St. Martin de Porres & Holy Name of Mary Roman Catholic Schools
The month of June is always a particularly electric time of year in our education community: administrators working hard to close the calendar, teachers looking forward to a well earned break, some retiring and planning their lives’ next chapters, children getting ready for camp or vacation, fun outdoor lessons, field trips, spring concerts, finals in both sports and academics, and graduates bidding farewell to the school they called home for most of their young lives.
Holy Name of Mary School held a special International “dress down” Day that celebrated their students’ cultural heritage. The children reported to school garbed in traditional wear of Nigeria, Colombia, Jamaica, Ecuador, Trinidad, Haiti, to name just a few. The youngest classmen enjoyed a field trip to the Elmont Memorial Library Theatre for a dazzling magic show followed by a picnic in Barrett Park’s playground while grades 2 – 4 participated in a “STEM to STEAM” program at the Long Island Children’s Museum followed by lunch in Grant Park. And, of course, all the students had a blast during field day! The upper classmen’s June was loaded with fun and reflection starting with the eighth graders making their confirmation, frolicking at their school dance, and ending with their graduation. They celebrated their graduation day with a Mass that concluded with the Candlelighting Ceremony, a beautiful tradition at Holy Name of Mary in which the Class of 2024 passes the Light of Christ to the Class of 2025.
St. Martin de Porres’ sixth graders finished their year with a visit from author Mark Schulman and prepared by reading his novel, SCRAWL, which provides a unique introspection of a middle school bully written in the first person. Inspired Paul Klee’s grumpy cats, our art students created their own Egyptian cats. The Clippers, St. Martins de Porres, track team, competed in the CYO Finals in June. The Junior Purple & Gold Dance Team earned the Clipper Spirit Award after weeks and hours of practice and a fierce competition. On the academic end, after many rounds of tough competition, St. Martin de Porres’ school-wide annual Religion Bee came down to two sixth graders going head-to-head. At the end of June, the school released its year-end honor roll. Sixty four percent of those students Black & Indian Mission Scholarship awardees, with Alexander Nemorin topping the fourth grade list with a 97.33 average.
