By Angela Mancuso '18 On Friday, April 28, 2017, the juniors in Fontbonne Hall Academy will be receiving their class rings. Fontbonne Hall Academy is an all girl catholic high school located in Bay Ridge, on 99th Street and Shore Road.
Ms. Duggan and Ms. Marinello, the junior year coordinators, will be presenting the rings to the students. There will be a prayer service held in the morning with the entire school followed by a ceremony and another prayer service in the evening for family and friends. At the prayer service the students will be presenting gifts, singing a song called “Home” by Phillips Phillips and watch a slideshow that was put together by two students from the class, Sabrina Gheller and Sophia Appel. The slideshow and presentation of the gifts will take the students down memory lane with a sports nights unitard from freshman year, t-shirt from the Six Flags trip, sweatshirt from their ice skating trip to Bryant Park, the junior year pajama set from our sleepover and the pictures put together in the slideshow. “It was a lot of work however we enjoyed every minute working on it. We realized how much we have been through together as a whole during these past three year,.” said Gheller and Appel. The slideshow is a touching part of the ceremony for the students. They will to come a realization that this is one step closer to graduation. During the ceremony at night for family and friends the students will be called up one by one proceeding their way up to the stage. They will receive their ring along with an elephant stand. The elephant stand is special to the students because the elephant is Fontbonne’s mascot.
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By Olivia Cusumano '18 The juniors at Fontbonne Hall Academy will receive their high school rings on April 28, 2017. The rings will be blessed and given to the young ladies that night with a mass celebration and ceremony to follow. Family and friends are all invited to join to see the juniors embark on a new accomplishment in their high school career.
Monsignor Romano will be the one saying the mass. He is the one who will bless the rings. It will all be relevant to the ring night celebration. “I think the mass is going to be insightful for us juniors to learn the real meaning behind getting these rings” said Natalie Negron. During both the mass celebration and the ceremony things from each year will be presented as a symbol of the juniors journey through Fontbonne so far. The ceremony is where the girls receive their rings. A song called “Home” by Phillip Phillips will be sung by the ladies in the junior year. “I’m so excited to get mine because it means so much to me have a ring from my high school” said Kaitlyn Check. This night is just yet another event that occurs during the busy junior year of high school. By Sabrina Gheller '18 On Friday, April 28, 2017 juniors at Fontbonne Hall Academy received their rings. The ceremony took place in the evening, following a mass conducted by Monsignor Romano. In total, the ring ceremony was two hours long.
In the week leading up to the ceremony, the juniors received fun, plastic rings. In the beginning of the week, they received a variety of colorful, plastic rings. On Thursday, however, many girls were excited to see that they were given Ring Pops. In the middle of the year, girls chose their specific type of ring they wanted, however, others opted out. Although pricey, these rings that the girls just received will represent three years worth of memories. “I was so happy to finally see my ring in person. Walking across the stage was so surreal. We’re almost seniors,” said Sofia Appel. In the morning, the juniors were able to spend time with their fellow Bonnies, sharing their excitement with the entire school. They presented gifts from throughout the years that ranged from trip shirts or Sports Night jerseys. Some girls chose to read throughout the ceremony, present the gifts, or sing. Those who didn’t want to be in the spotlight were able to write the general intercessions for the prayer service and mass. “I’m just excited for graduation. If we were this excited for Ring Night, imagine what graduation will be like,” said Appel. Although the juniors will soon become seniors, they still have quite some time before graduation, but the air is already buzzing with talk of college. By Lauren Lezamiz '18 On April 28, 2017, Fontbonne Hall Academy will be holding their annual ring night ceremony. It will take place at the all-girl school on 9901 Shore Rd., Brooklyn, NY. Families and friends of the junior year will be attending the ceremony to celebrate the tradition. Faculty and staff will also be there to watch their students receive their rings. Families will arrive at Fontbonne at 7 p.m.
