Academy of the Holy Angels - Echoes Yearbook (Demarest, NJ)

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The last purple candle of the Advent wreath is lit as Sr. Aquin and her homeroom complete their holiday observances. eligion Department revitczlizes its courses This year the Religion Department revamped both the basic materials used in the courses and the method of reporting achievement. Most levels saw a departure from traditional texts in favor of a weekly magazine, Hi-Time, supple- mented, especially on the senior level, by current paperbacks in the Christian Experience Series. To allow a broader scope in evaluating Religion as more than an academic subject, the Depart- ment adopted the E C excellentj, S Q satisfactoryj, and U Qunsatisfactoryj System. Encouraging an even wider use of audio-visual aids in the religion courses, the Department increased its collection with some particularly line series of Hlmstrips with accompanying rec- ords. Each series aims to create an awareness and responsiveness to the changed conditions of life in our contemporary society. Five priests continue to lecture weekly on each level, enriching and coordinating the total pro- gram. With emphasis on the small group, weekly homeroom celebrations of the liturgy in the Oratory continued and monthly, the school gath- ered to oi-fer Mass together in the Auditorium. While the changes in the Religion Department are generally conceded to be a step forward, experimentation with new materials, methods, and techniques will continue as the Department seeks to meet the increasing spiritual needs of the students. 44 Day of Recollection activities climax with a concelebrated Mass for all students.

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CURRICULUM I

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English Department sponsors student trips Impressions of a lazy afternoon at the lake area are recorded by Creative Writing class members Bobbi Dunn, Chris Ferreira, and Sharon Smith. The English Department stresses individual approach to ideas, and objective analysis of litera- ture with subjective twists of interpretation. It is HA's haven of discussion from tentative freshman questioning to heated debate over an Arthur Miller classic in the senior AP class. It is also the English Department that sponsors the monthly film master- pieces which are so thought-provoking. This pro- gram is extremely popular with the student body, since periods are shortened to accommodate the films in the afternoon. This year the Department arranged for two trips to the Shakespearean Festival Theatre at Stratford, one to Looeis Labors Lost in November, and again in May to Henry V. The former presentation especially interested the girls since the comedy was produced in mod style. To further increase the emphasis on the visual, the Department planned two theatre parties to New York for showings of Charly and The Shoes of the Fisherman. This year's limiting of the Creative Writing course to eleven girls enabled it to be con- ducted rather informally, and the class often availed itself of the beautiful campus by writing in the Held by the lake. In both the required college prepara- tory English courses on all levels as Well as in AP English, Creative Writing and Speech, the Depart- ment's aim is to increase the studentis perceptions, to deepen her sensitivities, and to increase her effectiveness in oral and written expression. Deep in thought, Sr. Norice's senior English class delves into the complexities of Hamlet's first soliloquy as they listen to Richard Burton's sensitive interpretation.