JC students host Psych fair

There is only one place at John Carroll that you can find information on psychological disorders, parts of the brain, and serial killers all at once. That is the Psychology Fair.

The AP Psychology class created the Psychology Fair, which was held Monday, April 22 in the Brown Room from 8:30-2. For the second semester project of the AP Psychology class, each student had to pick a topic about anything related to psychology and create a trifold about it for the fair.

“The spring project of AP Psychology is a research paper. They pick a topic, write a paper, and present it in the fair, so there are always a lot of interesting subjects,” psychology teacher Paul Lazor said.

One example of a presentation at the fair was synesthesia. This is where one sense, for example hearing is perceived by one or more senses. Another form is taking letter, shapes, and numbers and perceiving them as color, smell, or flavor.

“The point of the psych fair is to show students, teachers, and visitors the fun and interesting things about certain psychology topics. We first write a research paper based on our topic, and then make a presentation, like a poster, to have on display,” senior Erin Munchel said.

“[The Psych Fair] helps people learn new information about topics they talked about in class and introduce psychology class and different medical and psychological issues to younger students,” senior Mackenzie Rayburn said.

According to Lazor, “I think [the Psych fair] went very well. We had a lot of positive comments. We also had a lot of interesting topics we haven’t had before or haven’t had very much. It’s always cool when we have presentations of something people don’t know about.”

 Meredith Haggerty is an In-Depth Editor for the Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Changes to JC buses established

For the next school year, a separate bus route will be added to the route JC currently has. According to Director of Admissions Kim Brueggemann, the new bus route will go “north to Perryville and stop outside of Havre de Grace,” before ending at JC. The one route that JC offers now travels the opposite direction, south into Baltimore County.

Brueggemann hopes that this new bus route, in addition to the car pool lists that the Admissions Department has available to students, will give students who live farther away from school more options for easier transportation.

In addition to a new bus route for students who live in the north, the buses will also run later than 3pm, their usual departure time, to accommodate students with afterschool activities. According to Brueggemann, “the transportation will be available to kids after sports practices.”

Brianna Glase is Online Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

AIMS visit prompts positive impression

Representatives from the Association of Independent MD Schools (AIMS) committee evaluated JC from April 15-17, determining if JC earned its school accreditation, something that only occurs every 10 years. According to their website, AIMS “is a nonprofit association of independent schools in Maryland and Washington D.C. … to serve more than 100 independent schools by providing outstanding professional development, accreditation services, public advocacy, and networking opportunities.”

Becoming part of the Association is voluntary for schools, but according to the AIMS website, “every member school is required to be accredited in order to demonstrate its high commitment to high standards.”

Earning an accreditation causes schools to reflect and analyze their programs and students. It also encourages them “to plan for the future through a thorough and extensive self-examination,” according to AIMS.

Sophomore Tim Kutcher, who was one of the students at the lunch-in with the AIMS committee, believes the organization took great interest in JC. “The AIMS people repeatedly expressed their admiration with our school and said how they were very impressed with it … overall, they were very satisfied with our school and the visit and evaluation couldn’t have gone better,” he said.

Along with students being involved in the visit, teachers had a representative sit in on one of his or her classes throughout the course of the three days. The committee was composed of teachers who value “AIMS’ evaluation Philosophy and Purpose,” according to their website.

According to World Languages Chair Danica Attanasio, who chaired the AIMS visit with Vice Principal Gary Scholl, agrees that the visit was positive. “The visiting team commented that they were impressed with our students, faculty, and staff, as well as the beautiful campus and the warm welcome they received,” she said.

Principal Madelyn Ball, the visit “went very well” as well. “They were so thrilled with the students here, so impressed by them … they are encouraging us to embrace our new diversity here with our international students.”

“They had some recommendations of how we were together as a faculty … it was just wanting us to continue to do more professional development for our teachers in terms of differentiating their instruction for international students and for all students that have any type of need,” Ball said.

“I’m sure we’ll get our accreditation,” she said.

 Kailey Tracy is Copy Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.