By Currents News
Students at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Flushing, Queens, went to a Catholic school concert when over a dozen members of the New York City Police Department’s band visited the school. The group performed contemporary hits while the students and teachers danced and sang along.
By Currents News
At the sound of a bell statues came alive at Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy in Astoria, Queens, during the school’s annual immersive wax museum exhibit.
Students responded to the ring of the bell by presenting famous figure they researched and dressed up as, bringing household names to life with facts about each historical figure right before visitors’ very eyes.
By Currents News
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan has been in several classrooms throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn for Catholic Schools Week. On Jan. 30, he helped unveil a brand new one.
He blessed a new reading room at the school in Greenpoint., Brooklyn, and spoke to students.
He was also on hand to see St. Stanislaus Kostka’s student council inauguration ceremony.
A deadly plane collision in Washington D.C. is being investigated after an American Airlines jet getting ready to land at Reagan National Airport collided with an Army helicopter.
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is criticizing comments Vice President JD Vance made about the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Students at St. Bernard Catholic Academy in Brooklyn are celebrating Catholic Schools Week by giving back to their community.
by Katie Vasquez
Students at St Bernard Catholic Academy in Bergen Beach pack away dozens of coats, hats, and gloves. They know with the latest freezing temperatures they need them,but others need them more.
“I hate being cold. So I can’t even imagine being cold in this type of weather,” said 8th grader, Hali Bailey at St Bernard Catholic Academy.
The Brooklyn school organized a coat drive, giving back to the needy by collecting the basics like warm clothing and toiletries for Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens to distribute.
“We collect stuff like this, like lotions, soaps, stuff and like, hairbrushes, stuff that could help them, like toothpaste and stuff,” said 5th grader at St Bernard Catholic Academy, Emma Puleo.
The drive is a collaboration between the academy and the parish, who also contributed items.
“It is a gift to have a parish school, an academy in the community. so, we work together, thank God, between the parish and the academy. We have a good working relationship, and that’s important. And it’s not just the parish that wants that, the parents ask for that relationship with the larger parish community,” said Father John Maduri, St Bernard of Clairvaux Church pastor, Father John Maduri.
And a part of their celebrations for Catholic Schools week, St Bernard’s understands the students have things to learn outside the classroom.
“A big part of going to Catholic school and living out their faith and learning about their faith is giving back to the community,” said St Bernard Catholic Academy principal, Tracy Flanagan.
The school believes Catholic education offers not only a lesson in religion but the spirit of charity. As the students look at the basic items that some families live without, it makes them count their own blessings.
“I’m definitely very fortunate to, like, have all that I have. and it’s very important to me to, like, know that other people are not as fortunate. and I’m very happy to give back to them and give back to my community,” said Bailey.
“I feel a sense of joy. yeah, because it feels good helping others,” said 8th grader at St Bernard Catholic Academy, Patrick Finley.
But giving back is a year round effort that the school will continue.
By Currents News
Students at Good Shepherd Catholic Academy in Marine Park, Brooklyn, got the chance to spend time with Bishop Robert Brennan as he helped them add their own twist on a class experiment.
Bishop Brennan joined in on the activity, which was designed to help the students learn about data through passing hula hoops.
It was one of many classroom lessons he took part in, including another involving string to measure the length of the large and small intestines.
Bishop Brennan also joined the Knights of Columbus for a brief assembly where they presented certificates to the students in the school who won The Tablet’s “Keep Christ in Christmas” art contest.
By Currents News
It’s not all fun and games at Catholic schools – they also provide a quality education for students that outweighs that of public schools.
Catholic school students in the Diocese of Brooklyn in particular outperformed both New York City and New York State schools in English, language arts, and math in three different grades: fourth, sixth and seventh.
In some cases, Catholic school students scored almost 20% higher than city and state schools.
When assessing Catholic school performance nationally, John Lavenburg, correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, is sourcing his data from the National Catholic Educational Association.
He joins Currents News in the studio to discuss what the numbers from 2023 and 2024 can mean for catholic education and student performance for 2025.
By Currents News
Principals are getting into the Catholic School spirit by getting slimed as a way to raise money for veterans.
One by one students at St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy in Queens, New York, lined up to pour 150 gallons of the green goo on their principal, Debbie Hanna, all in the spirit of giving.
The principal said one hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the Veterans Assistance program in Hempstead, Long Island, so she was more than happy to sit through the slime.
Students paid $10 for a bucket or $2 for a cup of green slime and raised more than $2,000 for veterans.
By Currents News
Students at Bay Ridge Catholic Academy in Brooklyn are hitting the ground running for Catholic Schools Week, celebrating Sports Day.
The grades split in half and competed against each other in relay races. The green team came out on top in a third grade match, but both teams gave it their all in the show of sportsmanship and true Catholic Schools Week spirit.
On any given school day, Songbo Zhou can be found explaining a math problem to his classmate. Math has been his strongest subject since he arrived at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Flushing, Queens last year. After all, numbers are the same in every language.
When he started 7th grade Songbo knew not a word of English. He moved to the U.S. with his family from mainland China in search of greater academic opportunities, and since the move he’s found them.
“I think my school is good,” he tells Currents News. “It has good study, and I have a good friend, and they have good lunch. So I like it.”
St. Michael’s Mandarin and English dual language program allows Chinese students to thrive. The school’s principal, Philip Heide says the academy employs coaches that develop inclusive strategies to bridge the language gap for everyone.
“After you repeatedly utilize the same strategies over and over again, it clicks,” he explains. “And then when it does click, the sky’s the limit.”
Today Songbo is nearly fluent. “Night and day” is how teacher Patricia Marsala. describes the progress. She tells Currents News that she’s never seen anything like it in her decades-long career.
“He studies hard, works hard, does all the homework, does all the assignments,” she explains. “He is a complete delight.”
Though Songbo gives a lot of credit to his teachers – he says it’s his friends who have kept him afloat in class.
“I can’t understand what’s happening and I have some questions and they say, ‘Okay no problem, let me tell you what’s happening,’” he says. “So they help me speak English.”
Faculty at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy say Songbo’s success is a testament to not only his hard work, but the power of Catholic education
It’s where “they feel supported, where they feel challenged in a healthy way,” says Heide.
“This is the kind of family we are here. I am so proud of us all,” adds Marsala.
And that type of feeling is something that needs no translation.