President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor and the Minister of Education, Science and Sport dr. Maja Makovec Brenčič received on Saturday, 8th October 2016 the cream of the crop of this year’s high-school Slovene graduates, who attained all possible amount of points at Maturity examination. There are nineteen such graduates in Slovenia, among who also three from the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium: Živa Dolenšek, Eva Gričar and Eva Kržišnik.

The President pointed out on this occasion that it is the young who enter the world with an opportunity to change it. “ Your knowledge offers self-confidence and prevents you from others taking important decisions instead of you. /…/ You shall have this power and I wish you to use it for good and noble goals. It is up to you to improve the society we live in.” We congratulate Živa, and both Evas on their outstanding achievement and wish them all success in their future endeavours. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

From 26th – 30th September 2016 the traditional international sport event took place in Busto Arsizio, Varese. Apart from the Slovene and Italian teams, there were also high school students from The Check Republic, Germany and the Netherlands. The event was the twelfth in a row, this time dedicated to headball with 21 matches taking place. The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium took the second place, after the match result being a draw (14:14), and the hosting school Liceo Scientifico Statale Arturo Tosi winning the point of a difference after a penalty shoot-out. Beside competitions, teachers took part in the International conference on new teaching methods and proper nutrition for athletes. /Tea Obrč, PE Teacher, exchange coordinator/

26th September 2016 marks the 15th anniversary of the European Day of Languages. The aims of the event as declared by the Council of Europe are to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding, to encourage lifelong language learning and to promote Europe’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity. Thanks to cultural institutes such as the Goethe Institut, the Institut Français and the British Council, the European Day of languages is nowadays widely celebrated especially in schools.

St. Stanislav’s Insitution is no exception. The event took place already for the ninth year in a row. Back then it all started with DCG students presenting basic language skills to pupils of the Alojzij Šuštar Primary School in seven different languages taught at the DCG. This meant using English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Latin and classical Greek. Lately teachers of foreign languages at the DCG devised riddles and other challenging tasks in the above mentioned languages through which students displayed their knowledge of the language as well as culture, history and geography of the respected country. This year students had to define the origin of photographs with various motifs from different European countries. Students with the most correct answers in the shortest amount of time received a practical award. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

 

 Arrival Day, Sunday, 25^th September 2016

Today, on 25th September at 10.15 you can see in front of St. Stanislav’s Institution a group of pupils wearing blue hoodies, waiting for a drive. Ten students, three teachers and one destination: FRANCE. Last year we hosted pupils from five countries namely Bulgaria, Scotland, France, Germany adn Slovenia as a part of Erasmus + project and this year it is our turn to go somewhere new. This is the one but last exchange to happen as a part of Erasmus + project, that is also why we are all even more excited. With  students  we are preparing a little show that will take place in the most known part of Paris. But first, we will drive to Venice and from there fly to Paris, where our hosting families will pick us up. Thus, our »bonjour and croissant journey« will begin. /Anika Odar, year 3/

 

Day one, Monday, 26th September 2016 – The City of Love

My first day in France began with a song. It must have been love. I woke up and realized it was pretty cold even though I had a really warm pyjama. I hurried and dressed up and went to get some breakfast. After that, Ruby (a friend from Scotland), Claire (my host) and I went to St. Dominique, the school, where we got instructions for the following day. We also got really cute sketch books for drawing as a welcoming present. Then we were divided into three groups that visited the city separately.

Our group went to a very nice house called Lalique. The facade is decorated with spruce trunks and leaves. It looks really odd, but nice. I liked it quite a lot. Then we walked to the Alexander III Bridge that symbolizes peace between Russia and France. We spent a lot of tim e looking at all the elements of the bridge. We walked over the bridge on one side and then back on the other, and stopped at each of the statues on it. After that, we walked to the Grand Palais where we took our first group photo.We also walked over the Elysian field on our way to a park where we had lunch. It was beautiful and the sun came out of the clouds so it was warm too, but we did not know if we could walk on the grass, so we just stayed on the bench and ate our sandwiches.

