

Village. Not only is it

the perfect place to

buy quirky and

unique gifts, you can

stop in the many res-

taurants and coffee

business during the

winter, offering a rare

chance to see the zoo

without its usual

crowds. To me, the

thrill of Buffalo in win-

ter is the feeling you

get when you step

outside into our grand

snow-covered city and

nothing looks the

same. For a couple of

months, it’s like we

get a whole new town

to explore and wander

through. In the snow

drifts, even a walk

through Delaware Park

becomes a trek into a

winter wonderland.

The key to enjoying

your winter is to not

complain about the

weather, and the cold

and the bad roads, but

to stop and smell the

roses, or in our case,

the snow banks. Take

some

time to

enjoy all

the

things

Buffalo has to offer in

the winter.

Around Buffalo: Winter Wonders

By: Karly Buntich 2011

Editor:

Karly Buntich

&

Victoria Dedloff

Junior Editor:

Lee Haggerty

Moderator:

Miss Nuttle

Merciette

Inside this issue:

Senior Trip 2

Kissmas Bash 2

Student Gov’t Corner 3

Harry Potter Review 3

Holiday Shopping 4

Willy Wonka 4

Student Spotlight 5

MMA Basketball 5

Class Perspectives 6

Picture Page 7

November/ December 2010

The Voice of Mercy

This past No-

vember Mount Mercy’s

senior class boarded a bus and traveled to the

Big Apple, New York

City. Many of the girls could not wait to get to

the city. There was an

exciting trip ahead of them.

The trip to New

York City was very

planned out, which worked out well be-

cause the seniors were

able to see many sights and participate in many

activities. On the first

day, the seniors had a guided tour on the bus

around the lower half of

the city. The girls were

able to see the sights of

Greenwich Village, Ground Zero, and Wall

Street. Later that day

many shopped in SoHo. Then that night the girls

ate at Dallas BBQ res-

taurant in Times Square, and after they

shopped and saw the

sights in Times Square.

The seniors also at-tended the play Wicked

which was an excellent

play. The second day the seniors were able to

shop on Fifth Avenue

and the Rockefeller Center. Later that night

the girls ate at Planet

Hollywood and went to

“The Top of the Rock”,

which is the top of the Rockefeller Center. It

was possible to see the

entire city and all of the beautiful lights.

On the last day,

the girls were able to tour NBC Studios and

got to see the set of

Saturday Night Live.

Overall the experience was amazing, filled with

many beautiful sights

and fun activities. Eve-ryone had a great and

memorable time.

Girls”, “Dynamite”, “Bad Romance”, and “DJ Got Us

Fallin’ in Love”.

Next up was Neon Trees from Provo, Utah.

They played a total of four

songs including “1983”, “Wish list”, “Sins of My

Youth”, and “Animal”. All

of their songs had the

crowd dancing and jump-ing around. You could defi-

nitely tell that the crowd

was enjoying the show.

Kevin Rudolf origi-

nates from Miami, Florida

and really got the audience dancing. One of Kevin’s’

previous performances was

at “Kiss the Summer Hello” also sponsored by Kiss

98.5. He played all of his

hit songs including “I Made It”, “Welcome to the

World”, “In the City” and

“Let It Rock”. He sup-

ported his friend, rapper Lil Wayne by covering “A

Milli”. The crowd went

insane when he played

“All I Do Is Win” originally sung by DJ Khaled.

The next act was

Miranda Cosgrove who is the star on the hit T.V.

show “ICarly”. She played

a total of five songs in-cluding “About You Now”

and “Kissin U” which had

the crowd singing along

with her. Her songs “Disgusting”,

“Shakespeare”, and “Bam”

also had the arena excited.

Anticipation grew

as the crowd waited for

the top act, Maroon 5 to come on. The fans sang

along to every one of their

songs including “Misery”, “If I Never See Your Face”,

“Give A Little More” “She

Will Be Loved” and eight others. Once again Kiss

98.5 brought us a great

show!

The most antici-

pated concert of the

winter season has come and gone. On December

4th, five great artists

rocked the stage at HSBC Arena.

Starting off the

show was pop singer Charice from the Philip-

pines. She was discov-

ered on Youtube and was

noted by Oprah as the most talented girl in the

world. Some of you may

know Charice as “Sunshine” on the T.V.

series

“Glee”. She performed

her hit

“Pyramid” along with

“Jingle Bell

Rock” and a medley of

popular

songs includ-

ing “California

Page 2 Merciette

Defying Gravity!

Students at

Breakfast with Santa!

Merry Kissmas Bash!

By: Bethany Clancy 2014

The Seniors Visit The Big Apple By: Victoria Dedloff 2011

“Anticipat

ion grew

as the

crowd

waited

for the

top act,

Maroon 5

to come

on.”

