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By Bella Leonard '21 A week before tech week, Mr. Strohmeyer pulled myself and a few of the ensemble members aside during a rehearsal to explain that since Viz's production was the first of the eligible Saint Louis High School Musical Theatre Awards productions to open, Fox had asked us to perform two numbers on live TV. At this point, the leads had already been notified that this was happening but to me, at least, I immediately started freaking out. Although many people do not realize it, the world of television is drastically different from the stage. This is due to the fact that the camera picks up everything. A week after being notified of our performance, I arrived at Viz with my fellow ladies-in-waiting and got into costume and makeup before the first bell even rang. It was a surreal experience frantically walking down the senior hallway after changing out of my school uniform and into a medieval-era dress while students gathered before their classes started, giving looks of confusion as we walked past. When we finally arrived at the station at 8:00 and were informed we had the 9:45 time slot. In other words we had a lot of down time. Being able to practice our routine before performing dramatically helped calm our nerves and before we knew it, it was time to go on. After arriving back at school, my nerves finally calmed, and it was funny hearing teachers say, "I saw you on the news," because you knew there were multiple viewing parties going on at once. I am forever grateful being able to go to a school that cares about the fine arts and encourages students to participate and get recognized for their talents.

By Anna Cichelero '21 The Viz community recently celebrated Spanish Week, put on by Spanish Club. The Dia de los Muertos themed week was complete with decorations around the school, an empanada sale at lunch, and a drive to support a local elementary school in a primarily Hispanic community. The highlight of Spanish Week was the alpacas that came to school Monday morning. Students were able to feed and pet three fully grown alpacas and hold a baby alpaca to start off the week right. Thanks to Spanish club for putting on such a fun Spanish Week!

By Holly Hunt '20 The Viz Varsity Tennis Team is having yet again a fantastic year! The Vivettes won their district against arch rival MICDS. This win secured the team a spot to play against John Burroughs on 10/19 for Sectional finals. On the individual side, both Sophia and Suzanna McLellan are going to individual state for the doubles draw, and Laura Finnie will be representing Viz on the singles side. The team has worked really hard for the competition coming up that they will face at sectionals and hopefully state this year.

By Maddie Slade '20 The Lexus Eco Challenge is a challenge for middle school through high school students to participate in to bring awareness to issues affecting our environment. Each team decides one issue that they want to help resolve and how they will raise awareness/help resolve the problem. Our team (Concetta Squitieri, Leslie Viveros, Evie Revel, Elsie Ames, and Maddie Slade) decided to focus on pollution that comes from the fashion industry. The fashion industry is one of the highest polluting industries in the world. To raise awareness about this problem, we decided to upcycle. We contacted local clothing companies about using their old fabrics in our upcycling. When we received the fabrics, we cut, tied and sewed the materials to make hair ties, scrunchies, headbands, etc. Then, we handed them out to people as they came in Door 6 in the morning. Along with this, we made a website (https://sites.google.com/visitationacademy.org/urbanupcyclers/home) and Instagram account (@urban.upcyclers). In doing this project, we hope to inspire people in our community to do some upcycling of their own and improve their shopping habits.

By Sejal Sekhar '23 Being able to go on the ninth-grade class trip was an experience I will never forget. I was on the Birmingham bus and after what was a very eventful bus ride, we arrived at our first stop, 16th Street Baptist Church. This was a place I had read and learned about but being able to stand on the same ground that caused a shift in history rendered me speechless. So much history had been stored in this building and the experience set the mood for the whole trip. The next place that had a lot of impact on me was the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Walking through this museum was like walking through a timeline of freedom. The journey starts with the hope for freedom and acceptance, but when you go to the end it does not finish because freedom may have been earned, but acceptance is a never-ending battle. Slave Haven was my second stop in Memphis, and it showed me not only the struggle but the hope the black community had. Slave Haven was not only a house but a stop on the underground railroad. This was a place slaves came on their way to freedom. Another place that we went was the National Civil Rights Institute. When we first walked into the museum, we passed the Lorraine Motel. The Lorraine Motel was the last place Martin Luther King Jr. stood. I stopped in front of the balcony and I felt like I was on sacred ground. A man that has a day dedicated to him stood where I am standing now. I also learned that Rosa Parks did not give up her seat because she was tired from work, she was tired of giving in. She had Emmett Till on her mind which caused her to keep that seat on the bus. Emmett Till was a fourteen-year-old boy who was kidnapped and beaten to the point where the only recognizable thing about him was the ring on his finger. His mom held an open casket funeral to show the world what racism looked like. I did not know that the seven stops we made on this trip could impact me so much. Seeing what struggle came before me and how the journey for freedom and acceptance is not over yet made me feel like I had an experience with reality rather than just a textbook.

