Academy of Mount Saint Vincent - Chastellux Yearbook (Tuxedo Park, NY)

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Records, Filmstrips, Seminars . . . Make English Come Alive At The Mount SISTER THERESA COURTNEY Chairman o the English Department In the fall of our Senior year SISTER THERESA COURTNEY took over the reins as Chairman of the English Department, replacing SISTER MARIAN SETON who was assigned to Bishop McDonnell High School in September. SISTER THERESA has her Master's Degree in English from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. The lure of Indian Summer days outdoors was irresistible and both SISTER THERESA and MISS VECCHIOTTI often held their English classes outdoors. 20

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The FRESHMEN have already chosen Love for their springtime Liturgy. Involvement in the planning of these liturgical functions will prepare students to take a more active part in similar parish activities. Apostolic works included: (1) Thanksgiving Baskets for migrant workers in a nearby area. (2) Christmas Gifts for children of poor families. (3) Easter Projects — perhaps for Golden-Age Citizens . . . and (4) CCD classes taught by specially trained students. There will be an Inter-Faith Day, perhaps in January, at which a Protestant Minister will be invited to address the students. Student-Planned Days of Recollection and the use of Insight Films were introduced this year and both innovations seem to have been successful. In the Senior Christmas Entertainment at Renamor. (student planned). MARIA RODRIGUEZ read The Christmas Story from the New Testament. The SENIOR Closed Retreat is again scheduled for the second term. Above left: At the Junior Advent Mass with hands joined all present sang the Our Father. Then FATHER STEGLIA gave a beautiful homily on Brotherhood. Concern seems to be the mood of the Juniors as. with SISTER BARBARA, they assemble the Christmas Gifts for the poor.

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MISS DEANNA VECCHIOTTI English Department It was a red letter day for the Mount when MISS DEANNA VECCHIOTTI. a graduate of the College of New Rochelle, signed her contract and joined the English Department of the Academy. Together SISTER THERESA and MISS VECCHIOTTI have planned a new approach in the teaching of English which has already sparked a gratifying response in their classes. Realizing that her students will share her own response and appreciation of poetry and other forms of literature. MISS VEC- CHIOTTI selects with care the records she will use for each of her classes. Instead of the traditional method involving the isolated study of literary pieces, the coordination of the students own interests with those of the authors they are studying has made the English classes more challenging. Even written expression has benefited from this new approach. Beginning with Ninth Year classes, students are introduced to the liter ary genre, and a firm background is established in understanding the var- ious art forms. Required readings are supplemented by research projects which will hopefully cover several aspects of the humanities — history, sociology, music and art — as well as literature. Some of this research will be done during regular class periods, some will be done outside of class. Field trips will supplement the teach- ing and research. In the course in American Literature an effort is made to cover the work of several authors of each period of our history, correlating the literary and political aspects of the period. The main goal in this course is to appreciate the purpose of each au thor and the results of his labor, rather than a memorization of charac- ters and plots. Background lectures are followed by discussions and indi- vidual research projects. A visit to the Mystic Seaport Museum Village in Connecticut helped students appreci- ate the living conditions and prevail- ing atmosphere of the period they were studying in November. The day was profitable, despite the fact that the bus broke down on the return trip, and they arrived home at 12:30 a.m. instead of the 8:30 p.m. sched- uled! 21