“Happy Friday!”

was the greeting MMA stu-dents received as they

entered school a few Fri-

days ago. The activity was set up by Student Govern-

ment and achieved exactly

what officers intended it to, surprise students, liven

things up, break up the monotony of going to

school each day. Who

doesn’t love a piece of candy in the morning on a

Friday? The feedback from the act was great and

kicked off what Student

Government hopes to do a lot more often throughout

the year. “Happy Friday”

was the first of many “blender” events that Stu-

dent Government plans to do every once in a while

when students least expect

it.

SG also held the

first ever MMA Town Hall meeting, with an over-

whelming turnout. All the

desks in room 6 were filled on a Monday afternoon as

an open forum allowed all students to express what

they thought of school

spirit. A questionnaire was filled out by everyone at

the meeting so the SG

officers have written thoughts by students on

the current status of

school spirit. Mrs. Staszak also stopped into the

meeting and students were

allowed to ask her any questions they had on

school spirit, in particular

dances and Spirit week procedures. Overall, the

SG officers found the event to be extremely suc-

cessful and another Town

Hall meeting is in the works. The purpose of the

Town Hall meeting was to get feedback from YOU,

the students at Mercy, so

that we can take your feedback, ideas and con-

cerns and work as a Stu-

dent Government to put those ideas into action.

And finally: Spirit Week. Although the week

full of spirit is still a few

weeks away, Spirit Week takes months of prepara-

tion to plan. SG is begin-ning to plan Spirit Week

’11 in the upcoming weeks

and is looking for your help. Feedback from the

Town Hall meeting in-cluded possibly having a

student committee help

plan certain aspects of Spirit Week, other than the

SG officers. A Town Hall

meeting may also be held to get general student

feedback in regards to

Spirit Week specifically. Be on the look out for

some new changes in

Spirit Week this year, es-pecially aimed towards

SCHOOL spirit, not just

class spirit.

All other Student

Government committees are functioning quite well.

Special thanks to the

chairs of each committee for holding meetings and

getting all the behind the scenes work completed.

Special thanks to Student

Government moderators Ms. Barblock and Ms. Leo-

nard for their efforts in all

SG activities, including moderating all committee

meetings.

In a final note, SG

hopes you all are enjoying

the events we have planned. As mentioned,

our main goal for the year is to improve school spirit.

We’ve begun to do this

through “Happy Friday” and the Town Hall meet-

ings, however, we are AL-WAYS looking for more

suggestions. Please don’t

hesitate to drop a sugges-tion in our mailbox on the

3rd floor or stop us in the

hallway to mention any ideas you have!

fan favorites such as

Dan Radcliffe, Emma

Watson and Rupert Grint. It focuses on the

trio’s journey to hunt

down Voldemort and his Horcruxes, which

are parts of his soul

hidden in random ob-jects. People who have

grown up with the nov-

els will appreciate the

accuracy of this movie. Even people

who have not closely

Part One of Harry Pot-

ter and the Deathly

Hallows has captivated people of all ages who

went the past few

weeks to view the first part of the end of the

Harry Potter saga. This

action-packed thriller closely followed the

events of the book,

written by J.K. Rowl-

ing. All of the previ-ously seen English ac-

tors returned, including

followed the series will

be able to appreciate

the movie with its twists and turns.

The three stars

will be back on July 15th, 2011 to conclude

the series with Part 2 of

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Page 3 Merciette Nov/

Dec 2010

On Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows By: Megan Sheehan and Lee Haggerty 2013

Student Government Corner: Happy Fridays

and Town Halls By: Bridget Jackson 2011

“Be on the

look out for

some new

changes in

Spirit Week

this year,

especially

aimed towards

SCHOOL spirit,

not just class

spirit.”

Harry Potter Stars on Set

AP Scholars

As the gift-giving season of

Christmas quickly ap-

proaches, many students are going to face the struggle of

buying presents for everyone

on their list. We have com-piled a few ideas for how to

reduce the cost and the

stress of finding the perfect present for anyone and eve-

ryone.

Make your own

presents. Parents and grandparents often appreci-

ate homemade gifts that

take much more time and effort than store bought gifts

that only require money. If

you have extra time in art class, after school in art club,

or during advisement or a

study hall, you can make something cute like

“coupons” for free hugs or

complimentary chores. An-

friends almost every day, it has

also placed a great amount of pressure for us teenagers.

When joining, most students

must juggle their school work, a job, a sport, or other activi-

ties they have committed to;

for some, all of these were too much to handle and there have

been times when students have gotten quite stressed out. How-

ever, the directors are also

there to guide us in our every-day life; if needed, they will

open up a classroom and let students do their homework or

give you advice on problems.

