NIAGARA FALLS — The week of Aug. 7-11 was a flurry of activity as the St. Vincent de Paul Parish Center was transformed into Snowflake Station. During Vacation Bible School Week, the program Operation Arctic Adventure was used, and over 35 children learned about the "coolest book on the planet," the Bible.

ST. BONAVENTURE — A new research center at St. Bonaventure University will begin looking this fall at the cognitive impact of students bringing cell phones into the classroom.

Trocaire College is pleased to announce its new Brewing, Distilling and Fermentation Science program, officially launching its first course on Sept. 20 under the Workforce Development arm of the college.

EAST AURORA - The annual fall campaign for Christ the King Seminary will be held in September throughout the Diocese of Buffalo, with a goal of $350,000. President-Rector Father Joseph Gatto said funds raised will help support the seminary's mission to educate sponsored candidates for the priesthood, as well as permanent deacons, and religious and lay ministers enrolled in graduate programs. The campaign will also help focus attention on the many activities that take place at the seminary year-round.

St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute is pleased to announce that its annual open house for prospective students and their families will take place on Sunday, October 1 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Monday, October 2 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Prospective students, currently in grades 5 through 8, and their families are welcome. No reservations are necessary.

Mount St. Mary Academy represented the United States in an international business competition this summer. Two teams from the Kenmore school's SAGE program went up against school-based businesses from 26 different countries as part of the SAGE World Cup. Both teams, representing for-profit and not-for-profit businesses took home fourth place awards.

NIAGARA FALLS — This year, students at Niagara Catholic Jr./Sr. High School will be learning about the many ways the world, and their own school, have changed since 1927. It's a creative way to mark how four different schools spanned nine decades of Catholic education on 66th Street.

Educational technology travels at lightning speed. Interactive whiteboards, which took classrooms by storm just a decade ago, have gone the way of the blackboard. The latest teaching tool is the LED touch screen.

After greeting students as they stepped off of school buses on Main Street in Buffalo Wednesday, Bishop Richard J. Malone went inside and joined some of them in a drum session on the first day of classes at St. Joseph University School.

With enrollment trending downward in both public and private schools throughout Western New York, private school closings and district consolidations have become common. However, St. Peter School in Lewiston was able to buck this trend by increasing enrollment from a population in the 70s four years ago to a total of 198 students in the 2016-17 year, necessitating renovations to the school building.

As we begin the 2017-2018 school year, there is much to applaud. Our 2017 graduates garnered almost $4 million in high school scholarships, and our high school graduates secured over $300 million in college awards. We expect no less of the Class of 2018.

TONAWANDA — Thomas Wilkie and Tim Adowski, Cardinal O'Hara High School class of 2010, returned to the school earlier this year to demonstrate Storillo, an online program that facilitates student collaboration on group projects, which they developed.

KENMORE — St. John the Baptist School recently dedicated the Elaine Cambria Memorial Signpost in honor of a beloved teacher who spent most of her 37-year career teaching kindergarten at the school and passed away earlier this year. Faculty and students presented the dedication in conjunction with the annual kindergarten play, a tradition that Cambria had initiated decades ago. Her son John and granddaughter Hannah represented the family at the ceremony.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY — Niagara University has announced that it will participate in New York state's Enhanced Tuition Award program, the tuition assistance program for private colleges and university students available under the state's Excelsior Scholarship legislation.

Villa Maria College has begun construction to expand its existing athletic facilities.

WASHINGTON, DC (CNA/EWTN News) - Parochial schools are better at their task than public schools, say respondents to a survey of Americans' attitudes towards varieties of schooling.

Niagara University will welcome its freshmen and transfer students to campus during Move-In Day on Friday, Aug. 25, beginning at 8 a.m.

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., Aug. 15, 2017 — Students who are new to the Bona family will begin arriving at St. Bonaventure University Aug. 24 for Welcome Days 2017, a four-day program hosted the weekend before classes begin.

While teachers who work in any diocesan Catholic schools often feel the pinch of budgetary concerns, this becomes even more of a concern in low-income areas where students' families find it difficult to afford school supplies, requiring teachers to buy them. However, thanks to the efforts of a retired autoworker and substitute teacher, The Teacher's Desk, located just off of Main Street in the city of Buffalo, has let teachers in eligible schools in Western New York shop for donated supplies free of charge since 2011.

The Buffalo Diocese' STREAM program has proven to be a model of education for the nation. Representatives from Buffalo led a two-day conference to teach other educators how to make the tech program work in their schools. Jean Comer, diocesan STREAM coordinator, and Shelly Reidy, diocesan professional development coordinator, traveled to Chicago's Loyola University to explain and demonstrate how to deliver the principles of STREAM education to the classrooms, school or diocese.

WILLIAMSVILLE — It has been an exciting year for STREAM at St. Gregory the Great School. St. Greg's has adopted the STREAM culture implementing, and building onto, much of the initiative curriculum. Teachers are planning their teaching around core principles of collaboration through interdisciplinary lessons and hands-on learning experiences, especially through use of the engineering design process.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe approved over $4.8 million in funding for 206 projects in 22 countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

St. Gregory the Great Parish & School is excited to welcome Mrs. Julie Gajewski as the new School Principal. Mrs. Gajewski joins St. Gregory's after serving as Principal of the Intermediate Education Center, a school that serves Grades 3-5 in the Lewiston-Porter Central School District.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY — A new research grant will allow a Niagara University senior to determine why Niagara Falls may lag behind comparable stateside tourist destinations when it comes to eradicating poverty and growing its tourism economy.

