Senior Choristers for today.  You guys are the best!
Special thanks to Mrs. Adler for the AWESOME photos of today!


Today at Morning Praise, Ms. Bellamy, one of the sacristans at the Cathedral,
spoke to us about where the name "Ave Maris Stella" came from.


BFFs


Break time


How many things can you do while hula hooping?


Today, Ms. Strandberg came to sing Mr. Soule's Ave Maris Stella with us.
This piece is challenging, but it's really coming together!
It will be exciting to record it tomorrow.


Mr. Fryer leads us in a rhythm exercise.  Clapping is a great way to learn rhythm.


What do you think?  Today we reflected on Choir Camp,
what we want to be when we grow up, and wrote
some thank you notes, too!  You can read
our thoughts at the bottom of this page.


Father Ryan celebrated Mass with us this afternoon.
We learned about another title of Mary: Ark of the Covenant.
Do you remember why Mary is called the ark?


Say CHEESE!




After Mass, we had lunch al fresco!  (That means outside! :))


Ms. Laughlin gave us a tour of images of Mary in St. James.




The stars on the ceiling of the Mary Shrine (and on our t-shirts) aren't just decoration!
They are an actual star map of the night sky over the Cathedral
on the night it was dedicated, December 22, 1994.


We also had a tour of the attic with Dr. Kraus.




Then, it was time for more practice in preparation for our big recording
session and concert tomorrow.  We hope you can all come to the
concert at 1:15pm tomorrow!

Greetings from the famous composer,
Father Michael Joncas!

Dear James,
How kind of you to send me this note of encouragement.  Since I've done a few settings of the Benedictus, which one has the children's Schola Cantorum found useful? Know that I will keep them, you, and your ministry in my prayers.

Blessings,   Fr. Jan Michael Joncas
Associate Professor of Catholic Studies University of St. Thomas  

Words to describe all our volunteers

• Kind, fun, caring and talented
• Awesome, funny, respectful, tan, friendly
• Helpful, fabulous, creative, kind, generous, magnificent, terrific, and most of all outstandingly thoughtful.  They are caring and tender.
• Thank you, awesome, nice, funny, helpful, full of happiness, and for being the best.
• Supportive, nice, caring, courageous.
• Kind, sweet, generous, and thoughtful.
• Amazing, helpful, kind, compassionate, thoughtful, and nice.
• Helpful, kind, respectful
• Helpful, respectful, my mom, supportive
• Amazing, fun, caring, loving, smart
• Helpful, kind, watchful, and loving
• Helpful, kind, generous, hard-working, awesome, and supercalifragilisticexpialidociously spectacular!
• Nice, cool
• Superb, extreme, helpful, kind
• They are helpful, nice, they help us when we are behind.
• Helpful, sweet, kind
• Our volunteers are fun, kind, helpful
• Helpful and nice
• Kind and helpful
• Helpful, supportive, caring, thoughtful, kind and much more!  Thank you so much for all you do, and have done!
• Kind, quiet, gentle, nice, spectacular, generous, and helpful.
• AMAZINGLYCOOLTOSUPREMEAWESOMENESS (yes, that’s one word)
• Thank you for helping out Ms. Sunde and everyone else J
• Nice, sweet, helpful
• Awesome, cool, sweet, helpful leaders
• Thank you for helping out this week.  You were thoughtful, kind, and a greater help
• Helpful
• Kind, helpful, professional
• Helpful, nice, caring, funny, and positive.  Generous, progressive, enjoyable, and inspiring above all else!
• Fun, kind, smart, and funny.
• Awesome, thoughtful, talkative.
• Nice, flexible, and helpful.
• Awesome, fun, cool
• Kind, careful, helpful
• Motherly, brotherly, caring, responsible, and watchful
• Excited, hard-working, helpful, willing!
• I love all of our volunteers because if they were not here Choir Camp could not happen.
• Fun, cool, awesome, wonderful, and fabulous.
• Nice, helpful.
• Awesome, great, best.
• They are all kind.  When I hurt my foot they were quick to help me.
• Thank you for caring and helping us and for helping sing.
• Kind, fun, smart, funny, unique and great to be around.
• Cool, helpful, awesome

