National Assessments, Quarterlies, Walk-a-thon, Athletic Competitions, Special Events, Dances, Evaluations, and Celebrations! We are proud of our achievements, yet there is still so much to accomplish. The year is young and we must keep our focus on the big picture.

 

Did the hard work and extra effort make a difference? Was our support system effective or is there a need to adjust? Did we meet our goals or did we come up short? Whether it is a simple distraction, poor time management, misunderstanding, or a failure to communicate, we should not make excuses! Instead, we must hold ourselves accountable and strive to get better every day.

 

In our daily lives, let us trust in our abilities and remain strong in our faith and confident in our actions. This mindset is instrumental to our success in developing leadership skills and an entrepreneurial spirit. Continual improvement should be our common goal....Adelante!

Words to Live By:
As we enter the month of November and prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday let us remember the wise words of Pope Francis.  For all the obstacles we see before us, gratitude and appreciation should prevail over concerns and complaints. Joy springs from a grateful heart!  

44th Annual Scholastic Olympics 
Our Scholastic Olympics for 8th graders, the longest running event of its kind in South Florida, took place on October 11th with hundreds of competitors from our Catholic middle schools.  Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all the principals and teachers who attended.  The overall winning schools were:  St. John Neumann Catholic School (Division 1), Our Lady of Lourdes Parish School (Division 2), and Epiphany Catholic School (Division 3).  Special thanks to Ms. Noy, Mrs. Frieder, department leaders, administration, Mr. Marinelli, and all the student and teacher volunteers. 

Debate Team Competed at the University of Florida
The Debate team competed at the University of Florida's 40th annual Blue Key Speech and Debate Tournament which featured 94 schools, from 21 different states. Nine of our debaters advanced to elimination rounds. Congratulations to the World Schools Debate team of Martin Seals, Lucas Rivera, Christian San Juan, and Daniel Alvarez who bested Miami Beach in the final on a 2-1 decision for the championship win.  Junior Sven Stumbauer continued his streak of advancing to the  semifinals. Taro Porschke finished as the 8th top speaker in Novice Lincoln-Douglas. Nicholas Diaz advanced to the double Octafinals in LD and Joseph Alonso and James Sacher advanced to the triple Octafinals in Varsity Public Forum.  Alexi Hernandez finished as the 10th best speaker in Novice PF.  Thank you Mr. De Tuya.

Annual Halloween Party for Underprivileged Children
Columbus hosted more than 200 children from the San Juan Bosco Leadership Learning Center in Little Havana for an unforgettable Halloween experience.  The Mas Family Program together with the Squires, National Honor Society, Key Club and girls from Our Lady of Lourdes Academy all participated and were paired with the small children upon arrival. The fun activities included face painting, art and crafts, cookie and cupcake decorating, dancing, Lego and music stations, and robotics. Special thanks to Mrs. Galvez-Cuesta and Arlene Clute and to all the countless faculty members who participated and supported the event.

College Fair & Admissions Rep Visits
The Center for College and Career Guidance hosted its annual college fair with 90+ institutions from all over the world showcasing their academic offerings, admission & financial aid process, and answering questions. The Fall College Rep Visits concluded in October with more than 65 institutions visiting overall.  Special thanks to Mrs. Iris Martinez and her team.

We are proud to report that 97% of our freshman, sophomore, and junior classes were in attendance for the first-ever digital administration of the PSAT/NMSQT and PSAT on the original date for the testing.  This was an incredible number of our students to test on the historic testing day!  Special thanks to Lourdes Rayneri, our testing coordinator as well as to our technology team, administration, faculty, and staff.

Senior Martin Seals participated in the Florida American Legions’ Boys State, Florida’s premiere youth leadership program which takes place annually at Florida State University with 500 of our state’s most successful boys.  During the 7-day immersive experience, the participants created a mock state replica of Florida from the ground up, forming city, county and state legislatures.  Martin had the honor of being elected governor, the highest elected office at Boys State.  Martin can be seen addressing the student legislators in Florida’s State Capitol building in the picture (courtesy of K&R Studios via the Miami Herald).

