We’re always excited to hear what Ursuline students are up to! Submit your student news by completing our online form. 

Allesia Welch '21 has been awarded the Silver level U.S. Figure Skating Graduating Seniors Award. This award recognizes the hard work of student athletes who have participated in figure skating throughout high school; awards are given at the Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze level based off a skater’s level of competitive achievement in high school. Selection for this award speaks to a skater’s continued commitment to succeeding in their athletic and academic endeavors.

Anna Lavelle '21 has been named a National Honor Society (NHS) Scholar. Anna was chosen from nearly 10,000 applicants and will receive a scholarship toward higher education. Recipients are chosen based on their demonstrated work to support the four pillars of NHS: scholarship, service, leadership, and character. 

Annabella Ritter-Pleitez '21 was named to the prestigious Top 20 Under 20 Young Global Leaders cohort for 2021. She will participate in a fantastic global program with the Junior World Affairs Council (JWAC) this summer.

Numerous students have recently been awarded their Girl Scout Gold Awards:

• Anna Fent '21 worked with an elementary school for low-income children in her area. Since the school’s budget could no longer support a librarian, the library had fallen into disuse. She was asked me to create a system for the library to be maintained by only the classroom teachers, alleviating the cost of a librarian. This system needed to include processes for teachers to check books in and out, as well as efficiently incorporate new books into both the physical library and online catalog.
  • "Now that the school library can operate, it will be integrated back into the community and the school curriculum," she said. "Unfortunately, the pandemic has limited how much the school can use the space this year, but in the future, it will be used as a center of learning to inspire students to discover reading."
• Ruth Keyes '21 volunteered for lunch-making at Ronald McDonald House, and realized many of the residents have urgent dietary issues that need to be accommodated for. However, many of the volunteer leaders would make meals that are all-inclusive regarding ingredients because they are easier to make. For example, a big pot of baked ziti.
  • "I realized that someone who might have celiac disease cannot eat the whole meal if the pasta is not gluten free, and vegans would have no food either if meat was in it," she said. "So, I made a cookbook for volunteers at Ronald McDonald House to reference for meals that are accommodating for many different groups of people with differing dietary restrictions."
• Hannah Timmer ‘21 worked with Prince of Peace Catholic Community on a project to support the church’s nursery. This was a natural choice for her as she has volunteered and worked in the nursery since she became old enough! As the church is beginning a major building project, her challenge was to create a project that would be useful now and in the future. Among other things, she created murals that are usable now and will also be transferable to the future new space.
• Katie Tschoepe ’21 partnered with Medical City Children’s Hospital for the project,“My Surgery Pal." She created individual, multi-ethnic dolls that doctors and nurses can use when discussing surgical procedures with the children so they can better understand what will be happening to them. She also worked to provide updated body part labels in the mock surgical room in the most common patient languages: English, Spanish, and Polish.
• Mary Beth Walsh ’21 joined with Hope Supply Co. for the project, “Absorbing Period Poverty” to spread awareness about an important need in our community: period products for the homeless and low-income communities. She hosted a "period product drive" to make period packs that included a box of pads and other basic essentials like shampoo, toothpaste, and deodorant. Each period pack also included a homemade heating pad made with the help of volunteers. They were distributed to women in a domestic violence shelter and to single mothers struggling with addiction. Mary Beth also made an informational website and created social media posts about the project and period poverty, which resulted in an interview with Kimberly-Clark about the increase in period poverty throughout the pandemic.
• Ireland Wellshear ’21 worked with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Children’s Hospital on a project to support families impacted by Cystic Fibrosis. She helped them have a better Christmas by with donations of toys, games, and other activities. She also worked with UA’s “You’ve Got Mail” volunteers to create cards for the families.

Molly Feighny '22 recently organized a Blood Drive at Ursuline! The goal of the drive was 45 units of whole blood.

"We ended with 55 units of blood, 10 over the actual goal," said Molly. "Not to mention, we had a very full list of people who came in asking to be put as a walk-in. Ursuline Academy potentially helped save 165 lives!"

Questions? Contact Aubree Auletta.