QUEENS VILLAGE — Surprises awaited students — early childhood to eighth grade — as they climbed the stairs into Incarnation Catholic Academy on Sept. 4 — the first day of classes for the new academic year.
Greeting them in the hallway was their new principal, Dr. Ivan Green, along with Father Josephjude Gannon, the school’s board chairman, and Bishop Robert Brennan.
Also on hand was Father Rodnev Lapommeray, parochial vicar for Parish of Incarnation — St. Gerard Majella, where Father Gannon is the pastor.
The youngest of the 165 students shuffled into the school with their parents. Some children were awestruck by the jovial men towering over them. A handful of grade school students shyly shook hands with Bishop Brennan; one girl rushed forward to hug Father Gannon.
A gaggle of the older kids, mature enough to enter without parents, appeared last.
“This looks like the eighth graders,” Bishop Brennan announced. “You look like you own the place!”
The student body assembled in the auditorium, where Bishop Brennan prayed for blessings for the students, their families, and the school during the academic year.
Bishop Brennan also formally introduced Dr. Green, who until recently was the principal at St. Stanislaus Kostka in Greenpoint.
His resume includes teaching at Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates and the Ursuline School in New Rochelle. On the collegiate level, he was an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy for Iona University, New Rochelle.
Father Gannon also reported a list of amenities added to the school over the summer, including new sports equipment to play soccer, volleyball, basketball, and pickleball.
The renovated science facilities will include a hydroponics lab for students to learn indoor gardening, Father Gannon said. A new library with donated books, he added, was built over the summer and volunteer workers.
Also, the school will soon add a room dedicated to the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the Italian teen who died of leukemia at age 15 but is now on the path to sainthood.
“He was a great student, and he was only a couple of years older than you,” Father Gannon said. “And he’s going to be a saint. We love him and pray for his intercession.”
Later, Bishop Brennan told The Tablet that Catholic education is built on “sacrifice and partnership.”
“There are a lot of people who make sacrifices, and that’s at every level,” he said. “They’re the people who work here, the faculty, staff, and administration. The parents make sacrifices to be able to send their children to Catholic schools.”
All these sacrifices are made in partnership with one another, he said.
“We believe in these young students and their families,” he continued, “and we believe that Catholic education helps us to know and love God and to see the way that God is working in all the facets of our lives.”
Students from various grades said they were eager to return to school to see their friends — and meet new ones.
But first grader Joseph Gil was eager to get back to studying math. He hopes one day to become a software engineer. When asked if he believed his school could prepare him for that, he did not hesitate.
“Yes,” he exclaimed.
Faith Edwards, a seventh grader, is new to the school, but her new classmates welcomed her.
“I hope to meet more peers,” she said, “and be welcoming to them — like I was welcomed.”
Like Edwards, another new seventh grader, Jasmine Gopie, said she changed schools to get a better education. Incarnation Catholic Academy came very well recommended — her father and uncles also attended.
Gople, whose family practices Hinduism, said she had no qualms about attending a Catholic school.
“I’m open to learning about any other type of religion,” she said. “I think it’s cool that they have their own. It’s something that I don’t know about, and I’d like to explore it.”
Jordan Major, an eighth grader, said he had difficulty getting out of bed for the first day of school but regained his stride once he arrived.
“It feels good to see all my friends,” he said. “What I like about Incarnation is the people who run it and the family that we built.
“I describe them as nice, caring, hard-working people who will do anything for you.”