Albertus Magnus High School

Newsletter

Joseph T. Troy, President/Principal May, 2013

Carl Locatelli, Assistant Principal Volume 53, Number 7

May Devotions to Our Lady

On Sundays: O Mary, the Immaculate Conception, you are the New Eve. All that

Adam and Eve longed for – and tried to steal from God – you give to us as the Mother of God. May we share in your holiness by our union with you.

On Mondays: At your nativity, O Blessed Virgin, the way by which earth will be united

to heaven is born. By the grace of your birth, we are led away from our slavery, and are blessed with holy joy.

On Tuesdays: May we live every day, O Blessed Virgin Mary, the miracle of the Annun-

ciation. United with you, may our life be a constant Yes to the presence of the Word made flesh. May we turn with our yearnings to the humanity of God.

On Wednesdays: O Mother of God, may we experience through you all the graces of

the Visitation: you bring Jesus close to us; we rejoice with new life; your Magnificat be-comes our hope.

On Thursdays: O Blessed Mother, God chose you to offer his fatherly love more gener-

ously to the world. You are the Mother of the Life by which we live – Jesus. He leads us to you. Through your maternal mediation, all things are made new.

On Fridays: Our Lady of Sorrows, your presence at the cross instills a grace that dis-

places horror. Your faith contains a light greater than any darkness in my heart. Be with me in my Calvary. On Saturdays: O Blessed Lady assumed into heaven, give me the ability to await God’s future and to abandon myself to the Lord’s promises.

Father Peter John Cameron, O.P.

HONOR ROLL

FIRST HONORS is awarded to a student who achieves an average of 95% with no failing grade.

SECOND HONORS is awarded to a student who achieves an average of 90% with no failing grade.

FRESHMAN Emily Auld

Casey Bischoff

Paulina Dore

Reilly Golden

Matthew Grieco

Samantha Heavner

Timothy A. O’Connor

Jacklyn L. Onody

Jordan C. Rivera

Carly M. Winchell

Heba Yacoub

Chelsea L. Yagel

SOPHOMORE Maxx Annunziata

Christian Conklin

Griffin Favre

Allison Fisher

Samantha Giuliano

Claire Hatala

Jacqueline Hennelly

Kelly Houlihan

Kaitlyn Joong

Kevin Leddy

Madison McGrath

Lauren Milano

Jade Ortiz

Elisabeth Pappalardo

Emily Roff

Rianna Scanlon

Kiera Townsend

Gabrielle Valdez

Michael Waldron

Caroline Zemsky

JUNIOR Terence Amonica

Marisa Blanco

Jenna Braca

Kristin Burns

Megan Confrey

Mikaela Connell

Fiona Egan

Alessandra Garcia

Charles Giordano

Annemarie Hahnenfeld

Jessie Kay

Megan Mearian

Raymond Mosquea

Maureen O’Dowd

Courtney Olsen

Matthew Raggi

Brian Reardon

Katie Solesky

Megan Townsend

Tracy Xiao

SENIOR

Callie Bailey-Wickins

Elizabeth Czerwinski

Dylan Discenza

Lauren Gruffi

Thomas McConnell

Michael Strack

Jack Sullivan

FRESHMAN

Michelle Barry

Kyra Berkner

Olivia Berkner

Isabella Bono

Megan Bragaglia

Erin Ciborowski

Erin Curley

Kelly DeVizio

Edward Faro

Maria Fernandes

Mary Gavin

Julia Gillies

Richard Michel

Sin Ah Moon

Emily A. Nealon

Michael Padron

Katherine A. Reilly

Stephen R. Rodriguez

Giordana Scaffidi

Amanda M. Silvestri

Jessica Stagnari

Stephen R. Storms

Ashley Tortorella

Noah Trout

JUNIOR Cara Amador

James Arnowich

Michael Aurellano

Caroline Bartholomew

Maliq Cham

Laura Clinton

Michelle Coppola

Mary Czerwinski

Heather Durkin

Kristen Fahey

Brianna Flores

Liam Foxe

Sabrina Francois

Bridget Gallione

Madison Kandoth

Janine Kennelly

Luke Kern

Victor Leeber

Felicia Long

Cristina Magistro

Dana McLaughlin

Kaitlyn McNamara

Daniel Miller

Savannah Moore

Ryan O’Grady

Christine O’Riordan

Grace Ostolazaga

Jacqueline Parker

Tabitha Salci

Sania Solon

SOPHOMORE

Edward Amaba

Ronald Arvanites

Timothy Brenner

Catherine Cain

Victoria Cipollina

Andrew Gallagher

Kevin Hayes

Sean Healey

Daniela Herrera

Kelly Kozar

Ashley Lara

Alexia Mazis

Allison McNamara

Christopher Munno

Amber Pandya

Anthony Parisi, Jr.

