Archbishop Molloy High School

Archbishop Molloy High School
Non Scholae - Sed Vitae.
Not For School - But For Life.
Address
83-53 Manton Street
New York City (Briarwood, Queens), New York, 11435
 United States
Information
Type Private, Coeducational
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic;
Marist
Established 1892
President Richard Karsten
Principal Br Thomas Schady, F.M.S.[1]
Asst. Principal Sr. Elizabeth Bickar
Mary Ann Safrey
Ken Auer
Faculty 83
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1523  (2009)
Average class size 30
Campus size 6 acres (24,000 m2)
Color(s) Columbia Blue and White         
Athletics 14 Interscholastic Sports
46 Interscholastic Teams
Mascot Lion
Team name Stanners
Accreditation(s) Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools[2]
Average SAT scores 2050 (2011)
Publication Out of the Box (literary magazine)
Newspaper 'The Stanner'
Yearbook 'Blue and White'
Tuition $7,680 + $250 non-refundable fee (2011-12) [3]
Athletic Director Michael McCleary
Head Coach (Baseball & Basketball) Jack Curran (50 years)
Website

Archbishop Molloy High School (also called Molloy, Archbishop Molloy, or AMHS) is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9-12, located on 6 acres (24,000 m2) in the Briarwood section of Queens in New York City, thirty minutes east of Manhattan. Molloy currently has an endowment of about $6,000,000 (as of Nov. 2010).[4] The school's current principal is Br. Thomas Schady, who started his term in July 2009. Molloy's motto is "Non Scholae Sed Vitae," which is Latin for "Not For School, But For Life." It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.

Contents

School's origins and philosophy

The school is staffed by the Marist Brothers, founded by Saint Marcellin Champagnat [5]

In 1892, Br. Zephiriny opened St. Ann's Academy in two brownstone buildings at East 76 Street and Lexington Avenue. Initially a parish elementary school, the program soon expanded to include a two-year commercial course and then a full four-year high school program. Initially conducted entirely in French, the school gradually moved to English-language instruction, and by the turn of the century, the Brothers anglicized the name to St. Ann's.

During the Teddy Roosevelt era, the school briefly took on a military air, with uniforms and a marching band. Boarding facilities were added, and the phenomenal growth of the school began. When the original parish church was replaced in 1912 with the huge present-day Church, the Brothers acquired the old building and converted it as a gymnasium. A purpose-built five story school building was then constructed, and other neighboring buildings were acquired.[5]

Sixty-five years after its foundation, the school enrollment had swelled to 800 in grades one through twelve, and all available buildings were bursting at the seams. Moreover, some of the earliest buildings had deteriorated structurally, and required replacement.

Archbishop Thomas Edmund Molloy, the Ordinary of the Diocese of Brooklyn, offered the Marist Brothers a 6-acre (24,000 m2) site he had purchased in central Queens County. In 1957, the Brothers moved to the new site, naming the building in honor of Archbishop Molloy. The expanded facilities enabled the school to nearly double its enrollment, meeting the urgent needs of the post World War II baby-boom generation.

Despite the move, many of the hallowed St. Ann's traditions continued as the faculty and students moved en masse to the new site. Today, students are still known as Stanners (St. Anner's), and the school newspaper is the Stanner.

In 1987, the Ralph DiChiaro Center for Arts and Sciences was dedicated, giving the school new, state of the art, facilities, including a theater, computer labs and a biology lab.[5]

In 2000, Molloy became co-educational and opened the doors to women for the first time. It graduated its first female in 2004.

In 2006, two Molloy alumni, John Faso (1970), and Andrew Cuomo (1975) ran for two top offices in New York State, Faso running for governor as a Republican, and Cuomo for Attorney General as the Democratic nominee. This is the first time in New York State that two of the candidates running for the two most powerful positions in the government graduated from the same high school. While Faso was beaten in a landslide by Eliot Spitzer, Cuomo won in his race and is the former Attorney General of New York State. Cuomo ran for Governor in 2010 and, on November 2, of that year, was elected as the 56th Governor of New York.

Richard Karsten, class of 1981, was appointed President of Molloy in July, 2010. He served on the school's first director in the 1990's and is a member of the Stanner Hall of Fame.

Academics

Archbishop Molloy's academic program is competitive. A variety of honors classes and ten Advanced Placement Program (AP) classes are offered by Molloy. The school's Science Olympiad team is consistently among the top three schools in the city, recently taking second place. Amongst Catholic schools, Molloy has the highest percentage of its graduates earning Regents diplomas. The U.S. Department of Education recognized the school as a "National School of Excellence." Molloy was named as 1 of 96 most "Outstanding American High School" by U.S. News and World Report in 1999,[6] as well as an "Exemplary School" by the United States Department of Education. 100% of Molloy's graduates attend college.Admission is based on the entrance examination (TACHS) and a review of 6th, 7th, and early 8th grade records.

