Student Standouts & Faculty Features for April 19, 2024

Future Business Leaders of America Club Wins Event at Missouri State Competition

The MICDS chapter of the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) won their event in the Missouri State Competition this past Monday, April 15, held in Springfield, Missouri. In only their first year of the founding of the club, the team beat competitors from all around Missouri to take the big prize. Winning their event in the Management Information Systems category means they will represent the state and compete in Orlando, Florida for the FBLA national championship in June. Way to go, Ric Jain ’25, Jeremy Kalishman ’25, and Austin Minges ’25!

Baseball Continues Winning Streak

Rams Baseball has been working hard to continue their winning streak with another victory against the Lutheran South Lancers on Tuesday, 10-0. In a recap on MaxPreps, Andrew Clifford ’24 is highlighted for doing an excellent job on the pitching mound and at bat, scoring a run and stealing a base. The article also spotlights Cameron Cooper ’25 who scored two runs and stole two bases and LJ Triplett ’26 who scored a run and stole two bases as well. The Rams current record is 8-3 and will next play De Smet at noon on Saturday. Keep it up, Rams!

Faculty Feature: Dr. Nardolillo Inspires Music Teachers at Conference

Dr. Jo Nardolillo, JK-12 Arts Department Chair and Orchestra Director, delivered a presentation last month at the American String Teachers Association National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Her presentation was entitled Orchestrating Your Canvas Page: Enhance and Extend Your Orchestra Classroom. Her seminar demonstrated engaging and meaningful ideas for using Canvas (or a similar LMS) to enhance and extend a classroom with individualized, personal instruction and feedback. The talk was inspired by TikTok, YouTube, and the impossibility of teaching orchestra during the COVID lockdown. She gave listeners numerous tricks to engage students of all ages and backgrounds, building off of the media that students already know.

Faculty Feature: Dr. Kevin Slivka Presents on Two Art-Related Panels

On Saturday, April 13, our very own Kevin Slivka, Upper School Fine Arts Teacher, spoke at the Kistler Beach Museum of Art as a distinguished speaker at a symposium called Kansas Schools, Native Americans, and the New Deal. The symposium was organized in conjunction with the exhibition To the Stars Through Art: A History of Art Collecting in Kansas Public Schools, 1900-1950, open through May 11, 2024. At the symposium, Dr. Slivka spoke on a panel about Contextualizing Arts Education During the Boarding School Era: Carlisle Indian Industrial School and Haskell Institute.

Dr. Slivka also spoke in early April at the National Art Education Association Conference as part of an invited panel presentation called Acknowledging Indigenous Histories in Art Education and Historiography in Art Education.

He gave context to his talks. “Both presentations were intended to inform audience members concerning assimilationist practices which occurred during the boarding school era for indigenous students,” Slivka said. “The National Art Education Association panel presentation also covered my work with Anishinaabeg artists in 2012 to expand Indigenous art practices in contemporary spaces that include traditional art practices. I also touched upon my participation with Indigenous artists in 2019, which involved a print exchange and resulted in numerous exhibitions across university spaces that considered personal relationships to home.