Our Youth

Young Leaders in the Diocese

October 23, 2014

With classes back in full swing, schools from throughout the diocese are proud of their studious and caring teens. Here is a sample of the promising young leaders in the diocese:

Dioguardi poses with his principal at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sister Dolores F. Crepeau, C.S.J.
Dioguardi poses with his principal at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sister Dolores F. Crepeau, C.S.J.

Rocco Dioguardi, who will be graduating Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Bensonhurst, this school year, participated in the Jesuit Higher Achievement Program (HAP) at Xavier H.S., Manhattan, in July. For 48 years, HAP has provided a summer leadership opportunity for young men who have “successfully completed seventh grade, who possess leadership potential, who maintain a strong work ethic, who strive for excellence, and who will endeavor to make the most of the gifts they have been given.”

As the newly elected student body president of Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Dioguardi has already demonstrated that he possesses the attributes that qualified him for the opportunity. Justifying the confidence of the selection committee, he not only completed the program but also was given the Class Leader Award at the end of the session. HAP included more than 200 rising eighth-grade boys from elementary schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of New York.

Pictured from Fontbonne Hall Academy, from left to right, are Associate Principal Gilda King, Ladias, Arcadipane, Donaldson and Principal Mary Ann Spicijaric.
Pictured from Fontbonne Hall Academy, from left to right, are Associate Principal Gilda King, Ladias, Arcadipane, Donaldson and Principal Mary Ann Spicijaric.

Andrea Arcadipane, Kristin Donaldson and Chloe Ladias, students from Fontbonne Hall Academy, Bay Ridge, have been named Commended Students in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program. They placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2015 competition by taking the 2013 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Lin Wei Kang, a senior at St. John’s Prep, Astoria, was also named a Commended Student in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Maspeth native Victoria Knapik, a junior at Loyola School, Manhattan, participated in the Annual Fall Consumer Conference hosted by the Telsey Advisory Group, InterContinental Times Square.

Knapik
Knapik

Part of the conference included a teen panel consisting of eight high school students who were asked about their purchasing habits and about current fashion trends.

By participating in the panel discussion, Knapik and the other seven students experienced their first institutional investor conference and learned what it is like to interact with both investors and management companies. Some of the companies that participated in the event were Ethan Allen, Dominos, AMC Networks, Campbell Soup, Movado, Sirius XM and Time Warner Cable.