The program will begin with a mass where students of the junior year will participate in. Jessica Geis, Celeste Fishchella, and Lauren Lezamiz will be carrying up the gifts for mass. Students, faculty, and families will join in singing hymns such as "One Bread, One Body," "Table of Plenty," and the "Servant Song." Junior in chorus will also be singing the "Agnus Dei." Followed by the mass, the ring ceremony will begin. Juniors who purchased a Fontbonne ring will be getting their ring blessed. Students who did not purchase a ring, either brought in a borrowed ring to be blessed or will receive a symbolic charm. They will also be singing "Home" by Phillip Phillips to symbolize their celebration. This will be an important day for the juniors as they continue to grow as a Fontbonne student. "I am excited to receive my ring because it is something i get to share with my whole year and my family," said Devyn Scellato. The mass was dedicated to the present day seniors, giving them thanks for being great role models to the juniors. The seniors have guided them and presented a great example for them to take over next year. This is just another milestone the juniors reached and could add to their achievements. By Lauren Shea '18 On Thursday, March 9, Fontbonne Hall Academy showed a screening of the documentary He Named Me Malala in order to express how important women’s education is. Malala Yousafzai is currently a Nobel Peace Prize winning activist. The students then went back to FA to complete an activity.
The documentary talked about Yousafzai’s journey through her recovery and revival. This journey had proved to open the eyes of some of Fontbonne’s students. “Malala was inspiring because of all of the difficulties that she faced and her determination to never quit,” said student, Allie Cassamassino. “She should serve as a role model for all women because of her strong determination to fight for women’s rights” This assembly was also meant to show the students that change doesn’t only need to happen locally, but it also needs to happen throughout the world as stated in the beginning. Immediately following the assembly, the students completed an activity on how they can be bold and make a change in the world and shared all of their responses in a powerpoint. This fit into the women’s history month theme because of Malala’s effort in trying to change the world and to fight for the education of women. By Kaylene Ris '18 Triumph boards were installed in Fontbonne Hall Academy during February break and were used for the first time on Feb. 27, 2017. The Triumph boards are interactive flat panel displays that do not require a projector. They are multi-touch LED LCDs.
The project took place over the Mid-Winter break. The first Saturday of break was demolition. There were 14 guys at the school to take out SMART boards, chalkboards, and whiteboards. Most of the SMART boards were donated to four local schools. The Triumph boards arrived on Wednesday and the glass boards on Saturday. The Triumph boards and glass boards were installed from Wednesday through Friday. The financial support was partially provided by school funds approved for use by the Board of Trustees and partially by tuition revenue that will be collected during the 2017-2018 school year. “The Triumph boards and glass boards were an expensive but necessary project that will provide the students with the latest technology and give our classrooms a more modern look,” said Mary Ann Spicijaric, principal at Fontbonne. Mark Surdyka has researched different flat panel displays for two years. He looked at numerous demos, online and in-person. The boards were presented in conjunction with the Krystal glass boards. The school saw the combination of technologies, and felt that they had to move forward. The boards recognize 10 different points of touch; multiple people can write on the board at the same time. Teachers no longer have to adjust a projector or worry that the bulb is running low. The software that comes with the board is cheaper than SMART's software and more advanced. There was a lot of research done to compare the Triumph boards with different companies. The Triumph boards were chosen due to price, flexibility, the software, infinite learning possibilities, the glass board combination and the training given to the faculty.Teachers have access to more resources and are able to show students things that they weren't able to before. The boards can be plugged into almost any device. The boards should last for a minimum of 10 years. The software will be upgraded all the time and will automatically be downloaded to each board. There will be no need for laptops in the rooms, and will be replaced with the on-board PCs. They fit into the side of the Triumph board. The Triumph boards will be the only piece of technology needed in the room. The school plans to have more Professional Development training for the faculty to become more comfortable with the new boards. By Joanna Palopoli '18 Saint Patrick’s Day has been an ongoing tradition for many families especially at Fontbonne Hall Academy, that contains a large Irish community. Every year there is an NYC Saint Patrick's Day parade which is celebrated on Friday, Mar.17 and can be viewed along 5th Avenue between 44th and 79th Street from 11:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.