   

Choir Camp…

• Is the most awesomest place in the whole entire world
• Is cool
• Is fun, challenging, amazing, and just COOL!  I will look forward to next August!  I hope Choir Camp never stops!
• Is fun because we are going to make a CD
• Is a big challenge but it is lots of fun!
• Is AWESOME!
• Is great
• is the best thing EVER.  It helps me be the best singer I can be.
• Is a great place to be!  Also I love to sing!
• Is great because I made 14 new friends.  I will remember all of them, and I hope that I see all of them in the fall.
• Is more than just a camp.  It is a reflection, and although it annually means summer’s death, it brings around birth, re-birth, and growth of friendships, understanding, and talent.
• Is totally awesome!  You learn about the Catholic faith and music at the same time.  The teachers are amazing and the schedule is perfect!
• Is very enjoyable for me because I get to meet a lot of new people and I get to learn so many new songs.  I think it is very neat that we have morning praise every morning.
• Is fun, boring, awesome, and full of surprises.
• I love Choir Camp.  I wish it was 9 to 12 but it is really fun.
• Is a time for me to sing praise to God and have a good time.
• Is so so so awesome.
• Is the best.
• Is amazing with its teachers to music to friends and to snack!
• Was very fun and interesting.  I enjoy it very much and made new friends.
• Is exciting.
• Has been amazing.  I love singing and being with my friends.  During the year I don’t see all my friends here, I’m so happy I can see them at Choir Camp.
• Is fun because I get to see and meet new friends during the summer.
• Is fun and tiring.
• Is full of surprises and I’m glad that I was able to join.
• Is truly amazing for me because I feel not only do we get to sing, but we also build confidence!
• Is amazing!  I love the singing and the camp store.  Even the morning offering.  I can’t wait for next year!
• Is such an unbelievable experience.  It is my first year and I am having such a fun and joyful time.  It is also helping me get closer to God, and I’m learning lots about singing.
• Is really fun, and if you like to sing go to Choir Camp!
• Is fun and exciting!
• Choir Camp is fun, kind, musicful,, I am having fun, I am sad Choir is almost over.
• Is special.
• Is fun but we work very hard so we get tired but I love to sing for people or just practice and Choir Camp lets us do that in a group.
• Is fun!  I am enjoying everyone (and myself)
• Is very very very fun and I think it’s fun because of the new song I learned
• Is one of the few places I learn loads, have fun, keep myself occupied, enjoy myself, and go crazy!
• Is very fun, and not all work.  It is very amazing.
• Is an amazing experience.  You have a great time exploring the history of the Church and music.
• Is where I have friends, meet new ones, and see old ones.  Where I can sing till my head explodes!!
• Makes me tired.
• Is my FAVORITE PART OF THE SUMMER EVERY YEAR.  I can’t say school year Choir isn’t part of the summer and is still fun.  It was a lot different than I expected and really is awesome every time.
• Is an amazing educational and fun place.  I look forward to it all year and I’m always blown away.  At Choir Camp I feel safe, I can be me and go for solos and not have to hide or be someone else.  I love Choir Camp and I’m so sad that this was my last year.
• Choir Camp is so cool!  I really love it!  It’s so much fun to learn about Mary and sign at the same time!
• Is awesome.  It could never be better.
• Is such a fun experience.  It helped me so much with my singing.  And i have a lot more friends.  Choir Camp is the BEST and I hope I can come every year!
• Is fun, exciting, and I love it all.  In the end it is tiring and working but I enjoy it.
• Is really fun and all the kids and staff members are really kind.