Gianna Pisano

Kirsten Rico

Sean TenEyck

Allyson Tierney

Victoria Vieira

Feda Yacoub

SENIOR Jennifer Bases

Monica Branca

James Brooks

Michael Catania

Sara Chivelly

Ashley Columbia

Jessica Dominianni

Shannon Donohue

Salvatore Florio

Robert Gelok

Marissa Grieco

Conor Houlihan

Cassie Jacob

Shannon Keown

Brian McFadden

Kerry Mulcahy

John Nyemchek

Casey O’Brien

Christine O’Keeffe

Mary O’Sullivan

Christine Ottaviano

Karn Pandya

Hae Wan Park

Meghan Reilly

Giselle Rodriguez

Stephanie Ruppen

Jessica Silva

Daniel Sullivan

Daniel VanHise

JUNIOR cont.

Brianna Untener

Patrick Ward

Allison White

Kiana White

FROM THE OFFICE OF CAMPUS MINISTRY

As I write this article, I think it is safe to say that Spring has finally arrived! During this time of year, we are blessed to witness the emergence of new life in all of creation and despite an allergic sneeze or two are grateful for the wonder and beauty that God be-stows upon us. Last month our sophomores traveled to Dominican Convent in Sparkill for their annual retreat. Through the Gospel story of the woman at the well our presenter, Mrs. Parisi, inspired and challenged our young men and women to open their hearts to God’s loving presence in their lives , recognize the gift they are and acknowledge the giftedness of their classmates. At the end of the day each received a special personal-ized prayer card as a remembrance of this experience. April also marked the beginning of our training for Eucharistic Ministers. This four session program is open to juniors who have felt the call to serve our Albertus Family in this ministry during their senior year. We presently have 19 candidates preparing and look forward to their induction at Mass on May 28th. This Mass will also be the time when our juniors’ rings are blessed. Msgr. Emmet Nevins an alum and Vicar of Rockland will celebrate the Mass. May is the month dedicated to Our Blessed Mother and all mothers. Our students, faculty and staff have all listed names of mothers, grandmothers, guardians and any women whose motherly witness has affected their lives into a special book which is kept in our chapel during this month. On Ascension Thursday, the book will be brought up during the offertory procession and on May 10th special prayers for all listed will be said in our chapel during lunch periods. On May 29th our seniors will hold their prom; exams will follow leading to their Baccalaureate Mass and gradua-

tion. Let us hold them in our hearts and prayers in a special way during this time.

- submitted by Sr. Nancy Richter, O.P.

*****************************************************************************

Mock Trial The Mock Trial team has just completed another successful season. After four regular season matches against teams throughout the county, they advanced to the Rockland County finals. They were defeated by Nyack High School in a very close match. The AMHS team is moderated by social studies teacher, Chris Power, and coached by alumnus and par-ent, Ken Zemsky. During a competition, the students argue either the defense or plaintiff's position in a virtual court case. The trials take place in Clarkstown Town Court and are adjudicated by local town attorneys or actual town judges. Members of the team are: Maxx Annunziata, Kristin Burns, Sal Florio, Dan Hanlon, Samantha Heavner, Shannon Keown, Kevin Leddy, Gabriel Lewis, Chris Ott, Giselle Rodriguez, Kiera Townsend, and Caroline Zemsky.

*****************************************************************************

After 43 years, Mr. Carl Locatelli is retiring from his position as Assistant

Principal at Albertus Magnus High School.

The AMHS community wishes Mr. Locatelli good wishes on his retirement!

We will all miss him.

2013 DINNER AUCTION

—ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL NIGHT OF “FELLOWSHIP & FUN”! The 17th Annual Falcon Parents’ Club Dinner & Auction was held on Saturday eve, April 20, 2013, and deemed another ‘sterling success’ as over $73,000 was raised to help support the “Lab Rehab” Project. The commitment and support of over 300 parents, alumni and friends who attended the “Creating a Legacy” fundraising event will help us underwrite the reconstruction costs of a new Biology Classroom. This project will take place over the Summer Recess, 2013, so that AM students will arrive back on the AMHS Campus to another (Chemistry Lab was the first in 2010) state-of-the art science facility.

Special kudos should go to all members of the Dinner Auction Committee for their incredible work and imagination in making the 2013 Edition so profitable. However special mention must be made of the volun-teer leadership to this group—“The Fab Five” of Dinner Auction ’13: Trish Bakker, Kim Gruffi, Mary Jane Michalak, Fiona Parahus and Grace Anthony Zemsky.