In 2006, one of Molloy's seniors, Mary Catherine Wen, along with her partner Jenny Yeh, were national finalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. Their project, "Proliferation and Alignment of Osteoblasts on Oriented Magnetic Nanocomposites," won them $20,000 in college scholarships.[7]

Athletics

Molloy is nationally known for its successful sports program, particularly in basketball, baseball and track and field. Molloy's basketball team is coached by the legendary Jack Curran, the winningest coach in New York City and New York State history. After taking over as coach for Lou Carnesecca in 1958, Curran has led Molloy basketball to over 870 wins and 5 city titles. He has also produced 6 NBA players. Curran has also coached Molloy's baseball team since 1958, leading them to more than 1,300 wins and 17 CHSAA titles. In 1966, Curran coached Molloy baseball to win 68 consecutive games, a national record which would stand until April 2, 2005. Curran is the only coach to be named National Coach of the Year in two different sports: basketball in 1990 and 2009 and baseball in 1988. He has been named CHSAA Coach of the Year 25 times in baseball, 22 times in basketball, won city championships in three different decades and has been elected into seven different Hall of Fames, including the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

Molloy's track team has been noted, winning 24 CHSAA indoor track titles since its inception. Tom Farrell, a Molloy graduate, won a bronze medal at the 1968 Olympics in the 800 m run. Chris Lopez (1991) currently has the New York High School indoor state record in the triple jump, set on March 2, 1991 with a mark of 50' 7.25". Molloy's dominant track and field program has more CHSAA team titles than any other CHSAA school. Molloy's baseball team's rival for many years has been St. Francis Preparatory High School.

Stanner

Stanner is a word created by Archbishop Molloy High School. Before modern-day Molloy was built in Briarwood, Queens, the school was named St. Ann's Academy. The students were known as "St. Ann-ers," a nickname which, over time, simply became "Stanners." All of Molloy's students, current and alumni, are known as Stanners.

The school always makes it a point that students should act "Stannerly," though the meaning of "Stannerly" is not specifically defined. One assumption is that it means "like Jesus," but that definition was called into question in the 2003-2004 school year when Brother Roy George called Jesus "the ultimate non-conformist." The school's administration, as the students know, praises conformity to the school's rules. It is generally acknowledged, however, that to act Stannerly is to show respect for yourself and others; be a friend, show good will towards others regardless of race, color or creed, and to follow the rules set forth by the school administration.

Several things in the school have this name, including the school newspaper, "The Stanner," and one of the two basketball courts, "Stanner Court." In addition, the school's athletic teams are known as the Stanners.

Notable alumni

Notes and references

  1. ^ http://www.molloyhs.org/blog/?p=800
  2. ^ MSA-CSS. "MSA-Commission on Secondary Schools". http://www.css-msa.org/search.php/. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  3. ^ http://www.molloyhs.org/admissions/ninthgradeadmissions.cfm#tuition
  4. ^ http://alumni.molloyhs.org/?page=endowmentfund&hhSearchTerms=endowment
  5. ^ a b c AMHS. "Archbishop Molloy High School History". Archbishop Molloy High School website. Archived from the original on 2007-04-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20070422055549/http://molloyhs.org/history/. Retrieved 2007-08-01. 
  6. ^ "THE CITY'S SWEET 16 HIGH SCHOOLS WHETHER THEY ARE PUBLIC OR PAROCHIAL, ALL SHARE ACADEMIC SUCCESS, PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND MOTIVATED STUDENTS". New York: NY Daily News. January 10, 1999. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1999/01/10/1999-01-10_the_city_s_sweet_16_high_sch.html. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
  7. ^ http://www.siemens-foundation.org/documents/2006-07NationalWinnersReleaseFINAL.pdf
  8. ^ Herszenhorn, David M. "In the Race for Governor, a Big Divide on School Aid", The New York Times, November 2, 2006. Accessed December 6, 2007. "Mr. Faso, whose father worked as a janitor in the Catholic grammar school that he attended on Long Island, went on to Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens and the State University of New York at Brockport."
  9. ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800257587/bio
  10. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005380/bio
  11. ^ http://www.molloyhs.org/blog/?p=388
  12. ^ Kovaleski, Serge F. "A Baseball Lover, Key to Tarnishing a Yankee Era", The New York Times, December 15, 2007. Accessed February 19, 2008. "As a youngster, Mr. McNamee was drawn to baseball and became a catcher, playing at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens and then at St. John’s University, which he attended from 1986 through 1989, majoring in athletic administration, according to a spokesman for the university, Dominic Sianna."
  13. ^ Kerry Keating, CSTV. Accessed November 17, 2007. "Keating was born on July 15, 1971 in Stoughton, Mass., and was raised in Rockville Centre, N.Y. He attended high school at Archbishop Molloy and graduated from Seton Hall Prep."

External links