The cast and the crew have very different roles to be

played in ensuring the musical

is smoothly performed. After two months, cast members are

tired of singing the same songs, dancing the same

moves, and acting the same

words every single day. Unlike these actors and actresses,

crew members always have something interesting and new

to do each and every day,

whether it be painting a new

This school year, Bishop

Timon St. Jude High School and Mount Mercy

Academy have chosen

“Willy Wonka” for their annual musical in the fall.

Directed by Bob Maggio

and Jerry Kegler, with ad-ditional alumnae volun-

teers, they have made these wonderful perform-

ances filled with fun, ex-

citement, and special ef-fects. With much prepara-

tion, practices and meet-ings started in the second

week of school and have

continued three hours a day, four times a week, for

the next two months.

Along with being able to experience this with your

peers, Drama Club has taught us how to be unsel-

fish, to work as a team, to

be responsible, and to just have fun as long as work

is being done on time. Although Drama

Club presents all these

qualities and you see your

scene, constructing new

props, or making videos. How-ever, both are each credited

50/50 in making it a wonderful

musical; their roles are only combined in the tech week in

which they perform dress re-

hearsals. The directors are open to the input of the cast

and crew to make the musical better, so it really is the stu-

dents putting on the show.

During tech week, Bishop Timon was our home;

we stayed there every night from 6:30 till 11:00. Even

though we were exhausted

and drained, tech week still continues to be one of the

most enjoyable weeks of the

club. It is a time when every-one who joined becomes your

second family; you go through the same hardships together

and they are the people you

turn to. Even when the musi-cal is over, we still remain

connected with each other and maintain the relationship of a

family.

Willy Wonka and The Crew By: Evania Santiano 2013

Students make

Cupcakes for

Catherine!

MMA Merciette

November December 2010

Holiday Shopping Advice

By: Erin Bender and Lee Haggerty 2013

other easy thing to make is a

photo album of your family us-

ing pictures that might still be on your computer or just laying

around your house. Making

your own presents not only

saves you money, but also shows that you care about the

person you are giving your gift

to.

Shop smart. Inevita-

bly, you will have to brave the

crowds at the malls and stores to find some holiday

gifts. Many stores at this time

of year will have sales or re-duced prices. If what you are

looking for is easy to find, save

yourself time and money by

pricing out different stores and knowing exactly what you are

looking for. Although you might

be tempted to go for something big, sometimes smaller is bet-

ter. Go for something that

represents a funny time or an in-

side joke; it will be more meaning-

ful. Don’t waste money on gift-wrapping or bags. Instead, go

green and use old newspapers.

Give food instead of

gifts. When someone hosts a party, usually guests will bring a

thank-you gift. Instead of going to

the store and buying something expensive, bake a batch of brown-

ies or cookies so everyone can en-

joy the gift. The host will probably appreciate not having to make

dessert, and who doesn’t like free

brownies or cookies?

Buying presents during the

holiday season doesn’t have to be

stressful. If you follow these tips

and use some creativity, you will have no problem finding the per-

fect gifts for everyone on your list.

This

month’s

Student

Spotlight focuses

on a dedi-

cated

Student Government representative, a

skilled photographer

and formidable oppo-

nent on the Varsity soccer team, junior

Lulu Helliwell. The

interviewer would like

to note from the start

that the pictures of Lulu featured in the

new Mount Mercy

video are a pretty

realistic portrayal. It might be hard to

imagine that students

do this, but Lulu ac-

tually does smile and greet people she

knows in the hallway,

always looking like

she’s genuinely en-thusiastic. In class,

she is constantly in-

volved in discussions,

and brings a lot of

interesting and well-

thought ideas to the

table, ideas that also

spur fierce debates among everyone,

which the interviewer

really enjoys and ap-

preciates. As far as school activities go,

Lulu is a student gov-

ernment representa-

tive and a student ambassador, so she

plays a big role in

representing Mercy

and portraying it as

the positive and bright environment it

is. Lulu is also a

member of Mercy

Speaks, a club run by Mrs. Penepent that is

geared to spread the

good works of Mercy

in the surrounding community. As the

list of activities and

involvement continue

(soccer team, Ora-tory and Debate,

Mercy Charism and

Peer Ministers), the

interviewer begins to

feel like a bit of an

underachiever. Lulu

is also an accom-

plished photographer whose work hangs in

the art room, al-

though she says she

loves art of all kinds. Her self-confessed

dream school is Cor-

nell, and she wants

to major in psychol-ogy, media or archi-

tecture. Somehow,

the interviewer thinks

that if anyone could

pull off a triple major from Cornell Univer-

sity, it would be Lulu.

