DOUGLASTON — Several new principals and assistant principals greeted students on Sept. 4, the first day of classes at Catholic schools/academies in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The Tablet caught up with them on Aug. 19 during a seminar at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston. Although their positions are new, some already have deep ties to their schools.

Kara McCarthy
Our Lady of Hope Parish, Middle Village

Kara McCarthy grew up in Our Lady of Hope Parish in Middle Village, Queens, and attended its catholic academy. Now, she is its new principal.

“It has been a whirlwind, but it’s exciting to be back where I started,” she said. 

McCarthy worked for more than two decades at Notre Dame Elementary School in Glen Head, Long Island, in the Diocese of Rockville Center. There, she notched nearly a dozen years as a teacher and 14 years as assistant principal.

Her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education are from Hofstra University. She also earned a master’s in administration from St. Rose College in Albany.

McCarthy said she aims to nurture the family values and Catholic identity that guided her as a student at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Academy.

“I had such a positive experience in that building and with some of the teachers who are still teaching there, which is incredible,” she said.

Denise Reicino
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy, Corona

When students arrive at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy in Corona, Queens, new Principal Denise Reicino continues the work of parents, edifying the Catholic faith.

“The school’s job is an extension of what’s going on at home,” she said. “The Catholic Church is the education for our faith — how we love others, how we treat others.” 

Reicino, raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, earned a bachelor’s degree in information technology from the University of Phoenix and a master’s in administration supervision from Fordham University.

She also taught grades 3-5 for 15 years at St. Elizabeth Catholic Academy in Ozone Park, Queens.

The enrollment at her new school is nearly 300 students. Most are Hispanic, and many are recent immigrants, Reicino said. She wants them all to love their heritage.

“I want them to see how we see ourselves in America at large — how we as Latinos can be the astronaut, the scientist, and the mathematician,” she said.

Josephine Giudice
St. Elizabeth Catholic Academy, Ozone Park

Josephine Giudice’s career path was a circuitous route from an aspiring journalist to her new job as principal at St. Elizabeth Catholic Academy in Ozone Park, Queens.

She earned a degree in communications from St. John’s University but became an office manager for a surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.

Later, Giudice sought a different way to serve people and aspired to teach. She returned to St John’s and earned a master’s degree in education.

Giudice taught 2nd grade at what today is Notre Dame Catholic Academy in Ridgewood, Queens. She joined the staff at St. Elizabeth 10 years ago as the director of education for universal pre-K programs and is now the new principal.

“The community does know me,” she said, “because a lot of those children on the Catholic school side went to our pre-K.”

But there’s more. Giudice belongs to Maria Regina Parish in Massapequa, where, last year, she taught faith formation for 4th graders.

Matthew Artigas
St. Savior Catholic Academy, Park Slope

Matthew Artigas admits he’s a “history buff.” Occasionally, he misses the classroom, sharing incredible stories of humanity through the ages.

But now, Artigas oversees an entire school community as the new principal of St. Savior Catholic Academy in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He has a lifelong association with Catholic schools as a student and educator.

Artigas attended the now-closed school at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Queens Village. He has a bachelor’s degree in adolescent education and a master’s in history, both from Iona University. He also has a master’s degree in school administration from St John’s University.

For 10 years, he was an assistant principal at St John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip in the Diocese of Rockville Center.

While he still misses the classroom, Artigas is right at home in the principal’s office.

“I think as an administrator, you’re able to still have a major impact on the kids because you become a teacher of teachers,” he said.

Lauren Giacalone
St Mel’s Catholic Academy, Flushing

Lauren Giacalone brings 22 years of experience as a teacher and administrator to her new job — principal of St Mel’s Catholic Academy in Flushing.

This résumé is enhanced by a childhood nurtured in the vibrant Catholic community of Immaculate Conception Parish in Astoria.

“The culture that I was brought into, and the principal from my grade school (the late Sister Jean Stegmann), shaped a lot of that for me,” Giacalone said.

The new principal has a bachelor’s in education from Queens College and a master’s in education from Fordham University.

She spent 20 at Our Lady of Hope Parish in Middle Village. Most of that time, she spent teaching. However, she also served as the assistant principal for her last two years there, which led to her new job as St. Mel’s principal.

Giacalone recalled having an unplanned reunion with Sister Jean on a street in Astoria.

“She remembered me, and she remembered my family,” Giacalone said. “I just wanted to have that same connection with students and families.”

Jeanne Shannon
St. Bernadette Catholic Academy, Dyker Heights

Jeanne Shannon has a lifetime of experience with Catholic Education in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

She attended St. Thomas the Apostle School in Woodhaven and St. Francis Preparatory High School as a child. Next, she spent nearly 40 years teaching and administering at St. Elizabeth Catholic Academy in Ozone Park. And now, Shannon is the new principal at St. Bernadette Catholic Academy in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.

At St. Elizabeth, she taught every subject and every grade level until from 1986 to 2007, when she became the assistant principal. A decade later, she was the principal, a job she held for seven years.

Shannon earned a bachelor’s in elementary and special education from State University College at Geneseo. Her master’s in school building leadership is from St. John’s University.

“At St. Elizabeth, people knew me — a known entity,” she said. “When this job here at St. Bernadette was offered, I was excited about the challenge to prove myself to people who don’t know me and to develop relationships with the staff, parents, and children.”

Ivan Green
Incarnation Catholic Academy, Queens Village 

Ivan Green has taught at elementary, high school, and collegiate levels and has plenty of experience as an administrator, including his latest assignment — principal at Incarnation Catholic Academy in Queens Village.

Most recently, Green was principal at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy in Greenpoint.

He earned a bachelor’s in plant biology/agronomy from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree in education/biology from New York University, Manhattan. His doctorate in educational leadership and administration is from Concordia University-Chicago.

“I am also fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve students in some prominent Catholic schools in the New York City area for over 13 years,” Green said in an earlier statement.

Green has taught at The 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 College, New Rochelle.

Danielle Madden-Buck
St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy, Greenpoint

Danielle Madden-Buck recently completed her doctorate degree from Gwynedd Mercy University, Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania. Now she is the new principal at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Her roots in Catholic education were planted as a student at Our Lady of Miracles Catholic Academy in Canarsie. Later, while in college, she started an after-school program there and became a pre-K substitute teacher.

After graduating from Brooklyn College with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, she became a full-time social studies teacher at St. Edmund Preparatory School in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. There, she coached track, basketball, and soccer.

She later became an administrator of “out of school time” (OST) programs in New York City, first at New York Edge and thenat the Police Athletic League. But, with her doctorate in hand, she was eager to re-enter the world of Catholic education.

“We have a really great team over at St. Stan’s,” she said. “I’m looking forward to working with such great teachers who are passionate about delivering quality education to the children.”