A family from Congo, Africa received many helping hands from the students, parents, and faculty of St. John the Baptist School in Kenmore. Under the guidance of James Werick, the school's Dean of Discipline, students collected furniture, household items, clothing, and food to help settle the family of four. "Our students performed a wonderful act of kindness for a young family who has nothing and is fleeing unimaginable hardship, desperately seeking a new life in our country," states Werick. "This project helped in a very substantial way—working to create a welcoming home for our family."

Canisius College hosted a weeklong immersion experience for high school students to expose them to the wonders of faith and tragedies of injustice in the city of Buffalo. The Be the Light Youth Theology Institute welcomed 10 students from July 10-15.

KENMORE — The Briana Talty Memorial Scholarship was recently awarded at St. John the Baptist School in honor of Briana Talty, the school's Spanish teacher, who passed away earlier this year. Families and friends of both St. John's and Talty established a memorial scholarship to honor the beloved teacher. Talty's parents and members of her family joined St. John the Baptist's principal, Cynthia Jacobs, at the ceremony to present the scholarship awards to the recipients, eighth-grader Alyssa Barnum and seventh-grader Colin Richey.

For 70 years, Mary Queen of Angels Regional Catholic School served Cheektowaga and surrounding municipalities of Western New York, most of this time under its former name, Queen of Martyrs School. However, as the 2016-17 school year came to a close, the MQA community recognized the end of its era with a special field day of activities on June 2 and a Mass celebrating the school's history on June 21.

Niagara University has announced that it will participate in New York State's Enhanced Tuition Award (ETA) program, the tuition assistance program for private colleges and university students available under the state's Excelsior Scholarship legislation.

As part of its participation in the diocesan STREAM initiative at local Catholic schools, St. Mary School in Swormville recently opted to take STREAM, usually an acronym standing for science, technology, religion, engineering, art and mathematics, literally. Polly Lougen's third-, fourth- and fifth-grade science classes hatched and raised brown trout eggs and fry (baby fish) in the school's science lab, which the Department of Environmental Conservation later released in Glen Park's Ellicott Creek in Williamsville.

William Mariani, Ed.D., D'Youville College's executive vice president, Administrative Affairs, died following a brief illness Sunday, June 25, at Gates Vascular Institute in Buffalo. He was 67.

Southtowns Catholic School of St. John Paul II Parish, Lake View, is pleased to announce the hiring of Marc Bandelian as its new principal effective July 5, 2017. Bandelian is replacing Mrs. Judith MacDonald who is retiring this summer after serving as principal for the last fifteen years.

On the afternoon of April 26, Bishop Richard J. Malone received a special gift, a prayer book containing a compilation of prayers from the St. John the Baptist Parish community in Kenmore, from three of its parishioners. The bishop met with Ray Metzger, treasurer of the parish's Holy Name Society; Mary Porter, who originally came up with the idea for the book from her sister, a former Sister of St. Mary of Namur, and Porter's grandson, Ethan Franz, currently a fourth-grade student at St. John the Baptist School.

LEWISTON, NY - Under a clear blue, nearly-summer sky on Monday morning, students at St. Peter R.C. School broke ground for what will be the school's new playground. One student per grade was selected via a lottery to participate in the actual digging, each donning a matching shovel and hard hat. Construction of the playground will begin over the summer and means students should have a dedicated space for outdoor learning, active play, team sports and physical activity by the first week of the next school year.

Thomas Merton may have been the most influential American Catholic author of the 20th century, and some of his most spiritually formative years were spent at St. Bonaventure University. It seems only fitting that the scenic university in Cattaraugus County will host the 15th general meeting and conference for the International Thomas Merton Society from June 15-18.

TONAWANDA — The 2017 Ken-Ton Friends of Youth Shining Stars Dinner, held April 26 at the Tonawanda Castle, awarded grants to seven deserving college-bound high school seniors.

KENMORE — St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute's Collegiate Summer is back. The popular summer program held annually is open for registration. This four-week summer program is designed to help young men prepare for high school and have some fun.

It seems evident that Catholic schools are a viable, hopeful alternative to other kinds of schools in our community. But, over the years, it has become increasingly important to point out a significant fact about them. Catholic schools enroll a diverse population of rich, poor, black, white, Catholic, non-Catholic, smart and not-so-smart students.

You could call the former Bishop Fallon High School "the school that keeps on giving." Even though it has been closed since 1975, its Alumni Association has managed to raise nearly $100,000 for Catholic education over the past 13 years through an annual golf tournament. This year, that tournament is scheduled for Monday, June 19 at Lancaster Country Club.

He's the superintendent of Buffalo Public Schools, but Dr. Kriner Cash spent some time touring Catholic Academy of West Buffalo on Tuesday, May 23. It was an idea inspired months ago during a conversation between Dr. Cash and Bishop Richard J. Malone.