For Kristen Gittens, sitting down to do homework with her 6-year-old daughter used to be a guaranteed disaster. Throughout her early education and first grade, Janessa Gittens struggled to pick up subjects like reading or spelling, and her anxiety coupled with frustration would lead her to break down into tears. She was terrified to get answers wrong, and it would completely overwhelm her.
Alyssa Rivera, the kindergarten teacher at St. Brigid-St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Academy, had a surprise for her students when they returned from winter break: A shiny, modernized classroom.
Despite her youth, composing music is nothing new for Aradhana, a sixth grader at St. Saviour Catholic Academy in Park Slope. In fourth grade, she took part in an ambitious project — creating a musical based on the life of Harriet Tubman.
Dustin and Kristy Etheridge traveled hundreds of miles to move from North Carolina to New York uncertain as to what they would find. What they found was a community of faith and a Catholic school for their son Noah.
During the second day of Catholic Schools Week, students ages 4 to 14 pressed Bishop Robert Brennan to reveal the mysteries of the man who leads the Diocese of Brooklyn, such as what it’s like to talk to Pope Francis, his thoughts about Major League Baseball, and even Italian cuisine.
At Brooklyn Jesuit Prep, the portraits of Sister Thea Bowman and Mother Mary Lange that grace the school’s walls aren’t just there for Black History Month. Their portraits, as well as depictions of historical figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., are on display throughout the year.
The enduring quality and value of a Catholic school education will be highlighted once again this year during Catholic Schools Week, across the nation as well as in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Eighth-grade students in New York City are just a few weeks away from taking the Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools (TACHS) and choosing the high schools they wish to attend next year.
The start of the new school year for St. Mel’s Catholic Academy in Whitestone was not just the first day of studies but the continued expansion of academics with the addition of a new fifth-grade class.
The start of the school year also marks a new beginning for the Diocese of Brooklyn’s superintendent, who started his job on July 1 and is now overseeing the opening of classes. Deacon Kevin McCormack, the former principal of Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge, is now the person over- seeing the diocese’s 70 Catholic academies. Prior to becoming superintendent, he spent 37 years at Xaverian, first as a teacher of English and religion, then as principal.
