ASTORIA — Olivia Dimare, a third grader at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy, usually begins her school day sitting at her classroom desk. But on Sept. 8, she started school outside — marching around the school in a parade with her fellow students.
“It was amazing. It was so fun and I was really excited,” Olivia said. “It was so cool to walk in the street.”
Olivia had fun, but she and her fellow students were also recreating a historic moment for their school, which is marking its 75th anniversary this year.
RELATED: St. Ephrem Welcomes New Year, 58 New Students From Our Lady of Perpetual Help
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy opened on Feb. 13, 1951, during the 1950-1951 school year. Back then, it was known as St. Francis of Assisi School before being renamed to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy in 2016.
The grand opening on that cold February day in 1951 featured a parade that saw students march from the schoolyard, around the corner, and into the front entrance — an event recreated with the Sept. 8 procession.
To give the anniversary parade a 1950s feel, a marching band played songs from the era, like “Rock Around the Clock.”
The event was organized by two alumni — Chris Dimare and Steven Simicich — both of whom have children in the academy and are parent members of the board.
Dimare is Olivia’s dad, and his son Marco is in the first grade. Simicich has two sons in the academy — Luca, a third grader, and Marco, a first grader.
“We really wanted to celebrate the fact that we’re proud at St. Francis Catholic Academy of having a very high enrollment and a school that is growing at a pace to meet the community demand for private Catholic school education,” said Simicich, a member of the Class of 1992.
When the organizers were researching the academy’s history, they discovered that the inaugural event was a parade. So, they decided to bring history to life by having another one.
RELATED: St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy Transforms Its Library Experience
“It was really great to see it come together, see the smiles on the children’s faces,” said Dimare, who graduated in 1996. “And I think they had an appreciation for the school.”
Principal Elizabeth Reilly, who cheered for the students as they marched in the parade, said alumni certainly appreciate their old school.
“The biggest population is the outgoing eighth graders who are just starting high school. They tend to come back in the first couple of weeks just to see what’s changed,” she said. “But we also get a lot of older alumni who want to give back a lot.”
Chris Dimare’s mother, Vivian Dimare, who graduated in 1964, remembered the school as a close-knit community “where you knew the parents of everyone in your class.”
Most of her teachers were nuns, members of the Sisters of St. Dominic, who were strict but kind, she said. She also recalled having fun at school dances and volunteering as a seventh and eighth grader to watch lower-grade classes so that the nun who was teaching the children could take her lunch break.
“It was a wonderful place to go to school,” she said.
While St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy is celebrating its past, it is also looking to the future, said Reilly, who added that it’s a bright future, thanks to a healthy enrollment that currently stands at 339 students.
“We’re growing pretty significantly,” Reilly said. “In the past three years, we’ve grown by about 50 students. And I think that really speaks to what we’re offering to the students.”
Mason Cleghorn, a sixth grader, is happy at the academy and is especially fond of his teachers. “They’re really nice to us. They’re really kind and they understand us,” he said.
Mason had a great time marching in the parade.
“It was really fun being part of the parade,” he said. “There were a lot of people and trumpets everywhere. It felt good being part of a big thing that was happening.”
So proud to see the continuing excellent education.
Eileen Doherty Class of 1966