Students at St. Francis Prep ushered in the new school year Wednesday morning, celebrating their first day of the academic year after a long summer.
St. Francis Prep, located at 61-00 Francis Lewis Blvd. in Fresh Meadows, is the largest non-diocesan Catholic high school in the United States and welcomed back its 2,500-strong student body on Sept. 3.
Principal Patrick McLaughlin said he is excited for the new school year, stating that back-to-school season is particularly exciting for freshman who are embarking on their journey at St. Francis Prep.
“It’s a new beginning for everybody,” McLaughlin said. “It (back-to-school) gives us a chance to start from the very beginning talking about two things – how they’re going to be successful in high school and also how we try to get through to heaven. Because obviously it’s not just academics. It’s the way the whole child is formed. And we do that from Catholic school perspective.”
McLaughlin said St. Francis Prep is implementing several changes ahead of the school year, introducing a cell phone ban that mirrors a measure introduced in New York City public schools.
“We realized that smartphones aren’t good for kids and that they interrupt lessons,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a bell-to-bell ban.”
The school is also exploring how to implement AI in the classroom, with teachers tasked with using the technology to help give out assignments.
Meanwhile, returning students expressed their excitement about the upcoming year, with a number of freshmen posing for photographs with their families on their first day in their new school.
Alicia Sclafani, who is entering her senior year, said it is “nice to be back” in the school routine after a long summer off.
“Towards the end of summer, I feel like there’s no routine because you’re done with whatever trip or whatever work you ought to do. And so being back to school, I feel like just gets a good routine back in again,” Sclafani said.
Sclafani is also on board as a peer counselor for freshman starting at St. Francis Prep and has spent the last week ensuring that new students have been getting acclimated to their new surroundings.
Mia Hartmann, one such freshman, said she is excited for “all the opportunities and extracurricular activities” that her new school will bring.
Joshua, a freshman who started school Wednesday alongside his friend Ruimi, said he is looking forward to a new start and to sharing the same school as his cousin, who is a senior at St. Francis Prep. Ruimi, on the other hand, said he is excited to make new friends at his new school.
Ava Nehme, a fellow freshman, is similarly excited about making new friends at her new school and said she is excited to return to the routine of school life after a long summer off.
Meanwhile, freshman Max Carabbo is excited about the upcoming football season and expressed hope that he can help St. Francis Prep bring home the championship. Carabbo is similarly happy to be returning to school after a summer off.
“I’m around a great group of people. I think everyone at St. Francis Prep is really amazing,” Carabbo said ahead of his first day at his new school.
