Greetings from Molloy - Week 22

There was a lot going on at the school last week. Most of it was in anticipation of upcoming events. I decided to hold off a bit to assure the best coverage possible. The wait was worth it.

Academic

Mr. DeMarco proudly announced that the Science Department is alive and well. His report from the weekend Science Olympiad reads as follows:

Molloy is Highest Ranked Catholic School in Science Olympiad

Archbishop Molloy High School of Briarwood, Queens, placed 5th among a field of 39 schools at the New York City Championships of the Science Olympiad, held at Grover Cleveland High School on Saturday, February 9, 2008. This was the highest placing of any Catholic school in the competition. The overall winner was Stuyvesant High School; second place went to Benjamin Cardozo High School; third went to Collegiate High School; fourth belonged to Townsend Harris; and fifth went to Molloy. The Science Olympiad is an interscholastic competition at regional, state, and national levels. Events include biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, and engineering. Molloy has 5 city championships, as well as 13 second and third place finishes in the past 22 years.

Molloy placed first in the Robot Ramble competition, where the students built a robot capable of picking up various items off a playing field and placing them in a target box, all by remote control. The box was filled with both red and blue balloons however, and the blue ones had to be popped by the robot while the red ones had to be removed from the box by the robot before any of the items could be placed in the box. It was a challenging task, but junior Kyle Hounsell and freshman George DeMarco were up to the task.

Molloy placed second in the Electric Vehicle competition. Here a battery operated vehicle had to be constructed capable of stopping on its own at any point requested by the judges, without the aid of remote control or hard wire control. An automatic braking system had to be devised to handle the task and the team of Hounsell and DeMarco once again handled it admirably.

The Boomilever competition involved the construction of a structure made of balsa wood that weighed only 25 grams but was capable of holding a bucket of sand weighing 15,000 grams (which is 33 lbs). Senior Kevin Rhodes and sophomore Susan Zheng designed and built a structure that held the full load and took second place overall. Other individual highlights included winning 1st place in Circuit lab, 3rd place in Food Science, and 3rd place in Chemistry Lab.

The Molloy team consisted of seniors Michael Camardella, Katarina Duzdevich, Jenny Kochupurackal, Stephen Maniscalco, Kevin Rhodes, and Jonathan Rodriguez; juniors Nicholas Chan, Raymond Ferreira, Kyle Hounsell, and Jayminkumar Patel; sophomores Paul Bakoyiannis, Louis Lamia, Saahil Trivedi, and Susan Zheng; and freshman George DeMarco. The coaches were Mr. Michael DeMarco and Mr. Jason Mallia, both science teachers at Molloy.

Athletics

Jeff Gallagher stopped in to report that the Varsity Girls Track and Field Team won their first ever City Championship. There were many personal bests on Sunday and the stats will be posted on the Stanner Athletics link. We have three athletes going on to the State Championships representing the CHSAA.

The Girls JV and Varsity Basketball teams beat CK on Saturday afternoon. Good games and great athleticism. These are two very powerful teams with highly competitive players.

Step Team Update:

We received notice that the Step Team Competition is scheduled for Saturday, March 15th at the Prospect Heights Campus - 883 Classon Ave. Between Union Street and President Street. Doors will open at 4 PM and the show begins at 5 PM. Tickets are $25.00 - In Advance Only! The website is www.battleintheapple.com .

Spiritual

The 50th Anniversary Mass is coming up on April 9th. Brother Roy is holding a series of assemblies this week with the various classes to explain the importance of this event in the life of the school. Alumni are invited to attend this special Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We are scheduled to arrive at the Cathedral at 10:00 AM for the 10:30 AM Mass. The Archbishop Molloy High School Pipe Band will pipe us in to the Cathedral and will pipe us out at the conclusion of the Mass. Chaperones are needed for this event. If you have the time, call the office and volunteer to escort a group of 15 Stanners to this wonderful spiritual experience.

Non Scholae Sed Vitae

Coach Jack Curran’s 50th Anniversary Event brought out Stanners from across America. There were players in from every corner of the country, and those who could not attend sent messages of thanks for his 50 years of Dedication. The floor was dedicated with a temporary rendition of the permanent signature which will be added to the floor during summer renovations. The banner that was presented will remain as a reminder to all who enter that this is the "House that Jack Built".

In the reception afterward, there were citations and proclamations presented by politicians and judges, along with speeches by Gary Cavallo and Kevin Joyce. Whitey Rigsby sent his in using the SmartBoard® technology. Possibly the biggest surprise of the evening was when Coach Curran spoke to the more than 250 alumni present. Instead of his trademark "Thank You", Coach reminisced about his time and teams at Molloy. I have known coach for 44 years, and this is the most I have ever heard him say in public. In those few moments at the podium I could easily see how his men would feel the need to come home for the Coach. He is indeed a role model for all who come in contact with him.

And, on the Alumni Running Front - we heard from Rob Pasqual '77 this week with an invitation to all Stanner Alumni.

Hi,

On Saturday March 22nd, the Northport Running Club is hosting the Joe Latino Winter Relays at Sunken Meadow. This event consists of 6 runners running 2 miles each.

In years past I participated in this event and noticed that some high schools have alumni teams entered. For this year's event I'd love to captain a Stanners team. So I need to come up with at least 5 other runners. If you can get the word out I'd really appreciate it. Runners can leave a message at my home number 718 380-2519.

For more information on the event the website is at: www.nrcrun.org

Roy Pasqual
Molloy Directory Member
Public Relations Committee

God Bless all Stanners!