by Katie Vasquez
A bell echoes down 41st Street in Flushing as a reminder for students at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy that a new school year has begun.
“I’m very proud of ringing the bell,” Chloe Lin, a student at the school, said. “Symbolizes the start for the year, fresh start.”
Its chimes have been ringing for decades, St. Michael’s is one of the oldest Catholic schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
It was founded in 1851, but about 100 years into its history, the bell became part of everyday life.
“When the bell started, it was more like an orchestral music went around with it,” Philip Heide, Principal of St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, said. “Nowadays, we play rock ‘n’ roll, but the one thing that has always remained the same is the love at St. Michael’s.”
The world around the school has changed and so has the neighborhood. Flushing is now predominantly Asian and the school boasts the only English/Mandarin dual language program in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Yet the steady toll of the bell has continued for some 60 years.
Regardless of what language they may learn, the sounds are deeply woven into the memory of every student who has passed through these halls.
Alumnus Walter Avelin said the chimes immediately transport him back to when he was a student in the mid 1960s.
“When that bell rang, everyone stopped what they were doing and froze until they got direction,” Avelin said.
Now all these years later, there is the same call to action, but it’s more than just a sound.
“The bell itself is a bell. It rings and you know it does what it needs to do,” Heide said. “What’s tied to the bell, the memory and the love of St. Michael’s that’s what resonates with everyone.”
One the school hopes to keep ringing into the next century.