   

   

When I grow up I want to…

• Help the poor
• Be a teacher, a babysitter, and to live in California
• Sing, be a skier, dance, get married, still be friends with my choir friends, travel the world, have a big family.
• Become a marine biologist and save the things in the ocean that don’t have rights at all.  And start a program to do it.
• Sing for some religious group or choir.  I would also love to see the Pope at World Youth Day.
• Be a teacher, be a mom, sing and plan weddings, and drive a light green Volkswagen bug.
• Be a lawyer.
• Move to either London or Paris and get a good job there!!
• Be a professional horseback rider and/or singer
• Be an awesome singer like Ms. Gilmore and Ms. Sunde, an awesome conductor like Mr. Fryer.
• Be a lawyer.
• Become a marine biologist and hopefully run professional track, and share my knowledge and talents.
• Have fun, work hard, be smart, sing!, be productive, be appreciated, be needed.
• Be a singer.
• Don’t know quite yet.
• Get a job somewhere.
• Be a mom, a choir director, a composer, a birthing baby assistant, a photographer, an acealigest
• Be an actress, a singer, and have my own TV show, a clothing line just like Selena Gomez
• Be an artist.  I want to draw freely, I want to paint with beautiful colors, I want to be who I want to be.
• Be a doctor.  I also would like to help people with their faith and bring people to the Catholic Church.  I would love to keep on singing, dancing, acting, and more.
• Be an artist/mom, with a family of three kids.  I also want to visit Switzerland from time to time because it’s fabulous there and because it’s my culture!
• Become a professional psalmist, cantor, and concert pianist!
• Travel the world and maybe try to get an acting career.  And if that’s not possible then my last option is to settle down and raise a family as a mom.
• Be a fashion designer and travel the world.
• Be a doctor or work at Google, or be a musician, or become a governor, senator, or president.
• Be a teacher to 7th and 8th graders.  I also want to have a family.
• Be a priest.
• Be a game designer.
• Keep singing and become a veterinarian and be an amazing musician and person altogether.
• Travel the world.
• Be an actor, engineer and video game designer.
• Have a blessed life with a large family in health.
• Be a pro biker.
• Be a nun and a nurse.
• Go to every state in the US and also travel some more of the world.
• Pursue my passions such as running, writing, singing, playing soccer, and reading.
• Make a life for many people, which will make a great, happy, friend-filled life for myself.  By helping others, I make myself successful!
• Be a mother and a midwife.
• Be an author or a veterinarian or star in a couple plays on Broadway.
• Be a photographer and other things.
• Sing!
• Live on a farm with my family and have lots of pets.
• Be a singer and a pianist, and hairstyles and designer.  Mostly pianist, singer, and designer.
• Be a medic, an artist, and a pilot.
• A famous Nascar driver.
• Be a veterinarian.

   

I know I am special because…

• People ask me to do advanced stuff.
• I’m built for speed.
• I have lots of talent and I work hard to fix my mistakes.
• People love me and I’m creative.
• Every one has special gifts and places in the world.  I know that my special gifts and my place in the world are just as special as everyone else’s.
• I’m just special and I know it.
• I am God’s child.
• Ms. Sunde always makes us feel that way when she talks to us.
• In God’s eyes we are all special.
• I am lucky enough to be placed in a world with a lot of special people, and have the honor to learn from them and assist them.  And because I have the power to make myself special to someone else.
• I go to Choir Camp.
• I am good at singing.
• Most boys don’t like to sing at a young age.
• I have lots of friends.
• I can sing my own way and nobody else in the whole world is exactly like me.  So nobody else can make the same sacrifices, for the same reasons, choices and even possibilities as me… which makes me special.
• I am different from everyone else.
• If I weren’t I wouldn’t be at Choir Camp.
• I am a leader and role model to younger campers.
• God made me special and gave me special gifts.
• I don’t need people to judge me.
• I have many talents and gifts to share.
• I don’t let people influence me to be mean.
• I am one of a kind.
• God made me that way.
• I’m me and I’m very special inside.
• I know God has given me wonderful talents and family and friends.  I know He gave them to me for a reason, and made me who I am specially for me!
• God made each and every one of us the way he wanted us to.
• I have a good voice and have many talents and God made me unique from anyone else.
• I love to sing and dance wherever I am; at school, at a mall, the airport and everywhere else!
• I have my own brain and my own thoughts which makes me unique and special in my own different way.
• I have the gift from God to be ABLE to sing for life.
• God made me and he gave me a voice and even though I’m unworthy he loves me and gives me everything.
• I have my own skills and talents.  I don’t have to be exactly like everyone else, and I don’t want to be.  I want to be my own self.
• In Choir Camp you really get to know yourself a bit more.
• I can sing, dance, ski, jump rope, and people tell me that I am.
• I guess I'm unique in my own way and I guess I have a good voice.
• I sing and help contribute to making Mass.
• I can do a lot of things that other people can’t.