The Maxim’s was our next stop. It is a private collection of the Art nouveau paintings, furniture, decorations, etc. It has been a great privilege to come and see such a collection, however I did not like the guide, though. The old opera house and Galeries Lafayette were left for the end of the day and it was a perfect ending. The Lafayette is breath-taking and I liked the view from the roof a lot. I fell in love with the ‘city of love’ the first time I visited it and I’m definitely coming back. The city is so lovely and it has really great buildings which I personally love. I will be back on Friday. /Monika Lah, year 3/

Day two, Tuesday, 27th September 2016

Today was the second day of the Erasmus exchange. After the first day in Paris, which was quite tiring, we started today on much easier feet. It was the first day of workshops. We started at 8:45 in the morning, which was kind of late for us, but quite early for the French. We got separated in 3 groups and each group was doing a different task. The first group was creating movies, the second group was working with clay and the third one, which I was a part of, was making stained glass. Our group was led by a French stain glassmaker. He was a very kind and funny man. He only spoke French so we also had a translator who was even funnier than him. Our work began with a design in our head. Then we had to draw our design on a piece of card board. After doing so, we numbered our stencil, traced our picture twice on a thinner see-through paper and thus our work was done for today. We also learned how to cut glass and how to use it properly. In the afternoon we had a lecture about motion picture and after that we watched the movie called Midnight in Paris. We finished our day with a very French like (rather slow) flashmob rehearsal, which we would dance on Friday in front of the Eiffel tower in Paris. /Jerica Korpnik, year 3/

Day three, Wednesday, 28th September 2016

The third day of Erasmus+ exchange is coming to its finish line but my description of this day is just about to get started. Firstly, I have to say that I am becoming a bigger fan of French breakfast with every following morning. A French baguette with some butter as well as marmalade with chocolate croissants perfectly melt in the mouth. In the school, my team and I continued with creating the movie, which is going to be finished tomorrow. We filmed our story that we had written yesterday and tomorrow we are going to put all the clips together and make the real film. It definitely is an interesting experience; firstly because I work with students from other countries (Germany, Scotland, Romania) and secondly because we had to think about how to shoot the clips to make the best out of it. Our concern was also the fact that we were using costumes. After lunch, I attended another workshop where we were making jewellery. I am the only guy in the Slovenian team at this exchange but that’s OK and I am the only guy at this workshop as well but honestly I have no idea what I’m doing there. We have that workshop tomorrow as well so we can finish our job and I am going to use my necklace as a gift when we get back to Slovenia (if it looks nice of course). At the end, we practised the dance for the Friday’s flash mob and I think we are doing pretty well. Anyhow, I have to say that the day was interesting. We learned a lot of new things and will surely continue with that tomorrow and that’s why I’m really looking forward to the following day. /Tim Gregorčič, year 3/

Day four, Thursday, 29th  September 2016

The penultimate day of Art Nouveau – art Renouveau exchange in France was meant to finish our weekly work and prepare well for our flash mob, which will take place on Friday in Paris.

After our arrival to school, we were divided into groups for our morning workshops, like on Tuesday and Wednesday. Together with Jerica we were in stain glass workshop. When we arrived to our working place, we were positively surprised, because the background for our stained glass has already been cut and prepared to put the pieces together. With that move, Mr Jean Claude made our work easier, because we were able to start constructing together all the pieces immediately. When Mr Jean Claude was showing us how to work, everything seemed very simple, but we soon discovered it was anything but easy. In fact, putting pieces together was very demanding. As the pieces did not match perfectly, we had to cut them all over again or adjust the edges. That took up a lot of time, so we only partly finished our masterpieces. Luckily, Mr Jean Claude kindly offered his help to finish our work. For the Friday’s exhibition, hopefully the stained glass master will succeed in finishing our work.

After lunch, we got back to school, where we were divided into groups for the afternoon workshops. We took part in glass workshop. We felt overwhelmed, especially Katarina, because we have finally had the opportunity to learn how to create pearls from Murano glass. Glass was in a form of a small stick, so it was easier to deal with the task. We took the glass stick in one hand and the metallic one in the other hand. Under the flame we first warmed up the metallic stick and then we slowly started to smelt the glass. As the glass was smelting, we wrapped it around the metallic stick. When we were happy with our pearl, we took it away from the flame and waited until it cooled down and solidified. With the pearl, we could create a piece of jewellery which was to be exhibited on Friday.