By Anna Cichelero '20 The varsity field hockey team has continued an exciting season, winning several big games to keep their ranking as sixth in the city. The team has been on a roll ever since they beat St. Joe in mid-September. The team also had an exciting game versus Villa, losing 2-0, but shutting down some of the top goal scorers in the city and putting up a fight against the top ranked team. In a high intensity game against Whitfield last Thursday, Viz defeated the #5 team in the city 4-2. The varsity team has a current record of 10-4 and the JV team has a record of 6-2. The field hockey spirit game is October 16th at Nerinx. Be sure to come and support your classmates at their last game of the regular season.

By Caroline Hanzlik '20 Saint Francis’ Flowers is a Viz environmental science team participating in the Lexus Eco Challenge competition. Our mission is to build a green roof at Viz in order to positively impact the environment and our school community. The green roof will specifically focus on improving the land, water, and air on our planet, as well as fight climate change. We have big things coming, just make sure to follow us and keep looking up! For more information on our project, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @stfrancisflowers Our website: https://gracekalil.wixsite.com/francisflowers Our team consists of Caroline Hanzlik '20, Grace Kalil '20, Brynn LaMear '20, Bailey McGartland '20, and Emily O’Connell '20.

By Katie French '20 The annual Visitation Fall Festival took place September 28th. There were so many fun activities for students of all ages. We had a bounce house and crafts for the little ones, and food trucks and performances for everyone to enjoy! Lions Choice, Truck Norris, Kona Ice, Sarah's Cake Shop, Crescent Coffee, and even the Father's Club Barbeque were all at Fall Fest! After the food trucks and booths closed, the fun continued! The cheerleaders put on a spectacular performance followed by a beautiful firework show in the lower field! After the fireworks, high school students headed to the gym for a future themed mixer with black lights, bubbles, music and more! Fall Festival was a success!

By Tori Woolbright '20 We are currently over half way through the season for cross-country. Now that we are finished with our hardest meet, Sioux Passage, we are excited for our future meets. Our next few races are fun and competitive and it will be exciting to see how the team performs. We have been very lucky with the girls that are on the team this year. We all get along very well and have a lot of fun together, but at the end of the day, we are all willing to work hard at practices and meets. The hard work we have put into this season will make an exciting second half of the season!

By Jane Miller '20 Over the summer, I had the incredible opportunity to study Arabic in Jordan through a state department program called NSLI-Y. Through living with a host family and attending an Arabic school, I was able to get a first hand look into daily life in the Middle East. It wasn't all work though-weekends were spent traveling to different places around Jordan such as Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. Not only was it a great educational and cultural experience, I also got to meet kids from all across America who have become some of my best friends. If you've ever had an interest in learning a language not taught at Viz, or if this program sounds like something you'd enjoy, now is your chance! NSLI-Y offers summer immersion scholarship programs in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Russian and Turkish. Programs are 6-8 weeks long and include a host family stay, along with a variety of cultural excursions. Applications are due on October 30th! Visit https://www.nsliforyouth.org/ for more information.

By Lucy Trover '22 (Now I might be a bit biased, but) Golf is the best sport at Viz. The team this year is so incredible and such a great group of people, and a special shout out to the seniors who are truly excelling. I don’t known what I’ll do without them next year. We are having a remarkable season so far, but would be nowhere without the outstanding coach, she truly has lead the team to greater heights and I think I speak for the team in saying that we would not be who or where we are without her. As the season is trickling out, all I can say is that we need to "turn on the birdie machine" for the road to state. Also, we wouldn’t be where we are without Paul Stoecklin who sends us those weekly reminders which bring joy and not only keep us going through the week, but to help us strive to play like there’s no tomorrow.