   

Thank you, Ms. Laughlin (Maria), for designing our T-shirts and website!  Thank you, Ms. Laughlin (Corinna) for helping us with art and giving us a tour of the Cathedral!

• I absolutely LOVE the new t-shirts! I love the stars! :) And I really enjoyed the art class!
• Thank you for letting us do a self-portrait
• Thank you for your help
• Thank you for doing so much to help us
• Thank you for putting and talking and writing about us on the web.  And for designing our T-shirts.
• Thanks for the art, it was lots of fun!
• THANK YOU!
• I loved the pics!
• Thanks so much!  Have a great time!
• Thank you for making the T-shirt design.
• Your care and interest in others are special and putting your absolute serious effort into fun, growth, and learning.  Your sacrifice of time to make a special thing for others is an amazing act!
• The pictures are amazing and the website has the perfect set up.  It is really easy to just browse or find something specific. 
• Thank you for the tour it was interesting and enjoyable.
• Thank you for doing the art class of self-portraits and telling us all about some artists’ portraits.  You have done a phenomenal job of the T-shirt design and the website.
• That must have been a lot of work.
• Thank you for the art class and the pics and for the T-shirt design.
• Making all of our effort go on something everyone can see.
• Showing us our Cathedral.
• The T-shirt design is unbelievable thanks
• For making the T-shirt.
• Because without you we would not be singing together this week and no being able to capture it!  Thank you for being there with us to help smooth out the bumps.
• Thank you for the interesting art class and the cool T-shirt design.
• The art class was fun.
• Making everything at camp from the T-shirts to the website beautiful.
• Posting pictures of Choir Camp and by being involved in it too.
• Thanks for the tour!  It was fun and exciting.
• Thank you for all the amazing pics on the website and the T-shirts.
• Thank you for the Art session and tour of the Cathedral.
• Thank you so much for the T-shirts (they look awesome!) and the website!  Thanks for putting awesome pics of us that we get to see.
• The tour was a lot of fun!
• You are AMAZING with art!
• The T-shirt design was cool and I think I did the best self-portrait ever!
• It was amazing!
• Thank you so much for everything!  The design/pictures etc are so great!  You really have a great talent!  I really appreciate all you have done!  Thank you!
• Thanks for everything!
• Thanks please do this next year
• I like the pictures on the website and the T-shirt design the art class was fun to do
• Thank you I had a fun time I hope you do this next year.
• You did the T-shirt design?  It’s awesome!  Thanks for the cool art project also.
• Thank you Ms. Laughlin for all you have done for us, I really appreciate it!  Especially for the website.  I love to look at all of the pictures.
• Thank you for all of the effort you have put into this camp!
• Thank you very much for taking pictures of us.  My parents enjoyed looking at them.
• It was very fun seeing all of the Cathedral.
• Thank you for putting the pictures online so anyone can see them.
• I had a great time with you on our tour.
• Thank you for the amazing website!  Because of you we were able to show (not just tell) them all that we have done in that day.
• I haven’t been able to check out the website yet, but all the feedback I overhear sounds pretty good.
• Thanks for designing the T-shirt, it’s amazing.  Thank you for updating the website, it’s so much fun to look at, at the end of each day.
• Thanks for the tour.  I always see something different every time I tour.
• Thank you for putting time into our T-shirt design and for teaching us about art.
• Thank you for doing all this stuff for us, we really appreciate it!
• Thank you for helping me so much it really means a lot to me.
• I really appreciate all you have done.  Thanks again.
• We learned so much from you.
• I thought the T-shirt design was really cool, especially the stars.