The Spartan Spirit

Holy Spirit Celebrates the Visit of Pope Francis to the U.S. Commemorating the visit of Pope Francis to the United States, Holy

Spirit has joined Pope Francis in bringing his message of love and mercy to life. Our students, faculty, and administration have been encouraged to expand our continuing mission to serve others in keeping with the message of Pope Francis. As evidence of our commitment, our students were given T-shirts with the Pope’s message of love and mercy displayed and in receiving the shirt, they all signed contracts promising to do an act of kindness or mercy.

Miss Dennen Attends Papal Mass

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and is so hard to put into words” was the reaction of Miss Dennen after she attended the Papal Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. on Sept. 22. Calling the event “fabulous,” she, along with about 25,000 people from all walks of life, as well as a large crowd of college students, filled the Cathedral and the lawn outside. Miss Dennen was most impressed with the Pope’s genuine love of Christ and said that he urged the crowd to practice their faith and to recognize the struggles that so many people endure. The message from Pope Francis to the American people was clear: Each and every one of us can be the change the world needs by helping those in need even in small ways. Adding more meaning to the experience, Miss Dennen also witnessed the canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra, a well-known and beloved Franciscan friar who established 21 missions in California in the 18th centu-ry and whose statue actually now stands in the Na-tional Statuary Hall near the Capitol Rotunda. As ex-pected, security was tight with multiple checkpoints where identification and tickets were checked, but Miss Dennen reported that even the security guards were friendly and helpful and seemed very happy to be a part of the Papal visit.

-Ave McFadden and Nicole Mayer

A Pope of the People

“The world tells us to seek success, power and money; God tells us to seek humanity, service and love,” said Pope Francis on his recent trip to the United States. And regarding his visit, two Spirit stu-dents, Julia Dalzell and Tarryn Slattery attended the Papal Mass at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sept. 25. According to the girls, Mass began at 6:15 and it was just a normal Mass except that there were a few more celebrants than usual—80 cardinals, priests, monks, and nuns. The girls had a pretty good view of Pope Francis and were impressed with his homily about New York City being the “light” and leading the way. The Mass ended with the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan, thanking the Pope for coming to America.

(See Pope’s Visit on page 3)

October 8, 2015

Spartans Kick Off

Season With

Tribute to 9/11 Victims Playing its first game with new coach A.J. Russo, the Spartans held a solemn and emotional cere-mony remembering the victims of September 11, 2001. Team captains from all the fall teams, Spartan cheerleaders, and community heroes gathered in the center of the field to display an American flag commemorating those who lost their lives on this date 14 years ago.

The team fought all through the game but lost a tough one to a Pennsylvania powerhouse, Malvern Prep. The Spartans next faced off against Bridgeton one week later and picked up a huge conference win 17-8. The key to the game was the Spartans' defense and their ef-fectiveness in shutting down highly sought after WR Markquese Bell for most of the game.

The Spartans’ first away game ended with a loss to Cedar Creek, 26-0. A positive from the game was that the Spartans held Michigan re-cruit Ahmir Mitchell in check.

The Spartans came back home on Oct. 5 and faced off against the Middle Township Panthers winning 36-0. Reggie Jean-Charles had 3 TDs, Ralph Bright had a TD and Mike Costabile con-nected with Daniel Tarsitano on a 24-yard TD pass. The Spartans take on Buena next at home on Oct. 10.

-Dat Pham, A.J. Pecora, Austin Kesel

Boys’ Soccer The Holy Spirit Spartans Boys’ Soccer team, led by Coach Scott, came into the season with a chip on their shoulders. Although several seniors have returned, the Spartans still have a young team. Eleven freshman have joined and are playing major roles right out of the gate. The Spartans next matchup will be against Wildwood Catholic. -CJ Barnes

SPARTAN

SPORTS

Cheerleading

Cheerleading season has just started up again with 31 girls on the squad. The five captains, Rachel London, Avè McFadden, Asia Young, Kathleen Yetman, and Meg LaRotonda, are starting the squad off strong. The team has been practicing since early July on their routine with lots of stunts, acrobatics, and dances.

Strength, coordination, determination, and focus make cheer-leading a challenging sport--more difficult than most people think. As well, the cheerleaders play a large part in keeping school spirit alive during our fall sports season. Every Thursday night before the big Friday night game, cheerleaders decorate the football players’ lockers, make candy bags for all the football play-ers, create posters for each player, and bring in desserts for the team dinners. Go Spartans!!

Girls Soccer

The girls soccer team started off the season by crushing Mainland 3-0, then dropped a couple and won against Lower Cape May 1-0. Freshman Isabella DeSario scored the first goal of the season, the first goal of her high school career and the first goal in the game! Key players: Christine Conaghy is always a dependable player who is determined to score a goal or two a game. Kira McCully con-trols the game. She has amazing control in midfield and moves the ball well as she com-municates effectively off and on the ball. Danielle, our one sen-ior, shows outstand-ing leadership and is the backbone of our defense. “We’re very excited for this season. We have a young team with one senior but our sophomores and juniors have experience at the varsity level now and should lead this team to a very suc-cessful season," says Coach Alicia Downy.

