CATS Academy Courier

By: Nina Sunago

A sport that used to be completely unknown by many members of our community is not anymore. This month, the term “FUTSAL” gained a whole lot of meaning. The first CATS Futsal Tournament, filled our school’s gym with people who desired to see what it was all about and which teams would become the big winners.

Competing in the Gym were eight teams in the men’s brackets, and four teams in the women’s brackets. Many had creative names like THE GUCCIER GANG, FAB5, and STAGE 5.  Among the twelve teams, three of them were entirely made up of faculty and staff, who joyfully took up the challenge to compete against student teams.

After a lot of fun, and sweat, CLUB DE TOBY and BIRITEIRAS won the prizes; fifty dollar gift cards for the Cheesecake Factory. The MVP’s of the tournament, Thiago Peres and Paola Guzman, were chosen by our voluntary referees. So, FUTSAL, another very successful sports event was added to our community. And there are more events to come. Students can expect the CATS Madness Basketball Tournament in the beginning of April, and hopefully a Football Flag Tournament later in the semester.

By: Sasha Chernysehva

What is poetry and why do we need it? It is individual for everyone; it can be a beautiful composition of words, a meaningful narrative, or a simple leisure activity.  For me, poetry is a cure; and sometimes, when life  gets hard, I prescribe myself an hour of simply reading poetry out loud. That in my opinion, is a good reason for the CATS English department to “prescribe” for us all a Poetry Out Loud week.

During the Poetry Out Loud week at CATS every student was required  to learn a poem from the Poetry Out Loud website by heart and recite it in their English class. The winner of the internal class competitions, went to the school competition where they recited two poems. The winner of the school competition, earned the chance to participate in the state contest.

All of the students were explicitly told to choose a poem that speaks to them in some way. So even though they put an immense amount of effort into their performances, students actually enjoyed doing it. There are a couple veterans of Poetry Out Loud who merit special recognition because they successfully participated in the school contest for two or three years in a row.  Livia Qeli, was the winner of this year, with her poem “Dear Reader” by Rita Mae Reese, and Anna Merzlyakova, who earned second place last year and took the third place this year. They managed to capture the attention of the audience and show them how amazing it is to listen to poetry. As Mr. Levine would probably say: “They shared a lot of awesomeness.”

The Poetry Out Loud week was outstanding this year, and the CATS community is very proud of how much talent and potential it revealed in our students. A big thank you to all who participated, and special congratulations and good luck to Livia Qeli who will represent CATS community at the state level!

By: Anastasia Dvoryanchikova

When you hear the word “metamorphoses”, what comes to your mind? It refers to a transformation of a physical shape or a character. We might think of a cocoon becoming a butterfly; a structural transformation of rocks into minerals; or a long-term evolution of the human mentality. The concept of change is explored in the play Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman, which was staged at our school in December, 2017 by art teacher Nathaniel Punches.

The play is a compilation of Greek Mythologies devoted to love, and explores how challenges can change one’s character. What made the play unique was the stage itself, which was a pool full of water. This unique CATS staff designed set was used as a figurative interpretation of the play’s mood, which mainly focused on the process of undergoing changes, and to make both verbal, and visual connections with the audience. Splashes of water projected an emotional intensity in the scene; a still surface with the lights reflecting in it gave a calm feeling and highlighted the anticipation before every scene.

Being a part of the production was  a memorable experience for the entire cast and crew. We built the play line by line, from one rehearsal to the next together. The technology group gave color and shape to each character; the cast breathed life into them; the band projected the character’s feelings and emotions with music, and our director brought all the pieces together magnificently. Metamorphoses is about change and transformation, and I was certainly changed by my participation in this production.  My hope is that our audiences left the performance changed as well.