After interviewing 12 young women of FA 3, six out of 12 girls have said to be from an Irish heritage. Typical traditions of these young women include eating special pastries, corn beef and cabbage, and decorating their homes specifically with gold, green, and clovers. “My family celebrates Saint Patricks Day every year and it is a very important tradition to us. We eat green bagels in the morning and have corn beef and cabbage for dinner. Everyone in my family comes together and wears green attire and celebrate together” said Kristina O’Leary. Saint Patrick’s Day has been American tradition and is often celebrating through parades. One of these parades began in New York City in 1766, and the parades have become a major attraction for millions around the world. Many old Irish traditions are celebrated and are directly related to celebrating the Patron Saint of Ireland. Other more recent traditions are beginning to be celebrated such as being “Irish for a day.” Many people wear something green on St Patrick's Day which is known in the U.S. and other countries. Also, many wear Shamrocks to symbolize the teaching of the holy trinity by Saint Patrick. This is a very special day to many students at Fontbonne Hall Academy as well as most schools in Brooklyn, NY. By Natalie Negron '18 Throughout the years there are many Fontbonne traditions that are carried on and this one happens to be one that's very well known and it's called Sports night. Sports night will take place on Sunday, March 26 and is a competition between all four years and includes a variety of different things like tumbling, dancing, skit, and the mural.
Sports night includes picking a theme to base your routines off of and they base their decorations and costumes off of their themes. Not only is there the main categories there's also relay, basketball, volley ball, that help the year's gain points to lead them to winning. Each year chooses captains for every category to coordinate their routines. Tumbling captain Kaitlyn Check said “Sports night can be very stressful but overall its one of the best times of the year and I love it”. Sports night becomes very competitive especially during spirit week when each year gets a specific day to decorate the school in their colors that represent their themes. The day of sports night is such a exciting day for families and friends to come and see the hard work that was put in by the girls. The girls aren’t just excited for sports night they’re excited for their day on Monday. By Angela Mancuso '18 The community of Fontbonne Hall Academy received their ashes on Wednesday March 1, 2017 at a short assembly in their gym. Ash Wednesday is one of the most important and popular holy days in the liturgical calendar. Campus minister, Mrs. Correira, organized a prayer service and spoke to their community about this holy day. It opens the Lenten season of preparation, fasting and praying.
“God will see everything you do, you don’t have to make the good things you do for people known.” said Mrs. Correira Ash Wednesday takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday accepted by Catholics and Christians. The Catholic and Christians receive ashes on their forehead and do not feast on this day. As the priest is marking the ashes on foreheads, he says a specific saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The ashes symbolize penance and contrition. The ash is the dust in which God has made us from and it is made from the blessed palms from the previous Palm Sunday. It is not required for the person to wear the ashes the entire day, they are allowed to be washed off after Mass. By Lauren Lezamiz '18 On March 1, 2017, the Catholic holiday of Ash Wednesday took place. The Fontbonne Hall Academy community celebrated by cutting first period 10 minutes short. Fontbonne students and faculty reported to FA and then proceeded to the gym to receive their ashes.
Ms. Megan Correia, Fontbonne’s campus minister, welcomed students and faculty in the gym with a short description about Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent which is a season of fasting and prayer. It takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday and symbolizes our penance to God. The ashes are represented on our forehead in the form of a cross as a sign of penance. Ms. Correia selected a few students who placed these ashes on the Fontbonne community’s forehead. FA’s were separated into lines and given a specific person to receive the ashes from. As the students marked the sign of the cross on our forehead they said, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” The phrase said by the students giving the ashes represented the Lent season and how Catholics are supposed to dedicate this time to pray, repent, and fast. Many stay home from work and remain home on Ash Wednesday to express their faith. Students returned to FA and some discussed what they would give up for the Lent season. One student in FA 22 explained how she would give up chocolate since she loves it so much. Another said she would give up cursing. Another wanted to give up soda but doesn’t think she can do it. |