On this special day recently, their sneakers, blue jeans, and t-shirts were exchanged for shirts and ties and pretty dresses, and these “lunchbunchers” from one of Norwood-Fontbonne Academy’s Montessori pre-school classrooms did not mind. Gone also were the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and juice boxes — their normal everyday school lunches. Instead, these students, along with their teachers and NFA principal Sr. Jean Laurich, feasted on grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and green beans — with ice cream for dessert — at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill. NFA Montessori teacher Regina Delaney and her assistant Ann Collier got the idea for this special luncheon after reading the book, 365 Manners Kids Should Know by Sheryl Eberly. They also were a hit with the staff and other members of the club who stopped by their large round table to offer their greetings and congratulations. (Clockwise from top) Sister Jean Laurich, Regina Delaney, Ann Collier, Ellie Slawek, Madelyn Burns, Lauren Spratt, Alyssa Charlton, Nicholas Mustin, Robert Benson, Charles Yanoshikl, Ryan Savage and Casey Stephenson.

Twenty-five Norwood-Fontbonne Academy students from grades four to six came back blue-ribbon winners after they participated in  the recent Reading Olympics at Chestnut Hill College. NFA librarian Linda O’Malley and language arts teacher Betsy McGrath were the moderators for the group. They knew the NFA students were well prepared for the competition against other Archdiocesan schools, because the NFA participants had been involved in after-school prep sessions since January.

For the second year in a row, Julian Paul Spears, received an award in the William Jeanes Library’s book writing contest open to students from first to third grade. This year, he received an honorable mention in the category of Best Story. His story was entitled ‘The Robot and Alien that Became Friends’ and it will be bound and available in that library later this year. Spears, a second grader at Whitemarsh Elementary School, was the only student in the school to receive an award in the contest.

Dr. Downie named Hill rehab medicine director
Robert Downie, M.D., was recently appointed Director of Rehabilitation Medicine at The Hill at Whitemarsh, a Continuing Care Retirement Community located in Lafayette Hill. Downie, an active member of the clinical and teaching staff of Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, is Board Certified in both Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Internal Medicine.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Downie has many years of experience addressing the rehabilitative needs and problems of older adults as well as diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal pain. At The Hill at Whitemarsh, he assists with program development and provides direct consultative services for residents in Mather House Skilled Nursing Facility. He is also available to see residents who require outpatient rehabilitation consultations. Prior to accepting this position, Downie spent the last year volunteering his services to develop a rehabilitation program at The Hill.

 

Tyler Stout, of Wyndmoor, had a role in the cast of St. Lawrence University’s recent production of the French farce Tartuffe, by Moliere. Stout is a freshman at St. Lawrence, in Canton, N.Y. He is a graduate of Chestnut Hill Academy and a member of the men’s squash team at St. Lawrence.