ICA Update No. 104 | Page 8

The Four Pillars: Prayer Study Service Preaching Mission moment reflection shared with the ICA Board of Directors by senior, Nikki Pasamic. Senior Speech Program The best ideas often grow from the fer tile imagination of a single, passionate teacher. In the case of ICA’s new Senior Speech Program, that passionate teacher is Science depar tment chair Anya Manes, currently in her 6th year at ICA. Last spring Anya presented her idea--each senior would give a three-minute speech to the student body to a group of teachers and administrators. The idea became a reality this fall as the first two brave seniors stepped up to the microphone at September 23’s Morning Meeting. Nikki Pasamic and Vita Moskal delivered highly personal and powerful speeches that day, setting the bar high for their classmates who have followed. I am very pleased and proud to say that all the speeches, about 20 so far, have been riveting. These young women have spoken of successes and 8 Fall 2013 failures, dreams and ambitions, triumphs large and small, and sometimes even tragedies. The best gauge of the success of these speeches is the rapt attention of the audience. You could, I think, literally hear a pin drop in the auditorium as each senior speaks. There’s no one grabbing an extra few minutes of sleep or frantically scribbling last night’s homework. Those 300 pairs of eyes and ears are focused on their senior sister, who in these three minutes, shares a priceless piece of herself with every girl in the room. I can’t wait to hear the next 40! ~Mary Cerutti Assistant Principal