Eastern Oklahoma Catholic July/August 2010 : Page 29
San Miguel students ecstatic about Harry Potter trip to Florida San Miguel Tulsa eighth-grader and Harry Potter fan Maria Cortez didn’t hesitate when asked what she was look-ing forward to most on her upcoming very special class trip. Through a nationwide contest on NBC’s Today show, her graduating class had just won an all-expense paid to the grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a new Uni-versal Studios amusement park in Orlando, Fla. With the help of teacher Anna Sullivan, the students submit-ted a video entry to the Today Show’s “Most Extraordinary Class” contest. It was announced May 20 that San Miguel, along with three other schools, would attend the grand open-ing of the Harry Potter theme park on June 17-20. Maria is a big fan of the Harry Potter book series. She has read each of the seven books six times, and while there are aspects of the story she was eager to see brought to life, her fa-vorite part of the trip was a little more down to earth. “I’ll be going with all my classmates, and it will be a good way to say goodbye to all my friends here. We’re all going to different high schools.” Classmate José Erazo is more of a Harry Potter movie buff. He’s hoping to learn a little about how movies are made and Hollywood performs its special effects magic. “I’m hoping to see a remake of the movie sets and to see how the movies were made. Honestly, this is the best experience of my life. I’ve never had the opportunity to do anything like this before.” While each of the 19 students likely will take something dif-ferent away from the experience, San Miguel school officials said that national exposure continues to attract attention to the unique teaching methods and unqualified success of the Catholic middle located near St. Francis Xavier Church. Joe O’Connor, president of San Miguel’s board, said many People in Tulsa’s Catholic community tapped into their per-sonal Internet network to support the school in the online voting contest. He said the school received votes from at least nine states and six foreign countries including Azer-baijan, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, Italy and Peru. And that’s just the votes he knows of. “We’re finding friends we didn’t know we had,” Mr. San Miguel students learn on live television they will go to the grand opening of the new Universal Studios Harry Potter theme park. (Photo by Dave Crenshaw) O’Connor said. “We tapped into international social networks of the LaSallian community, the Christian Brothers commu-nity, Bishop Kelley High School (a co-sponsor of San Miguel School) and, of course, Catholics throughout the Diocese. The community just came together, and it has been tremendous.” Stories about San Miguel’s long school day – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. – and the impressive success of their graduates in high school and college have appeared in both local and national media. Both José and Maria have earned academic scholarships to Bishop Kelley High School and Cascia Hall High School, respectively. “For the majority of these kids, it will be the first time they have flown on an airplane or stayed in a hotel. They have worked so hard for this. I’m so happy for them. I had to try very hard to not cry on national television. To be extraordinary, you need the sup-port of a lot of people and we have that at San Miguel. And this class certainly is extraordinary,” said Ms. Sullivan. Editor’s note: Because of publication deadlines, the EOC wasn’t able to interview students and faculty after their trip. Watch our website for photos and stories about their experi-ence at dioceseoftulsa.org – Story and photography by Dave Crenshaw Glenmary Father Chet will be replaced by Father Campos IDABEL – Father Daniel Campos, associate pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Muskogee, will be pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Idabel effective July 25. He replaces Father Chet Artysiewicz, a Glen-mary priest who has been reassigned to a fledgling Catholic parish in Windsor, N.C. Glenmary missionary priests pastor small, rural parishes in the United States and have served in Idabel for 53 years. A shortage of Glenmary priests forced Father Chet’s re-assignment and will end the missionaries’ presence in Idabel. “It’s a sheer numbers thing,” Father Chet said. “I was the most isolated Glenmary priest, and I think that they are trying to consolidate the area that we cover.” He said the Glen-marys haven’t ordained a priest since 1999. Father Chet will help the Catholic commu-nity of Bertie County in North Carolina build a church and establish a new parish in the Diocese of Raleigh. “After four years in Idabel, I can see that Father Campos will be able to tap into things I wasn’t able to. You never start something new in a situation like this. You build on what’s there, and he will do a good job of that.” The small, isolated but growing and vibrant parish was the cover story of the summer 2010 issue of Glenmary Challenge magazine. To read the full article, go to www.dioceseof-tulsa.org, go to the latest news section and enter Glenmary in the search box.
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