MMI News

Fifty of MMI Preparatory School’s 75 student competitors qualified for the Pennsylvania FBLA State Leadership Conference during the recent Regional Leadership Conference competition. The top five students in each test event advance to states and the top two students or teams in each performance event advance to the state competition, which will be held April 8-10 in Hershey. MMI Social Sciences instructor Katherine Zucco is the FBLA advisor and Flashback Cinema sponsors MMI’s FBLA chapter. 

The MMI Interact Club collected disaster relief items that will be sent to California wildfire victims through the Faith Assembly Church.

MMI Preparatory School sophomore Katherine Lewandowski captured first place in the District 11 Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Voice of Democracy Audio-Essay Scholarship Competition for her essay on this year’s theme, “Why My Vote Matters.” Lewandowski is the daughter of Nancy and James Lewandowski of Mountaintop.

MMI Preparatory School senior Andrew Decker won the regional Poetry Out Loud competition at the WVIA-TV studios and will advance to the Pennsylvania state championships on March 4, 2019, in Harrisburg. Decker, the son of Atty. Elizabeth and Troy Topolski of Sugarloaf and Aaron Decker of Kingston, won MMI’s school competition for the fourth consecutive year. He previously won the regional championship as a sophomore and finished in the top five in the state competition that year. Decker has placed in the top three at regionals each of the past four years, having finished second as a freshman and third...

MMI Preparatory School recently purchased two Harkness tables to transform two classrooms into Collaborative Learning Labs to help prepare students for the discussion-based learning courses they will find in college. The purchase was made possible by a donation from Dr. Philip A. McHale ’58 and Ms. Linda Tishko. The Harkness table-teaching concept was developed by philanthropist Edward Harkness in 1930 and first instituted at the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Students sit around an oval table and their teacher instructs them in a tutorial or conference method, where each student is encouraged to speak up. Students are given...

MMI Preparatory School’s team earned second place at the King’s College Math Contest. Thirteen schools and more than 140 students competed in both individual and team competitions. Frederick Mejia took home top honors for the MMI team. 

The MMI Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of music instructor Christina Lizbinski, performed at the 26th annual CAN DO Community Christmas on Dec. 5. Ensemble members played several selections to open the 90-minute show. The free concert featured student musical and choral groups from schools throughout Greater Hazleton. The concert will be rebroadcast on WYLN-TV 35 on the following dates and times: Dec. 11 at 7 p.m., Dec. 12 at 9 a.m., Dec. 13 at 2:30 p.m., Dec. 15 at 6 p.m., Dec. 16 at 12 p.m., Dec. 17 at 11 a.m., Dec. 19 at 8 p.m., Dec. 24 at...

The MMI Upper School Drama Club will present “An Evening of One Act Comedies IV” this Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the MMI Cafeteria. Tickets are $5 in advance through the Main Office and at the door. Mrs. Joanne Oakum is the Upper School Drama Club advisor.

MMI Preparatory School’s team of Frederick Mejia, Alexander Sessock, Zachary Young, and Darren Zheng finished fourth in the Brain Teasers and Quiz Bowl categories in the annual Bloomsburg University Math Contest. Susan Moyer, MMI math instructor and department chair, was the adviser for the competition. Approximately 200 students representing more than 20 schools competed in the annual event. The competition’s categories, which also include the Game of 24 card challenge, vary in difficulty and work off a foundation of geometry, trigonometry, algebra, logic, and statistics.

Students at MMI Preparatory School honored their school’s founder, Eckley Brinton Coxe, and his wife, Sophia Georgianna Coxe, during an assembly at the school and graveside service on Tuesday, giving thanks for the Coxes’ contributions to the school and the area. An all-school assembly was held in the MMI cafeteria, where senior class officers presented information about MMI’s history. At the conclusion of the assembly, the senior class traveled to the grounds of St. James Episcopal Church in Drifton, where they held a wreath-laying ceremony at the gravesites of Mr. and Mrs. Coxe, more than 120 years after Eckley Coxe’s death....

Tessa Peluso and Justin Weiksner, pictured at center in the first row, were crowned queen and king at the 2018 MMI Preparatory School Harvest Dance. Also pictured are, first row, from left: Kaitlyn McGeehan and Summer Evancho. Second row: Coleman Smith; Valerie Rudawski ’89, Parents Association Representative; D. Scott Wiggins, Head of School, and Tyler Degenhart.

MMI art instructor Lisa Marie Ferry gave a presentation for the third consecutive year at the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA) conference, which was held in October in Harrisburg. Ferry’s presentation was entitled “Holy Lesson Plan Batman! Adaptables to Encourage Student Success.” During the presentation, she shared several lesson plans that can be adapted to all grade levels which encourage a student’s voice, opinion, and critical thinking. The plans also examined how to incorporate techniques for relaxation that are not only fun for the students, but also the teacher.

MMI Preparatory School senior Andrew Decker, the son of Atty. Elizabeth and Troy Topolski, Sugarloaf and Aaron Decker, Kingston, won the school Poetry Out Loud competition and will represent MMI for the fourth consecutive year at the regional competition on December 12 at the WVIA studios in Pittston.

MMI Preparatory School’s team of seniors Frederick Mejia and Zachary Young, junior Benjamin Putnam, and sophomore Louis DeAngelo finished third in the Capital Area Interscholastic Math Contest, which was held recently at Dickinson College. 

MMI Preparatory School senior Frederick Mejia, the son of Carlos and Esperanza Mejia of West Hazleton, was named a Scholar in the National Hispanic Recognition Program. Mejia completed an application for the program last spring after being notified that he scored in the top 2.5 percent among regional Hispanic and Latino students on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

MMI Preparatory School senior Zachary Young, the son of Christian and Nicole Young of Freeland, was selected as a Commended Student in the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program. Young is one of approximately 34,000 students nationwide who was recognized for placing among the top 50,000 scorers out of the more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2019 competition by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Four groups of MMI students received regional awards in the 2018 Interdependence Hexagon Project XII, a worldwide art competition that is designed to help youth learn about interacting with other cultures. The group of Olivia Bartholomew, Lucy Butkiewicz, Anna Cabell, and Mackenzie Igdalsky finished first in the Theme Recognition category for best capturing the 2018 project theme of Transforming Conflict. The team of Kaitlyn Overa, Morgan Strecker, Daniella Vasquez, and Grace Warner finished second in the same category. Paige Matchick, Elizabeth O’Donnell, Alexandra Tierney and Althea Stewart received the award for Most Effective All-Over Interpretation, and Lindsay Horvat, Anna Hoxha,...