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Cross Country The Cross country team has been practicing since the beginning of July and has put in a lot of mileage. Sara Miller, Anthony Coleman, and Kristy Goff are all captains of the team. Goff is continuing her winning ways, she is undefeated in two races. The team was a part of the Cherokee Challenge with over 4,000 other runners. Overall, the whole team ran their personal best. The team expects to con-tinue with great success throughout the season. -Theresa Nanmmour

Tennis

The Lady Spartans have started the 2015 tennis season on a great note. Currently, they have won six out of their eight matches with the help of their new head coach, Mark Nigalan. Mark is a Holy Spirit alumnus who was a N.J. State Finalist ’91, Prince All-American ’91, and a Division 1 ath-lete at the University of West Virginia. Nigalan says he’s excited to turn both of Spirit’s tennis programs into ultimate power houses.

This year, seniors consist of Julia Dalzell, Noelle Shaffer, Tarryn Slattery, Kassidy Rumpf, and Hilary Zhang. The team recently defeated Pleasantville 5-0 and is looking forward to continuing their great season.

-Dan Ramirez

Field Hockey

The Lady Spartan field hockey team had a very good game vs. Buena winning 1-0 in overtime! Our girls still have many games left and can definitely score some more wins! Coach Kim Byrnes believes in her players and thinks they have a good season ahead of them!

Pope’s Visit Tarryn said that the experience made her feel “inspired and humbled. The Catholic faith is still fully alive and we’re all united together.” Julia had similar feelings saying that the experience "strengthened my faith. It was nice to see a pope that has ad-justed to modern life. It was an experience I won't forget." Eileen Light, who has two students at Spirit, also was able to participate in the Pope’s visit. She worked as a volunteer in Philadelphia while the Pope was in the city. She was assigned to 21st Street where she waited for the Pope to ride by in the parade. As the Pope rode by waving, he turned to the crowd on Eileen’s side and waved, she felt at that moment he was “waving right at her” and she felt a strong “chill go through her body, head to toe.” The Pope then said Mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, and Mrs. Light said that everyone was very respectful.“ Something that truly moved her was that during the Our Father, “everyone—tall, short, black, white, Asian, Catholic or non-Catholic, without being told—joined hands. It was overwhelming; it was truly a city of Brotherly Love that day.” -Kealei Light

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Holy Spirit students volunteered to help pack supplies for the Hope for Liberia program on Saturday, Sep-tember 26. Supplies included clothing, shoes, and medical ne-cessities.

Hope for Liberia Project

HSHS FRESHMEN—10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW!!

1. Always make sure you have a bottle of water! 2. Be careful how much money you spend in the cafeteria! 3. Be on time for lunch! 4. Your freshmen grades stay with you forever! 5. Make new friends!

6. Your teachers are there to help you—ask questions! 7. It's cool to be smart! 8. Get involved! Join lots of clubs and teams! 9. Grades are important—every quarter! 10. Have fun; don't stress! :)

Senior Carnival

What has become an important senior class fundraiser,

the Senior Carnival, was held on September 11 and was a

lot of fun. Over $3,300 was raised and will go toward

reducing the cost of prom tickets. Students enjoyed

themed games, a giant bouncy slide, and a very popular

volleyball tournament. Pizza, candy treats, and water ice

were all available. Prizes included gift cards, detention

passes, dress-down day passes and prom tickets. “The

carnival was a great way to start the year—it brought our

school community together as a family for a fun day,”

said Senior Class President,

Maria Baldino. -Ave McFadden

Fourth Annual Lip Dub

Holy Spirit’s fourth annual Lip Dub can be chalked up as a

great success. All Spartans really showed their school spir-

it while representing their clubs, sports, and the tradition-

al gold & blue. Using the song, Something Big by Shawn

Mendez , the students dubbed the song and danced

around the school. We wrapped up the video at the Ed

Byrnes Memorial Stadium, with the students in the

bleachers, cheerleaders on the sidelines, and football

players on the field.

-Ang Elias

LET’S TALK PARTIES!!!

NO—NOT THE FUN KIND—LET’S TALK POLITICAL PARTIES!!!

With the 2016 Presidential elections coming up fast, the candidates are gearing up their campaigns and aiming

for the first presidential primaries to be held early in the year in Iowa and New Hampshire. Let’s see who’s

running:

Republicans: Democrats:

Donald Trump John Kasich Mike Huckabee Hillary Clinton

Ben Carson Ted Cruz George Pataki Bernie Sanders

Carly Fiorina Jim Gilmore Marco Rubio Martin O’Malley

Jeb Bush Lindsey Graham Rand Paul Joe Biden??

Rick Santorum Chris Christi -Will McMahon and A.J. Pecora

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-Nicole Mayer