In the end, all joking

aside, it is wonderful that people like this

exist at Mercy, peo-

ple who try to be in-

volved and help the school, whether

they’re on student

government or Mercy

Speaks, or just the person that smiles at

people in the hall. In

Lulu’s case, she is all

three.

Dorazio. The new

coach works very well

with the returning

coach, John Glose and

together they are unify-

ing the Varsity team.

John Glose also serves

as the JV coach and has

done a great job intro-

ducing the many fresh-

men to high school bas-

ketball in unison with

the returning players.

On November 8th, many

Mount Mercy girls

showed up after school

to try-out for the Mercy

basketball team. There

was a great turn out

and there is now a Var-

sity, Junior Varsity, and

Freshman team.

The biggest

change for MMA bas-

ketball is the new Var-

sity head coach, Jackie

With all teams

being very young, there

is great promise and

potential for the up-

coming season. The

first home game is

scheduled for January

7th against Holy Angels.

The teams hope to

have a big turnout from

the Spirit Club and all

other supportive stu-

dents.

Page 5 Merciette Nov/Dec 2010

MMA Basketba l l ! B y: M ar is s a S ta c k a nd Meg an S hee ha n 2 0 13

Student Spot light on: Lulu Hel l iwel l B y : Ka r l y B un t i c h 2 0 1 1

“Lulu plays a

big role in

representing

Mercy and

portraying it as

the positive

and bright

environment it

is.”

Fundraising is

essential for Mount

Mercy to function, something the fresh-

men are well aware of.

This understanding helped them to earn

second place this year

in selling magic money tickets. The magic

money tickets cost

more than what most

girls are used to, which has received both good

and bad criticism.

Some like the higher costs because it

means fewer tickets to

sell, while others find it

difficult to find buyers

who are willing to pay the higher cost. Several

students used to sell

items from catalogues, which they believed

contained things no one

wanted to buy and they liked selling the tickets

better. Many liked the

extra vacation day as a

reward for selling the tickets. Others were

forced to buy unsold

tickets in their previous schools, and prefer the

reward for reaching the

school’s goal.

The Magic

Money fundraiser was a way for us to partner

with our family and

friends to raise money for the school. With the

rising costs of educa-

tion, it is vital for Mount Mercy students and

families to assist with

fundraising which in

turn also provides a widened public aware-

ness of the importance

of a high school educa-tion at our school.

fundraising. Everyone

understands that the Magic Money fundraiser

is important, and most

give their best effort to sell the five tickets they

are allotted. However,

some of my close family and friends turned

down tickets because of

the price. In today’s

economy, it is a lot to ask someone to spend

twenty five dollars on a

raffle ticket. Tickets were much harder to

The seniors held a large

lead in the race to sell Magic Money tickets for

this year’s fundraiser.

To be fair, however, we had an incentive, as we

could not receive one of

our senior privileges until we sold our five

tickets. This little incen-

tive certainly gave the

senior class a little more determination in

selling the tickets, as

we are never exactly over-enthusiastic about

sell

because of this, and because I

realize the importance of the fundraiser, I think steps

should most definitely be

taken to find a solution. A more feasible option may be

to have us sell more tickets,

for a cheaper price. Selling ten tickets for five dollars

each is much easier than sell-

ing five for twenty five each.

Whatever the solution ends up being, this problem should

definitely be looked into, be-

cause it is too important not to.

ryone and the school.

Some people don’t

think it is important though. In our school,

when we are fundrais-

ing, it is for different events like the McAuley

Gala. Also, the tuition

could be more expen-sive if we did not fund-

raise. Many people

want to help the school

because it helps keep

the tuition low and it

enables students to go on field trips or other

events. Are you going

to help fundraise this school year?

Schools all over the

world use fundraising.

Fundraising is used to help schools raise

money. If Mount Mercy

Academy raises money, it is usually for some-

thing like a fieldtrip or

cause. People will sell candy bars, books etc.

through the school.

Fundraising helps eve-

Page 6

Fundraising provides vital

resources for the school

Vita l To Our School By: Lisa Panek 2 013

The Incentives ! By: Karly Bunt ich 2011

The Right Ticket By: Isabel la Spann 2 014

“Also

provides a widened

public

awareness

of the

importance

of a high

school

education at

our school.”

Students enjoy a field

trip to Mercy Flight

Student Perspectives: Fundraising at MMA

Picture Page! Page 7

Student Field Trip to Mercy Flight

Volleyball Athlete! Catherine Kasianowicz

New Peer Ministers

Freshmen enjoy the Honors Assembly

Freshmen Officers Leah Rennie and Amelia Greenan

Wishing you a Merry Christmas

and Happy Holidays!

~ the Merciette Staff