All Entries Tagged With: "Florissant"
Hazelwood Central senior earns acceptance to MIT
Luther Banner, a senior at Hazelwood Central High School, will fulfill his dream of attending prestigious MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For all the grief that North County schools receive, you might be surprised to know that the Hazelwood School District has been quietly building an award-winning robotics program. It is so successful, in fact, that one of the students on the Hazelwood Central team recently received a rare invitation to study mechanical engineering at MIT, the #1 ranked university in the world for engineering and technology! HSD’s Diana Gulotta shares his inspiring story…
Every college-bound high school senior has aspirations of getting accepted to the college of his dreams, and when the dream becomes a reality, it takes a little getting used to. Luther Banner, a senior at Hazelwood Central High School, is on the verge of experiencing his dream of attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In mid-December, the school released its early action decision list online. A few days after seeing his name on the list, he got a shiny, silver cylindrical package from MIT containing a formal acceptance letter, confetti, balloons, stickers and information about the school. The package arrived just before Christmas.
“It’s pretty surreal for me. It hasn’t settled in that I’ve been accepted to MIT,” said Banner, noting that only 11 percent of students are accepted for early action. “It’s still shocking. It’s my dream school.”
Banner plans to accept the offer from MIT to study mechanical engineering. He said MIT will offer him a scholarship, but he is researching other scholarship opportunities too. He was also accepted to Georgia Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
“My grandmother and mom are really excited. They pretty much told me that they knew I was going to get in, but I was worried about it,” he said. “I wasn’t 100 percent sure I’d get accepted. It’s a highly competitive school to get into. I was thinking about the other kids that I’d be up against for admission.”
Banner is a notable student, taking five advanced placement (AP) classes this year – calculus, senior English, government, Spanish IV and physics. He is a co-captain of the RoboHawks robotics team, and last spring, he was nominated and received the FIRST Dean’s List Award at the FIRST Robotics Competition St. Louis Regional.
Banner and his teammates on the Hazelwood Central RoboHawks demonstrated their robotics skills at a St. Louis Cardinals game last year.
FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology – is a “thrilling and unique spectator sport experience in which teams of high school students solve an engineering design challenge through imagination, dedication, teamwork and the help of their robotic friends.” The RoboHawks won the event and qualified to participate in the FIRST National Championship, which took place in St. Louis. (in NoCo actually, at St. Louis Community College – Flo Valley)
During the championship competition, Banner was named to the FIRST Dean’s List, an honor recognizing 10 students from the United States and abroad for their leadership and dedication to FIRST. Of the 10 selected, only two were juniors – Banner and a student from Rhode Island. Winners received a long list of prizes, including a BlackBerry Playbook tablet, a BlackBerry Torch mobile phone, a Nike book bag with a shirt and hat, gift cards to JC Penney and Starbucks, a Kindle e-reader, a flip camera, software and a trip to New Hampshire to the FIRST headquarters.
Being named as a Top 10 student involved in robotics certainly didn’t hurt his chances of realizing his dream. “It helped,” he said. “MIT was always the school in the back of my head. I knew it was tough to get in. I didn’t view it as a reality at first, but I decided to apply at the end of my junior year.”
Banner went to New Hampshire in August, during the first week of school in HSD. While there, the students toured MIT, but at this point, he had no idea what his future would hold.
Fast forward to the present and Banner seems quietly humbled, yet excited, about what’s to come. The robotics team is preparing for the competition season and plans to participate in events in Kansas City and St. Louis. The team is working toward earning the prestigious Chairman’s Award, presented to the team that best represents a model for other teams to follow and embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST.
Banner said the team is trying to enhance the awareness of FIRST and be an “inspiration to the community and the District.” When he goes to college, he said he will “miss everything” about robotics.
“I plan to find a team to help mentor. It’s an environment and an atmosphere that you can’t get away from,” he said. “I’ll miss being on a team. To see that you built something that great with your own hands is exhilarating.”