The day ended with our last rehearsal for the flash mob in Paris. This time we all had our “country shirt”- Slovenians the green ones – and we all together, this time almost professionally, rehearsed the entire choreography. Satisfied with our performance we went to our host families. /Katarina Babič and Katja Jenko, year 3/

 

Flash News: Fancy a Visit Chez Maxim’s?

Monday, 26th September 2016, brought about many surprises. It was the first time for me to wake up in a French bed, drive around with a Frenchman, look at the Eiffel Tower and visit  Maxim’s. Maxim’s is the fanciest restaurant in Paris. In the time of Art Nouveau all the French  – young and old – who were ready to dance to a spectacular music and see some friends or courtesans, met there. The film Midnight in Paris (which we watched on Tuesday) showed us what a party at Maxim’s looked like. A lot of elegant dresses, alcohol and some food.

Now in 2016 you can also feel the energy of the early nineties on a tourist visit around the house or at night when this place is a restaurant. For one person it costs 200€ to get “an art nouveau” night. However, it costs you less money if you take a tour during the day. Here is a part of their menu so that you get an impression of how much money we are talking about: Maxim’s Nest Salad 27 €, Poached quail eggs with Baeri caviar (30 gr) 125 €, Duck paté with foie gras and truffles 43 €, Baeri caviar with blinis (50 gr) 197 €, Roasted fillet of beef, reduced sauce with black truffles and puffed potatoes 103 €, Edward VII Lamb chops with artichokes puree and glazed turnips. 78 €, Fresh and ripened cheeses assortment 25 €, Coffee 9 €

So, how does it look like it? Nowadays we would say that it is too much. Too many flowers, too many vases and too many oval sculptures. On the ground floor there is a restaurant, with a bar, many tables and a dance floor and stage. Art nouveau is all about nature, animals and women. Even the lamp is no exception. After that, there is the first floor, there are some rooms, and two of them are decorated with mirrors on the opposite walls, so the room seems bigger. They are for rent if you want to host a party and if you want to make it special. You can also write on the invitation that one time even Mary Antoinette danced in those rooms. The view is very French, too. On the second floor, you can see in one room an exhibition of vases from different countries and furniture of oval shape and with flowers to open the drawer. Pierre Cardin, the owner of the place, had collected the items for 60 years. When you go through different rooms you meet women of art nouveau, one you will definitely recognise is a film actress Sarah Bernhardt during the First World War. She showed commitment to her nation through her participation in performances at the front, appearance in propaganda productions and the campaign suggesting  the United States to enter the war. She was also called “The Divine Sarah”. And if you are lucky enough there will be a really into “art nouveau” man, who represents the period as if it was now. If you want to see all this by yourself do it quickly because the owner is an old man and when someone else buys the Maxim’s, it is not sure what he will do with it. It might even become a shop. It is definitely worth going to Paris and see it. /Monika Lah and Anika Odar, year 3/

 

After the April enjoyable meeting in St. Stanislav’s Institution third year students are off to Senlis, France. The exchange with Lycee Saint-Vincent will take place from 29th September – 4th October 2016 and bears the title »Things seen, things said« /Choses vues, choses dites/.

Senlis is a medieval town with long and rich heritage. The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived here, the place is especially renowned for the gothic cathedral and its vast historical monuments. The planned visits of sights will serve as a starting point for further creative activities within various workshops including literature, theatre, chansons and movie making. The characteristics of French and Slovene culture will be presented through skits, videos and songs. As usual, the aim of the exchange is to discover local ways of life, language, culture and, last but not least, to hang out with French peers and promote friendship among nations. From both parties this includes 50 students and six teachers all together. /Daša Deželak Obrč, mentor of the exchange/

 

The DCG fosters visiting foreign countries mainly to discover the regional characteristics, city architecture, history, culture, language, local ways of life and strengthen class ties. Third-year students have just returned from their seven-day trips to France, Greece, Spain, Germany, Austria and Switzerland – depending on which second language they learn. Naturally, there were plenty of opportunities to use the respected language in action with native speakers. Such excursions are a perfect boost also to collective consciousness of belonging to the European cultural space. Now it is time to bring the acquired knowledge into life! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

To be merciful means to walk the path with fellow men trying to find out what they actually need, which is usually not what they ask for. To become a neighbour is a matter of heart.