Explorer Robotics teams competed in several competitions in October. At the Boca Raton Robotics Tournament with 30 participating teams from South Florida, our Explorer 2 Team (Daniel Khoury, Anthony Perez, Jorge Gonzalez, Brandon Rizo, Kevin Remar and James Barbeite) ranked 4th with 5 wins and 1 loss and our Explorer 1 Team (Mario Villaverde, Andrew Vasta, Andres Cruz, Gabriel Palacios, Alfonso Caram, Samuel Polo-Varona, Kristopher Nodarse) ranked 5th with 4 wins and 2 losses.  Our two junior teams, Explorer 3 and Explorer 4, competed for their first time and had 3 wins and 3 losses.  Thank you Mr. Rodriguez.

College & Career Guidance hosted a Financial Aid Night: Affording College for junior and senior families.  Christopher Magnan, Director of the Money Management Program and Senior Financial Aid Advisor at the University of Miami gave a presentation about the financial aid, scholarships and special programs that exist for seniors applying to college. View Presentation.   

Our Apex Squad had back to back victories and  took on the top seed in the league (Congrats Brian Torres, Alberto Diaz and Alex Arroche).  In Marvel Snap, Carlos Blanch continued his domination of the field, easily sweeping each and every one of his matches and Ryan Linaje had an impressive come from behind victory against Glastonbury High School. Team Eric/Flip routed Polk High in a match that lasted less than 15 minutes with great plays by  Brian Bech and Mateo de Freitas.  In Overwatch, Captain Diego Rodriguez led our Explorers to a dominant win in three matches against Bronson High.  Thank you Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Harriman.

The most recent accomplishment of our Cross Country team is winning the 4A District 8 Championship.  Congratulations to Coach Areces and all the Hellions.  

Desmond Family Center News
Students from The Desmond Family Success Center completed the first quarter of school with great success. Many of them achieved honors, which is a testament to their hard work and dedication. The 9th grade cohort had their first day of service at Box of Joy and Chapman Partnership. It was a rewarding experience for them, as they had the opportunity to give back to our community and make a positive impact on others. Thank you Mrs. Vinson.

Bowling Team Finished Season 8-1 and as Youth Fair Champions 
The bowling team competed in the State tournament last week for the 3rd year in-a-row. The Explorers finished 20/30 teams well ahead of all other Dade teams. The keglers of Columbus narrowly missed qualifying for the finals. The boys finished another successful season with an 8-1 regular season record winning the Youth Fair Tournament and placing Runner-up in District 17. Congrats to them on another great season.  Thank you Coach Scholer.

Freshman Semi Formal
About 300 freshmen and their dates were able to enjoy a nice evening of dancing and socializing during our first semi-formal of the school year.  Thank you SAC.

Black Student Organization Visited R.R Morton Elementary
Mr. Campbell and members of the Black Student Organization visited R.R. Moton Elementary Magnet School for the Arts in Homestead as a community service activity.  Our Explorers represented Columbus well and served as role models for the young children.

About 140 Explorers went on the Junior Class Trip to Busch Gardens. They were able to enjoy the animal exhibits and the many roller coasters the park offers.  Thank you SAC!

 

 

 

Brotherhood for Good Retreat
Sophomores enjoyed another Brotherhood for Good Sophomore Retreat led by Campus Ministry leaders Tomas Paz, David Gil, Gustavo Ferreiro, Nicholas Rivas, Alec Pacheco, Javier Aragon, Br. Robert Dittus, Mr. Gabriel Leon, and Mr. Gerardo González.

 

Robotics & SEDS Clubs Visit St. Rose of Lima
Our Robotics Club and SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) students visited St Rose of Lima in Miami Shores for their STREAM Expo night in which all grade levels display their STEM projects in their classrooms. Columbus was invited to showcase their Robotics/ STEM program at the event alongside other Catholic high schools. Daniel Khoury, Christopher Herrera, David Raino and Mateo Machado volunteered their time at this Harry Potter themed evening event. Thank you Mr. Rodriguez.

We are happy to report that Columbus Films won the Critics Choice at the Short Cuts Film Awards for the animation of the short film “Trials of Twelve.”  Congratulations to Aiden Cuervo for his hard work on the production.  Special thanks to Mr. Diaz.