The great energy that was so evident at this gala affair was also attributable to many “sources” including our Guest Auctioneer, former NY Giant great, O.J. Anderson; senior student, Ms. Stephanie Ruppen ’13, who opened the formal dinner portion of the evening with a powerful rendition of our National Anthem and en-tertained the gathering with her beautiful singing voice, accompanied by Science teacher, Adam Yaun. More than 40 students from the Senior Class of 2013 gave of their considerable energy and talent to help the event go off so smoothly. They were ably led by our Senior Class Officers: Kimberly Roc, Jack Sullivan, Tom McConnell and Brian McFadden.

The three main raffle prizes that were an important part of this evening’s affair also played to great ‘human interest’ storylines: Free Tuition Raffle—won by Mrs. Dana Denise, mother to a graduating Senior, AM Foot-ball Star, Nico Denise ‘13; a soon-to-be Junior, Joseph Denise ’15; and an incoming Freshman, “baby sister” Beau Denise ’17.

The Super 50/50 Cash Raffle was won by Mrs. Rosemary Owen, grandmother to the Doohan Boys, Senior, Dan Doohan ’13 and Sophomore, Robert Doohan ‘15. Mrs. Owen “split” the cash award of over $14, 300 with Albertus—a fitting “connection” based on her many years of support for the Falcons! The Mazda 3 i SV Car Raffle ticket was held by Ms. Pat Ryan, our legendary Kitchen Director & Chef, who runs a cafeteria that feeds more than 500 people twice-a-day and does so with great warmth and aplomb. This non-stop cooking “guru” feeds both ‘body & soul’ for the students and faculty of AM. The packed house at New York Country Club went crazy with thunderous applause when Pat’s name was announced as the Car Raffle winner!

Even as the Auction’s activities were deemed an “Artistic Success”, the fiscal support that will benefit the “Lab Rehab” project came from many helpers—but a “chosen few” stood out with their extraordinary gener-osity.

Our major patrons include the Auction Sponsors who provided the largest gifts: Bakker Family (Trish & Eric); Lagana Family (Robert Lagana, AM School Board); Parahus Family (Fiona & Gary). The Table Sponsors were the next level of benefactors and included: A & T Healthcare; ClarkDietrich Building Systems; Falcon Spiked Shoe Club (John McNiff ’75, President); Gruffi Family (Kim & Doug); Solomon Family (Lori & Ciro); Sullivan Family (Lisa ’79 & Chris ’79); Troy Family (Maura & Joe). Sincere gratitude to all the families who gave to this important fundraising & social happening to benefit our students of today …and tomorrow! Go Falcons!

St. Albert the Great, Patron Saint of Science, Pray for Us!

MUSIC NOTES

BROADWAY COMES TO ALBERTUS If you love Broadway show tunes, then you are not going to want to miss our Spring Concert dedicated to the Broadway Musical! Come hear favorites from Phantom of the Opera, Newsies, Les Miserables, and much more! Join us on Thursday, May 16th at 7pm in the gym!

MUSIC IN THE PARKS Veritas will be participating in their 4th annual Music In The Parks Competition at Hershey Park on Friday, May 17, 2013. Wish us luck!

************************************************************************

ART NEWS

The Art Department will be holding a SPRING ART SHOWCASE

Monday, May 13 through Friday, May 17.

NYSSMA NEWS: NYSSMA (New York State School Music Association) advocates for and improves music education across New York State by promoting and producing appropriate activities and pro-grams for its membership and students in member school music programs. The following students par-ticipated in the 2013 NYSSMA Solo and Ensemble Festival held at North Rockland High School on May 10-11, 2013. In addition, Veritas was adjudicated on a Level 5 piece.

9th Grade: 11th Grade Addie Gerber Zachary Acosta Reilly Golden Marisa Blanco Kelly Nicholson Corey Jean-Charles Kelly Clinton 10th Grade: Laura Clinton Edward Amaba Fiona Egan Carmangelo Capasso Jamaal Fields-Green Angelica Castaldo Ally Garcia Casey Davies Brian Reardon Alexia Mazis Jade Solomon Allison McNamara Christian Torres Jade Ortiz Megan Townsend Andrew Pierre Matthew Zamot Gianna Pisano Emily Roff 12th Grade Kiera Townsend Katherine Bonikos Finn Titland Elizabeth Czerwinski Shannon Davies Stephanie Ruppen

Stephanie Ruppen Gives Student

Address at St. Patrick's Cathedral

Senior Stephanie Ruppen gave the student address at the

annual Mass for High School Seniors on April 25th at

St. Patrick's Cathedral. As she was returning to her seat,

Cardinal Dolan called her back and told her that her

speech was "better than my homily."

