To celebrate National Catholic Schools Week Jan. 26-Feb. 1, Catholic school students throughout the Diocese of Allentown will express their love of Catholic education with dancing and singing to their favorite songs in the third annual “Make a Joyful Noise” competition, which kicks off Sunday, Jan. 26 and runs through Sunday, Feb 23.
Last year, diocesan schools collectively raised over $220,000 from nearly 900 donors, and there’s much expectation that this year, the competition will exceed those amazing numbers.
A record number of 27 schools are participating this year, according to Amy Impellizzeri, Director of Scholarships for the Diocese of Allentown.
Impellizzeri also noted some changes have been made to the competition this year. For one, it is being held earlier in the year, kicking off on Jan. 26 to correspond with the start of Catholic Schools Week. In previous years, the competition was held during May, as the school year wrapped up.
Also new this year, said Impellizzeri, is help from film students at DeSales University, Center Valley. They assisted some Catholic schools lacking in resources to produce their videos. This helped increase participation in this year’s competition, she said. The film students study with Chuck Gloman, Program Director of TV/Film at DeSales.
Another improvement is that more schools will have the opportunity to be recognized with awards. Additional awards will be added “to honor the creativity and innovation of some of the videos,” said Impellizzeri.
“We want to recognize more schools,” she said. In past years, “there were some smaller schools who spent a lot of energy and time on their videos, but maybe didn’t have the same resources as some of our bigger schools. We want to make sure to recognize some of these videos, too.”
The awards from previous years, the “Maestro” and “Crescendo” awards, will return as well.
The “Maestro” award recognizes the school that raises the most money during the competition. This award has gone to Nativity BVM High School, Pottsville for two consecutive years. Last year, Nativity raised almost $133,000 with a video featuring a mash-up of 16 songs.
The “Crescendo” award recognizes schools showing top participation. Last year, this award was given to three schools: Good Shepherd Catholic School, Northampton; Mercy School for Special Learning, Allentown; and St. Joseph Center for Special Learning, Schuylkill Haven. They all had over 100% participation.
For the first time, award winners will be recognized in a ceremony after the competition closes. “Everyone who donates or participates in the ‘Make a Joyful Noise’ competition will be notified via email with the award ceremony details and a link to the broadcast,” said Impellizzeri.
“That’ll be something fun for people to look out for,” she said.
On the competition’s website, www.weloveourcatholicschools.com, each school has a fundraising page where anyone can watch a video, cast a vote for their favorite video, and donate to the school from Jan. 26 to Feb. 23.
“Make a Joyful Noise” is a friendly online musical competition to celebrate school spirit and raise funds for schools throughout Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties.
The competition’s name, “Make a Joyful Noise,” is derived from Psalm 100:1, “Shout joyfully to the Lord,” though some translations say, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”
By Gia Myers
