Student Standouts for May 20

Student Standouts: Abernathy ’26, Davies ’26, Elvin ’28, Doorstep Donations, Mock Trial, Varsity Boys & Girls Lacrosse, Varsity Boys & Girls Track & Field, and Varsity Girls Soccer

Congratulations to this week’s standouts below. Way to go #RamNation! And as always, if you have a story to share, please email weeklynews@micds.org.

Ram Earns MVP Designation for Lacrosse

Jaxon Abernathy ’26 is the Missouri State Lacrosse Association (MSLA) Jr. League Championship MVP after a dominating six-goal performance in the team’s 15-4 win over CCP on Saturday. Way to go, Jaxon!

Middle School Ram Receives Highest Designation in NCTE Promising Young Writers Program

Eighth-grader Robyn Davies ’26 entered the 2022 National Council of Teachers of English Promising Young Writers Program and received the highest designation, the Certificate of Recognition. According to NCTE, « National judges evaluated each piece of writing holistically on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style. This year, schools nominated 116 students to participate in the Promising Young Writers Program. Of those, 66 received Certificates of Recognition. »

Robyn said, « I was so excited to be submitting my work to the awards, and Mr. Darrett Thompson, Middle School English Teacher, was so supportive along the way. I’m beyond grateful for the thoughts and advice he gave on both my short story and sonnet collection; I couldn’t have done it without him. »

Sixth Grader Writes to Second Place in National Contest

Congratulations to Bruce Elvin ’28 for being the 1st runner-up/2nd place winner in a national writing contest held by the MacMillan Children’s Publishing Group. His essay, Old Carl’s Final Wish, was selected by unanimous vote as a runner-up for the Northwind Storytelling contest. Bruce will participate in a writing workshop with editor Wesley Adams who works with Gary Paulsen and edits at Ferrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers.

For the essay prompt, Bruce had to read an unfinished story where the author passed away prior to completing the story. Bruce was tasked with finishing the story.

Prompt: Write a short story inspired by Gary Paulsen’s final masterpiece and enter for a chance to see your story published, participate in a writing workshop, and win a gift card!

Bruce said, « I like this award because free writing is very fun to me because there is so much freedom to explore the characters. It was fun to read the book and then think about scenarios that the protagonist may experience. » He also gave a big shoutout to Kathleen Armstrong, Middle School Language Arts Teacher, for guiding him through the submission process. « I asked Mrs. Armstrong for help because she is my favorite teacher and her class was a lot of fun for me, » he said. « She helped me think more creatively about the story and I really enjoyed talking about scenarios with her because she has a dry sense of humor and always cracks me up. Mrs. Armstrong is a great teacher and helped my writing improve a lot, and I am very thankful she helped me. »

Way to go, Bruce!

Doorstep Donations Finishes the Year Strong

Written by Zoe Zlatic ’24

The Doorstep Donations program has been at MICDS for two years. Through this program, donor families in the MICDS community purchase small amounts of food from the store, which are then delivered by student drivers to our partner food pantry, the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. Erica Steen, director of the food pantry, says that this year, “MICDS families have continued to donate approximately two pallets of food every eight weeks which allows us to feed 200 individuals.” Thanks to our MICDS donor families and student drivers, MICDS has been able to make a significant impact on food insecurity in and around the St. Louis area!

Looking to next year, the Doorstep Donations chapter will continue to run at MICDS. We are always looking for new donor families and student drivers, so if you are interested in joining our efforts, please be on the lookout for information and links to sign up early next school year. We will also continue working with the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. Steen says that they are “grateful to the MICDS community and are thrilled to continue this valuable partnership” next year.

We are looking forward to another year of combating food insecurity through service and collaboration!

Objection! The Season is Over

Written by Aanya Tiwari ’23

From January through March, 16 Upper School students competed in Missouri High School Mock Trial Competition, hosted by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. Dedicating six hours per week or more, the teams worked tirelessly to get justice at the Clayton Courthouse.

The preliminary trials were held over Zoom while the Regional rounds were held in person. In preparation for these trials, the teams worked hard and smart to learn and embody their assigned roles as lawyers and witnesses. This involved work such as carefully crafting a series of questions, actively practicing objections and responses with the usage of federal and local rules, drafting scripts for opening and closing statements, building character and credibility for the witnesses, comprehending the impeachment process, rehearsing statements religiously, practicing public speaking whenever possible, and so much more! Throughout this process, the teams were constantly driven by the support, encouragement, and assistance of their selfless coaches. Namely, Upper School History Teachers and Mock Trial Coaches Dr. Tanya Roth and Mr. Jason Asher served as the backbone of the program. Along with their guidance, the teams were coached by Rebecca Nickelson, a polished attorney of Sinars Slowikowski Tomaska who has been coaching the MICDS team for over two decades.

Proudly, MICDS finished strong and made it all the way up to the State competition. This is certainly commendable considering how the teams comprised a mixture of new and returning members. As a whole, the Mock Trial Season of 2022 was successful and memorable!