**************************************************

TEEN LEADERSHIP

Eight sophomores from Albertus Magnus High School have completed the 2012-2013

Teen Leadership Rockland program. The program is a 4-H Youth Development Pro-

gram of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland County for high school sophomores,

which seeks to develop students’ leadership skills.

The Albertus Magnus High School students are Nicole Costello, Jacqueline Hennelly, Kaitlyn Joong, Lauren Milano, Elizabeth Pappalardo, Kiera Townsend, Michael Waldron and Caroline Zemsky.

**************************************************

ATHLETICS UPDATE

Kerry Mulcahy signed with East Stroudsburg to play Division II Lacrosse

Kim Sano a sophomore batting average is .523 which is amazing. Lauren Cappello leads the league in walks and on base percentage.

Jack Sullivan and Maeve Parahus selected Boys and Girls Basketball Players of Year. (1st time 2 from same school!!)

Maeve Parahus named winter athlete of the Season.

Joe Nyemchek leads the boys Lacrosse attack with 23 goals and Senior Dan Doohan anchors the team’s defense. Mary O’Sullivan finished in 2nd place in the Shot Putt in the League Championships; Grace Ostolozaga qualified for the state qualifiers and Eastern States in the 1500m run with a personal best 5:02 time.

The baseball team is battling for playoff seeding in the final weeks of the season. The best is yet to come. More to follow in the June newsletter!

LOCAL HISTORY CONFERENCE On April 9th, several students attended the first ever Rockland County High School Local History Conference sponsored by the Historical Society of Rockland County. This day-long gathering was designed for high school history students, their advi-sors and the Social Studies Chairpersons from all of the Rockland County High Schools. The Keynote Speaker was Linda Zimmermann, author of Rockland County: A Century of History. Rockland County Historian Craig Long, County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and New York State Senator David Carlucci also attended the conference and addressed the invited guests. In addition to addresses from historians and dig-nitaries, the students were asked to prepare short presentations for their peers about what is historic in their towns/villages. Also, at the event, the HSRC provided ideas about opportunities for community service in the various geographic areas of Rockland County that relate to history. The students that attended the con-ference were James Brooks, Joseph Kelly, Brendan Nolan, Sania Solon, Christian Torres, and Patrick Ward. The students were accompanied by Mr. Michael McAndrew, Social Studies Department Chairper-son. An exciting and educational time was had by all. Albertus Magnus would like to thank the Historical Society of Rockland County for planning this worthwhile event.

Submitted by Michael McAndrew

*******************************************************************************

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ROCKLAND COUNTY RE: Student Local History Conference, April 9, 2013 Dear Mr. Troy, Last week, The HSRC sponsored a County-wide conference on local history where students and Social Stud-ies teachers met to discuss, learn and present important historical events and places in Rockland County. They also heard from several speakers discussing the relevance and importance of local history. A copy of the Conference brochure is enclosed. The day was a huge success and was attended by every public high school as well as Albertus Magnus. Your students were exceptional and gave an outstanding presentation. They also represented your school in a positive and professional manner. Teacher, Mike McAndrew, along with students James Brooks, Brandon Nolan, Sania Solon, Joseph Kelly, Christian Torres and Patrick Ward are an asset to your school and we were proud to get to know them. May we recommend that you ask these students to give their presentation to a faculty meeting. They spent many hours putting together a concise 5-minute local history summary. We look forward to many more successful local history conferences in the future. William Sherwood, Esq., Trustee Larry Singer, Esq., Trustee Co-chair, Education Committee Co-chair, Education Committee

*******************************************************************************

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 2013

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

May 2, 2013

DATES TO REMEMBER

May 8—May 16 - AP Exams Thursday, May 9 - Ascension Thursday—Mass 10:00 AM May 13—May 17 - Spring Art Showcase Wednesday, May 15 - Progress Reports Mailed Thursday, May 16 - Spring Concert 7:00 PM Friday, May 17 - Hershey VERITAS Trip Wednesday, May 22 - Junior Ring Mass & Eucharistic Minister Induction 10:00 AM Thursday, May 23 - Junior Class New York City Trip Departs 7:00 AM Monday, May 27 - Memorial Day—School Closed Wednesday, May 29 - Senior Prom Thursday, May 30 - Senior Picnic/Mets-Yankees Game Friday, May 31 - Senior Trip to Great Adventure

ALBERTUS MAGNUS HIGH SCHOOL 798 Route 304 Bardonia, NY 10954 www.albertusmagnus.net Return Service Requested

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID

Monsey, NY NO. 56122