Georgia State University student Theresa Wuertz was selected as membership chairperson for the National Catholic Student Coalition.

She will serve on the coalition’s executive board as head of the NCSC Membership Committee for 2010. Ms. Wuertz answered the call to serve the coalition at January’s 26th Annual Leadership Conference in Philadelphia.

Theresa is currently a senior at Georgia State where she is pursuing her degree in religious studies. She is a member of the St. Michael the Archangel parish community in Woodstock.

On Ash Wednesday, the students of St. Peter Claver Regional Catholic School presented a $2,060 check to Catholic Relief Services.

Catholic Relief Service is the international charitable arm of the church, which assists the needy worldwide.

The money was raised in just three weeks and was donated to help the victims of the Haitian earthquake. Students raised the funds by holding a school-wide penny contest and a walk-a-thon.

Our Lady of Victory School in Tyrone held its National Junior Beta Club induction ceremony in February. Congratulations to the new members who worked hard to achieve academic honors and displayed good leadership skills.

The Junior Beta Club is a national organization, which promotes scholarship and the ideals of character through service and leadership. Qualifying students in grades 5-8 provide service to their school, churches and the community at large. Through the community service projects, students are encouraged to live the National Junior Beta Club motto “Let Us Lead by Serving Others.”

Julia Denniss, a seventh-grade student from Marist School, was crowned champion at the annual Archdiocesan Spelling Bee.

After 60 minutes of competition and more than 130 words, Julia took home the prize when she spelled “apostrophe.” In 2009 Julia represented Georgia in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Placing second in the contest was eighth-grader Jessica Shurman, from Our Lady of Victory School, and seventh-grader Madison Watkins, from St. Joseph in Athens, placed third in the competition.

Contestants from 19 schools took part in the spelling bee.

Coordinating the event for Immaculate Heart of Mary was Pat Krautler, curriculum coordinator for the school.  Other officials for the Bee included pronouncer, Eric McNaughton (Marist School) and judges Brian Hutcheson (Our Lady of Mercy High School), Terry Sides (St. Pius X High School) and Richard Martin (Blessed Trinity High School).

The Spelling Bee will be held at Marist School in February next year.

Speaking of Marist, the school’s debate team won the AAAA varsity state championship.

Marist hosted the state debate tournament, which included 32 schools from around Georgia. Marist students Libby Mandarino, Claire Mills, Andrew Roberts and Sydney Chung competed.

The meeting included the abbots and abbesses, as well as delegates, from 17 autonomous U.S. monasteries. A Canadian abbot was also present representing the Canadian region as well as the procurator general of the Trappist order from the Generalate in Rome, Italy, reported Brother Callistus Crichlow.

The order, formally known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, has 102 monasteries for men and 74 monasteries for women worldwide. In the United States, there are, respectively, 12 men’s and five women’s communities.

At the week of meetings the superiors discussed the many challenges of the 21st century that the monks and nuns face, from vocations and formation to sustainability and aging communities. The meetings are to help the communities prepare for their worldwide gathering of all the superiors scheduled for September 2011 in Assisi, Italy.