Banner gives credit to “every teacher I’ve had who pushed me to work as hard as I can” in getting him to where he is today. He especially gives thanks to Catherine Sylve, a former teacher at HCHS and RoboHawks sponsor, for “making” him get involved in robotics. Sylve continues to be actively involved with the team. He also gives thanks to retired Spanish teacher Carol Villalobos for encouraging him to apply to MIT.
As for his family, Banner is grateful to them for “believing in me and for all that they give up to support me.”
“My family has always said ‘Strive to be the best. If not, why do it?’ I try to live by that in everything I do.”
Head to Hendel’s on 1/24 for a night of local beer
When I’m thirsty for a good pint of local beer, Ferguson Brewing is certainly first on my list. It’s just a few blocks from my house, and I love the microbrewery atmosphere. But I have to say, the thought of drinking my favorite Ferguson beers in front of a crackling fireplace and a grand piano….well, that’s hard to beat.
That’s what you’ll find at Hendel’s Market Cafe on January 24th, when the in-house piano bar jazzes up a dull winter night with a selection of fine local beers from Ferguson Brewing. Come raise a glass (or two) with your hosts Nate and Christina, who I know will welcome you warmly.
Hendel’s is located at 599 Rue St. Denis, Old Town Florissant, 63031
Time Capsule: remembering Loretto Academy
Among my collection of old postcards and other memorabilia related to North County’s history, perhaps nothing has intrigued me more than this image. The first time I saw it, I thought it was some grand European building….maybe a French government center or an English university. But no, what this postcard depicts is actually Loretto Academy, a stately Catholic girls school built in 1880 in the heart of old Florissant.
For 39 years, Loretto Academy stood near the historic St. Ferdinand Shrine, housing around 50 girls between the ages of five and 15. But on January 4, 1919 – exactly 93 years ago today – disaster struck.
In the early hours of a frigid morning, fire broke out in the building, forcing 75 Loretto nuns and dozens of students to flee in the bitter cold. At the time, the still-rural town of Florissant didn’t have a professional fire department, so all the nuns could do is ring the church bell and pray that help would arrive. Numerous volunteers showed up, and fire engines were even dispatched from St. Louis and University City, but it was too late. Loretto Academy was lost in the flames.
Still, some good did result from this tragedy. Two months later, local citizens came together and organized the Florissant Valley Volunteer Fire Department, which later became the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District, whose services we still enjoy today. In 1966, when another fire broke out on the shrine grounds, this time threatening the church itself, Florissant was better prepared.
Although Loretto Academy could not be saved decades before, firefighters did manage to preserve St. Ferdinand, which was heavily damaged but salvageable and ultimately restored. To this day, it remains the oldest American Catholic Church west of the Mississippi, pre-dating St. Louis’ “Old Cathedral” by 14 years.
Many thanks to good folks @ Flo Valley FPD for serving the community and providing much of the info in this post. Be sure to check out their recent news update about two sweet old dogs that were saved in a December fire.
Photo Essay: Dave Naumann’s Native NoCo
An adventurer at heart, local attorney Dave Naumann likes going off the beaten path to explore the hidden natural areas of North County.
As the year closes out and I look back at all the reasons I’ve had to be grateful in 2011, I can’t help but think of you, dear NOCO readers. Since I launched this blog two years ago, I’ve gotten to meet so many amazing people, both here in North County and throughout St. Louis. Hundreds of you have emailed with story ideas or insightful comments, and quite a few have even offered to help. Thank you!
One of those generous “helpers” is David Naumann, a Florissant attorney and lifelong NoCo resident whose passion is hiking and biking North County’s many unspoiled pockets of wilderness. Dave knows the area’s trails and hidden pathways probably better than anyone, and lucky for us, he always brings a camera along.
He has been offering to share his images for months now, and I finally got a chance to pull them all together. I have to admit, some of them are so gorgeous, they even made me wonder if they’re really in North County. But of course they are!
Many thanks to Dave Naumann for these beautiful photos, and to everyone who read NOCO and supported North County this year! You are truly appreciated!! Enjoy…
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K