The start of the school year will mark a turning point for St. Saviour Catholic Academy in Park Slope. This year will likely be the last one in which students have to spend their recreation periods playing on the closed-off street outside the building.
Catholic schools are closed for the summer, but you won’t find the workers at Catholic Telemedia Network (CTN) spending much time at the beach.
As she walked across the stage at the historic Kings Theatre in May, St. Francis College co-valedictorian Zenovia Gonzalez was closing in on her goal of becoming a doctor specializing in emergency medicine. During her four years pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biology, the Marine Park resident excelled, being part of the elite Dun Scotus honors society and earning a spot in medical school at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.
The closing of a Catholic school marks the end of an era for generations of students and teachers, but it doesn’t mean it’s the end of everything. For example, all of the items inside a school building — everything from the desks and chairs in classrooms to statues of saints gracing the hallways to student report cards stored away in file cabinets — have a life beyond the school itself.
Since she took over as executive director of St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, Jodi Falk has had a vision. When she peered through the back doors into the area used for recess and looked at the equipment in place for play, she knew that the school could do more.
Hunter Hodes is just like any other fifth grade student, collecting baseball cards and playing video games like Roblox, similar to many of his classmates at St. Joseph Catholic Academy.
Tatiana Lamadrid is always a little careful when it comes time to be picked up after school. For years, the eighth grade student at St. Adalbert Catholic Academy had to be, especially after she was nearly hurt when getting into her dad’s car.
Alexandra Dimitrovici is not an artsy person. But since she started her sophomore year at The Mary Louis Academy, she has spent dozens of hours filling the halls of nearby Blessed Sacrament Catholic Academy with murals and paintings along with her friends.
Two more Catholic academies in the Diocese of Brooklyn are closing. The news comes less than three weeks after another academy in Queens announced its closure.
When Beatrix James joined the new fashion club at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy, it was just to spend time with her two close friends. The third grader knew nearly nothing about clothing design. Soon, what began as a hobby with friends turned into a passion she could see herself pursuing as a career, flourishing within a community of kids that are always “going to want to play with you.”
