Each year the entire school community celebrates St. Stanislav’s Day to mark the feast of the Institution’s patron. We have the pleasure of inviting you to this year’s celebration which will be marked with holy mass and a solemn celebration on Thursday 12th November 2015. Holy mass will be celebrated at 3 p.m. in the parish church of St. Vitus in Ljubljana Šentvid by the Archbishop of Ljubljana Msgr. Stanislav Zore. The solemn celebration will take place at 5 p. m. in the new sports hall of the Alojzij Šuštar Primary School. Mr. Matjaž Barbo, musicologist, will hold the official speech. The performance will be given by the students of all schools in St. Stanislav’s Institution.

We look forward to meeting you.

Roman Globokar, Ph. D.
Director of St. Stanislav’s Institution

Missionary village, which took place in St. Stanislav’s Institution from 16th-17th October, 2015 is a yearly event organized by the Church, which provides a variety of activities and learning opportunities to meet the Slovene missionaries and their work in different parts of the world. This year’s guest of honour was fr. Pero Opeka, a Slovene priest and missionary, who has been working in Madagascar for four decades. He gave two speeches to students of DCG and Alojzij Šuštar Primary School on his rich experience and lifelong endeavours with Malagasy people and their well-being.

Eleven second year students of DCG visited Collegio Rotondi near Milano from 2nd-7th October 2015. They rarely set off on an exchange by train, however, this was the case this time. The weekend was spend with the hosting families, when mostly the highlights of Milano were enjoyed. During the weekdays students attended the classes and visited the Expo Exhibition in Milano. The main emphasis of the exchange was laid on geographical and cultural topics.

The mentor of the exchange was Mateja Gomboc, teacher of Slovene and Italian.

Congratulations go to the entire Slovene team of eight high-school students who participated in the 2015 International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. Naturally, we are especially proud of Nina! Students’ hard work and achievements are truly worthy of celebration!
Nina Jerala was chosen in the Slovene team based on her previous research work performed in academic year 2014/15, which was carried out in the National Institute of Chemistry Slovenia. The research was aimed at the reprogrammed E. coli for sustainable production of bio butanol, a highly effective biofuel, from butyric acid, which is a side product of anaerobic fermentation of waste. The research work took place throughout the academic year 2014/15.
Slovene students took part in the competition and iGEM HS conference from 24th-28th September, 2015 in Boston, USA. There they presented their poster, had a presentation and set up their web site. The Slovene team was nominated for the best Wiki, best presentation and the best integrated human practices. Moreover, they presented one of the five nominated projects for Grand Prize among 35 high schools worldwide. The Slovenes were awarded gold medal for the best high school project.
This was the first Slovene high school team to take part in the iGEM HS competition.

The 11th international football event was organized from 21st- 25thSeptember, 2015 at the DCG. It hosted young athletes from Italy (Liceo Scientifico Arturo Tosi, Busto Arsizio, Varese), Germany (Gymnasium Johanneum, Ostbevern), the Netherlands (St. Gregorious College, Utrecht), the Check Republic (Biskupska Gymnazium B Balbina Hradec, Kralove) and Slovenia (Moste Gymnasium) for the third time. Six boys and six girls teams took part in three-sided football. The Italians and students from Moste Gymnasium proved to be real masters of the game. This was not only sports competition time, but also days of culture and fun. Students went to see the Alpine area of Slovenia, Upper Carniola, where they visited the biggest and most modern Nordic skiing complex Planica Nordic Centre and some natural sights.

Next year the tournament will be held in Busto Arsizio in Italy.

If these become silent, the stones will cry out (Lk 19,40)

St. Stanislav’s Institution endured bright and dark moments in the history of the 20th century. Its creative life was first interrupted by WWI, when a large area of the building was turned into an army hospital. During WWII there was first a Nazi camp to assemble Slovenes who were to be expelled from the homeland, and immediately after the war the institution served as a concentration camp for the extermination of anticommunists. Most of the prisoners were taken to Kočevski Rog or other massacre sites in Slovenia. St. Stanislav’s Institution has thus become on several occasions a place of extreme human suffering. The memorial site Peace be with you honours all victims who suffered in this place. Visitors are invited to embrace silence, consider the respectful memory of the victims and refrain from any hatred and violence.

The memorial consists of seven stone blocks, which like the prisoners who occupied this space seventy years ago lie scattered over the entire area of St. Stanislav’s Institution. Five blocks can be found in the park and on green lawns, one is at the forum, and one is in the main building. The stone blocks are reminiscent of ruins, the ones in the park of nameless graves. Instead of names, the words Peace be with you (3 Jn 1,15), are engraved in the languages of those who suffered while here or after they were taken to execution. Are the seven stones actually seven graves? Are the engraved words possibly the voice of the dead, coming from the grave, or are these the words through which I would, if I could, talk to my dead brother? The memorial epitomizes Jesus’ answer to the question, how many times I shall forgive?: “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

Peace be with you was designed by architect Robert Dolinar in 2015 to comemmorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WWI and 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. The commemorative year was observed in St. Stanislav’s Institution under the motto: “I am here to love, not hate.”

President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor and the Minister of Education, Science and Sport dr. Maja Makovec Brenčič received on Saturday, 19th September, 2015 the cream of the crop of this year’s high-school Slovene graduates, who attained all possible points at Maturity examination. There are eighteen such graduates in Slovenia this year, among which also Ela Hudovernik, the DCG student, who not only gained all 34 points, but also obtained the best possible result in the country in mathematics. We congratulate Ela on her outstanding achievement and wish her all success in her future endeavours.

In the academic year 2014/15 already the 19th generation of DCG graduates has completed its education in St. Stanislav’s Institution. 2972 graduates have graduated since its reestablishment in 1993.
On the Maturity Exam results day, 13th July, 2015, graduates gathered to receive the Maturity Exam reports. This year 152 graduates appeared in the exam, the pass rate was 98,7%. The average point rate in 2015 at the DCG was 23,49 (last year 22,78), nationally 20,12. Out of total 34 points, 36 graduates gained 28 points, and 17 more than 30 points (nationally there are 320 of such graduates), which makes them Golden Graduates 2015. By far the most successful student this year is Ela Hudovernik, who has gained the maximum 34 points and scored the outstanding 100% at higher level mathematics examination, which is the best result in the country. The director of St. Stanislav’s Institution dr. Roman Globokar congratulated the graduates on their achievement and expressed enthusiasm for excellent exam results.

School is over and so are the maturity examinations, most of the planning for the following academic year as well as end-of-the-year trips for the employed in St. Stanislav’s Institution. We wish students, parents and teachers a joyous and relaxed time to rest their bodies, souls and mind. Let God guide your steps and see you at latest on September 1st.

Congratulations go to Nastja Maver, who is currently a student of special and rehabilitation education at the University of Ljubljana. The award has been granted by the Youth Council of Slovenia under the auspices of the president of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor and on the recommendation of The Slovene Association of Catholic Teachers, where Nastja takes active part in the program Man for others. In the past academic year she has carried out more than 1000 hours of voluntary work in various kindergartens, school and other institutions.