St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy won the “Celebrate Family” papal photo project, and the Rockaway Beach school received a big box of treasures to remember Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S.

“It was exciting. I didn’t know what to expect. They said it was a mystery,” said Theresa Andersen, St. Rose of Lima’s principal, who held a special school-wide assembly to open the box as students “oohed,” “aahed” and cheered at each item.

Days before the pope arrived in the U.S. for the World Meeting of Families, schools and religious education programs in the diocese each received a blessed Pope Francis doll as an incentive to learn about the Holy Father and snap photos of the doll with their school families.

The project was sponsored by the diocese’s Catholic Telemedia Network (CTN), a division of DeSales Media Group, parent company of The Tablet. CTN offers instructional media resources to Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens.

“This project took on a life of its own, and we were very excited with the results,” said Laura Hickey, CTN instructional media specialist. “There was excitement throughout the diocese and we received more pictures than we ever expected.”

Every participating school and parish had a change to win the papal mystery box as long as they submitted photos to the CTN website, www.ctnbq.org, by Oct. 21.

The raffle included 29 schools and 13 parishes. Consolation prizes went to two runners-up: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy, Gravesend, and St. Margaret School, Middle Village.

CTN’s Hickey and Angela Russell delivered the grand prize to St. Rose of Lima Academy on Oct. 30.

“The project was a good way to get everybody excited about the pope’s visit,” Andersen said. “It was a cute idea that helped them (students) really know what was happening.”

At St. Rose, not only did the doll visit each class, but it also took a walk with faculty, went horseback riding, blessed some turtles and stopped by students’ homes.

“The St. Rose of Lima school community showed such passion and spirit with this project. We’re glad to see they’re so excited,” Hickey said.

Teacher Antoinette Camarda really embraced the project in her second-grade classroom.

“In my class, we took pictures. We also did some drawings, watched some videos on him. We researched his life and we actually saw live footage of him coming here” to New York, she said.

In anticipation of the pope’s arrival at John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport, words of welcome were drawn in chalk on the school roof. Two students were also part of the diocesan contingents to be present for the pope’s arrival and departure at JFK.

“I thought it was a blessing that he (Pope Francis) took time to come to New York just to be with all of us,” said Obdulio Rodriguez, an eighth grader, who attended the papal departure at JFK.

Rodriguez enjoyed participating in the photo project and thought it was “a really good experience. We all got to take a picture with the pope doll. We all felt as if we were closer to the pope because we had something to remind us of him.”

The school received even more reminders inside the papal prize box, including pope-themed T-shirts, mugs, posters, wristlets, prayer cards and yellow key chains with the message: “Love Like Francis.”

For Nicholas Rogers, eighth grader, that message “means to always forgive and never really hold a big grudge, to always give people a second chance because that’s what God wants for us.

“God shows us forgiveness. Humans are not perfect. We make so many mistakes in our lives, and God still loves and forgives us,” he said.

That is what Andersen and her team of teachers and staff teach students by word and example, day in and day out.

“We’re all made in His image and likeness so to live and ‘Love Like Francis’ is to live and love like Jesus,” Andersen said. “That’s what we do everyday. We live it out.”

That was obvious on the day the prize was awarded. Students and faculty were wearing purple to raise funds to benefit research for Rett Syndrome, a disorder that affects a local little girl. Regular fundraisers at the school are an exercise and lesson in love, charity and mercy, the principal said.

As the Church prepares for the Year of Mercy, called for by Pope Francis, CTN hopes the pope dolls will remain active in schools and parishes during this jubilee year.