With the above words and the question from the parable of the Good Samaritan teachers from St. Stanislav’s Institution tried to pursue the path to children, pupils and students who are entrusted to our care. It was the archbishop of Ljubljana Msgr. Stanislav Zore, who was the keynote speaker on the annual education day, which took place on 23rd August 2016. The director of St. Stanislav’s Institution dr. Roman Globokar emphasised the purpose of this day, which is to continue last year theme on the protection of the environment, pay respect to the holy year of mercy, deal with refugee crisis, consider Pope’s messages of encouragement and embody the mission statement of St. Stanislav’s Institution. This is to foster the integral personal growth of each individual in the community, guided by faith, hope and love and in dialogue with the world, with the goal of living fully for the betterment of the world. Both speakers encouraged teachers and educators to live the example of Samaritan: he listened to his heart ignoring the rules; he was not afraid of actually meeting the man who fell into the hands of robbers; and finally he did not leaveude the wounded man out, but stood by him.

“Who is my neighbour?” is the key question teachers and students in St. Stanislav’s Institution will try to answer in a variety of ways throughout the academic year 2016/17. The answer will especially come true in our everyday life, to which we are looking forward, as it is the most precious gift of God. /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

 

The third transnational project meeting of Art Nouveau – Art Renouveau took place from 1st–5th July 2016 and was organized by Constantin Catacuzino National College from Târgovişte. The activities of the second year of the project were reviewed and evaluated: it was found out that all activities were carried out according to the plan made at the second TPM in Bulgaria. Three teaching learning activities were organized starting with the first in Rumania, followed by the second in Slovenia and ending with the one in Bulgaria. Around 100 students were involved in each, either travelling, hosting or organizing activities. They were accompanied by 17 teachers. The response from all active participants was positive with many ideas for further cooperation among partners and outer organizations. The results of the project are regularly published in local newspapers and other media. Plans for the third year of the project were discussed since it will be a another busy year with two Teaching Learning Activities on their way in the coming academic year (France in September and Germany in April) and final reports to be written. The hosts organized a wonderful programme where the Art Nouveau town trail on Târgovişte was tested. The trail was designed during the project. We had an Art Nouveau tour around Bucharest, which was flourishing at the time and with many houses built in the Art Nouveau style called Little Paris. Alenka Battelino, Daša Oberč and Bernarda Podlipnik from St. Stanislav’s Institution participated in the event. /Alenka Battelino, project coordinator/

Chamber Choir Megaron, which consists of Diocesan Classical Gymnasium alumni, participated in the International Choir Festival Vratislava Sacra, which took place in Wrocław, Poland from 3rd to 5th June 2016. The Chamber choir Megaron, under the conductorship of Damijan Močnik,  won in two categories, namely in the category of mixed choirs and in the one of orthodox music interpretation. The Grand prix was awarded to Chamber Choir Megaron for the best choir of the festival out of twenty-one participating choirs. The above mentioned festival is meant for amateur choirs from all over Europe and the USA. The festival’s goal is to promote high level sacred choral music.

We offer our sincere congratulations to the all Chamber Choir Megaron singers and the conductor Damijan Močnik! /Lily Schweiger Kotar/

 

A seminar for high-school teachers of biology, chemistry and physics will take place on Thursday, 2nd June 2016 at The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium in St. Stanislav’s Institution. The results of a two-year Erasmus+ project under KA2 (Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices) entitled Natural Science for Social Impact, will be presented. After the introduction, science workshops will be organized. About 15 participants are expected and they will receive a collection of 62 natural science units, which is one of the project results. /Nasta Zupančič, project coordinator/