The Returning Members:

  • Aanya Tiwari ’23

  • Henry Yuska ’23

  • Ashley Benoist ’23

  • Sanchi Vishwakarma ’23

  • Armaan Chandak ’24

  • Prithvi Atluri ’24

  • Cody Zheng ’24 

The New Members:

  • Nikitha Ada ’23

  • Isaac Bierman ’23

  • Philip Ralph ’23

  • Amara Autry ’23 

  • Safi Junejo ’24

  • Janet He ’24

  • Connor Paine ’24

  • Ibrahim Elnour ’24

  • Taaj Saddler ’25

Varsity Lacrosse Visits City Academy

Girls and Boys Varsity Lacrosse players traveled to City Academy last week to share their love of the sport with younger players. MICDS has quite a few City Academy alumni in our student body, and this clinic was a great way to strengthen ties between our two schools. Students from both schools had a great time.

Kate Haffenreffer, Girls Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach, said, « We love to spread the game! » Check out these future lacrosse stars in the making!

Photo Credit: Annie Sloane P’20,’25

Eight Rams Make MSLA All-State Teams

The following members of the MICDS Boys Lacrosse team were named to the Missouri State Lacrosse Association (MSLA) All-State teams. Congrats, Rams!

First Team:

  • PJ Behan ’22, Midfield
  • Landon Gelven ’22, Attack
  • George Herron ’23, Goalie
  • Henry Oliver ’25, Defense, Long-stick Midfield
  • Bjorn Sjogren ’22, Midfield
  • Kai Tschudy ’22, Defense
Second Team:
  • Mark Mintzlaff ’22, Attack
  • Tyler Petersen ’23, Defense

In other Varsity Boys Lacrosse news, the MICDS team earned the top seed in the Missouri Lacrosse Division One State Cup Tournament. Let’s go Rams!

Dual District Championships for Boys & Girls Track & Field

MICDS Boys & Girls Track & Field brought home two District Championships over the weekend. Amazing job, Rams! The Boys team earned 143 points in the Class 4 District Championship and the Girls team earned 156 points in the Class 5 District Championship.

Check out the many highlights from District Finals action below!

  • Congrats to Lauren Douglas ’22 for qualifying for the sectional meet next weekend in discus.
  • Congrats to Nate Schuckman ’23 for qualifying for shot put for sectionals next weekend. Also, congrats Nat Bilderback ’22 for throwing his PR on this last throw of his high school career. Bilderback was able to place eighth.
  • Jeremiah Clay ’24, Winston Moore ’23, Tristan Williams ’24, and Novo Onovwerosuoke ’22 were the District Champions in the 4×400 and advanced to Sectional Championships.
  • Maya Anderson ’23, Ellie Gira ’22, Grace Coppel ’25, and Amani Hendricks ’22 qualified for Sectional Championships in the 4×400.
  • Brandon Mitchell-Day ’22 and Cameron Lester ’23 both qualified for Sectional Championships in the Long Jump. Mitchell-Day PR’d with a jump of 6.44m and placed second. Lester also PR’d with a jump of 6.26m and placed third.
  • Julia Ray ’23 qualified for Sectional Championships in the 3200 placing second. She also placed second in the district 1600 Meter Run.
  • Grace Coppel ’25 qualified for Sectional Championships placing 4th in the 800 Meter Run.
  • Onovwerosuoke and Clay both qualified for Sectional Championships. Onovwerosuoke was District Champion and Clay finished third with a new PR of 22.87.
  • Moore is the 100 Meter Dash District Champion and PR’d with 10.85 from the prelims. He qualified for Sectional Championships.
  • Congratulations to Anderson, the District Champion in the 300 Meter Hurdles. She advanced to Sectional Championships.
  • Gira qualified for Sectional Championships in the 400 by placing fourth at the District Championships.
  • Steve Hall ’23, Williams, Lester, and Moore were District Champions and advanced to Sectional Championships in the 4×100.
  • Zaire Harrell ’22, Audrey Mahoney ’22, Hendricks, and Skye Brothers ’23 placed fourth in the 4×100 qualifying for Sectional Championships.
  • Mitchell-Day was District Champion in the Triple Jump. He jumped to a PR with a leap of 13.24m, advancing to Sectional Championships.
  • Our 4×200 team, which consists of Tony Nunn ’22, Moore, Williams, and Onovwerosuoke, are District Champions. They qualified for Sectional Championships.
  • Mahoney vaulted her way into first place at the District Championships in the Pole Vault. She qualified for Sectional Championships next week.
  • Anderson finished first place and Nicole Green ’25 in fourth place in the 100 Meter Hurdles. Both advance to Sectional Championships. Nicole PR’d with a 15.66.
  • Mitchell-Day finished first in the Boys High Jump and advanced to Sectional Championships.
  • Our 4×800 with Coppel, Ray, Gira, and Abby Wyckoff ’24 advanced to Sectional Championships placing third!
  • Congrats to Zoe Carter-Konate ’22 for placing second in shot put and making it to the Sectional meet next week.
  • Congrats to Schuckman who made it to Sectionals by winning the discus.

Outstanding job, Rams, and good luck at Sectionals!

Girls Soccer Wins Districts in Double Overtime

The Varsity Girls Soccer team won the District Championship on Wednesday in the very last 10 seconds of double overtime against Westminster Christian Academy! A huge applause goes to Penny Chen ’23 for scoring the game-winning corner kick which can be watched here! Congratulations, Rams!