Career Day Empowered our Juniors
Thank you to all of our dedicated alumni who shared their time and wisdom at our Columbus Connects Career Day. You provided a great learning experience for our Juniors who are starting to explore their future career paths. Thank you for inspiring and empowering our students. View Smug Mug Picture Gallery.

Our Marcus Lemonis and Mario Sueiras Center for Science & the Arts achieved LEED Gold certification! LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the world's most widely used green building rating system.  Certification provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings. This is the 1st Columbus building to achieve LEED certification.  We celebrated with a plaque unveiling and blessing ceremony.  Some of the attendees included Tim Plummer ’81 (Former Buildings & Grounds Chair), Frank Vilar ’80 (General Contractor), Orlando Sharpe/Nivardo Beaton (Owners Rep) and  Carolina Whitfield (Code Green’s Florida Office Director for Building Design & Construction). Environmental Science teacher Ms. Taylor and her students were recognized.  Special thanks to Deacon Dugard.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, our faculty and staff united as a school community and wore pink to honor the strength and resilience of those battling breast cancer, especially our own law teacher Dr. Sharifah Lee.

Thank you to public relations expert Jorge Ortega '81 for giving a Media Training workshop to our basketball team this week. Jorge is a Managing Director at CRA | Admired Leadership, a consulting firm that specializes in strategic communication and leadership development for Fortune 500 Companies and non-profit organizations.

Inaugural Explorer Day of Giving Raised $360,000
Our inaugural Explorer Nation Day of Giving was astounding!  In 24 hours we were able to raise over $360,000 for our school by galvanizing our alumni nationwide.  We received a total of 1,519 gifts, provided by 1,133 unique donors. Thank you to our VP of Advancement Mr. Ramos for his hard work leading the fantastic effort as well as to the entire Advancement Team: Mrs. Cue, Mrs. Marti, Ms. Ramunas,  Ms. Vento, Mrs. Minoso and Mrs. Trujillo.

Seniors Sebastian Broche and Lucas Artime are Semifinalists in the 2024 Coca-Cola Scholars Program, moving to the next round of the selection process to become Coca-Cola Scholars and receive a $20,000 college scholarship each. A joint effort of Coca-Cola bottlers across the country and The Coca-Cola Company, the Coca-Cola Scholars Program is the largest corporate-sponsored, achievement-based scholarship program in the U.S. There are 1,514 high school seniors who were selected as semifinalists from a pool of over 103,800.  They were chosen based on their academic excellence, leadership, and service demonstrated in school and community activities.

Malik Abdullahi Committed to Princeton University
The 2x basketball state champion Malik Abdullahi announced his commitment to Princeton University. Malik’s dedication, hard work and passion for both academics and basketball have brought him to this remarkable achievement. We are proud of you Malik!

 

Cristian Ortiz Named to National Puerto Rico Team
Columbus Senior Cristian Ortiz who plays on the Inter Miami CF Academy U19 Soccer Team, was named to Puerto Rico’s Senior National Team in October, 2023.  As a 17-year old, Cristian is the second to youngest player on Puerto Rico’s team which is made up mostly of professional  athletes in their 20s and 30s. Cristian made his international debut with Puerto Rico during the CONCACAF Nations League’s games against Guyana at the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Technical Centre on October 14 and 17. Cristian is the first student-athlete from Columbus to play on the international stage in the sport of soccer while still attending the high school.

Telemundo 51 regularly airs a segment called "Ayer y Hoy" (Yesterday and Today) which highlights institutions with a long and rich history in South Florida.  They featured Columbus in October with interviews from our Academic Dean Dr. Juan Vila ‘97 and alumni parent Rafael Penalver ’69.  Great historical footage was included.  VIEW COLUMBUS AYER Y HOY SEGMENT.

Don't Miss the Food & Wine Festival on Nov. 18
The Worldwide Assurance Food and Wine Festival will be held in the Columbus Cafeteria on Saturday, November 18th from 7-11pm. There will be plenty of great food samplings and drinks from some of our community's best vendors at this fun and lively event.  Socialize with current parents, alumni and members of the Columbus faculty and staff.  Hope to see you there!  For more information and to purchase tickets - CLICK HERE.