72 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • OCTOBER 10, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
St. Francis Prep to host annual open house
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
All are welcomed to attend St. Francis
Prep’s annual open house for prospective
students and families at noon on Saturday,
Oct. 19.
Th ere will be auditorium and departmental
classroom presentations.
Attendees will be able to experience the
school’s new facilities, and tours will be
led by students every 10 minutes. Th ere
will also be a fi nancial aid room for families
to explore options that will assist
them in attending St. Francis Prep, located
at 6100 Francis Lewis Blvd., in Fresh
Meadows.
Aside from a rigorous and fl uid academic
program at St. Francis Prep, there
are countless clubs and activities students
can join. Th ese include ethnic clubs
that celebrate students’ heritages, to special
interest clubs like the Snow Club, or
Ultimate Frisbee and Video Game Club,
to faith-based clubs like the Franciscan
Youth Movement.
All of these activities will be represented
at the open house by student participants
and faculty moderators.
St. Francis Prep also has a storied
Athletics legacy, including traditional
sports like football, basketball, as well
as unique sports and competitive activities
such as Rugby and Dance. One of the
“golden links” of a Franciscan education
is the physical, and Prep’s inclusive and
supportive programs allow students to
develop physically, as well as grow in their
sense of self-esteem, teamwork, discipline
and healthy competition.
Prep’s art department students
have been recognized by having their
award-winning work displayed at significant
venues such as Th e Metropolitan
Museum of Art through the auspices of
Th e Scholastic Art and Writing Awards,
and at the White House, through the
Congressional Art Competition. Recently,
the school’s art program earned the
Middle States Association of Colleges and
Schools Program of Distinction in Art.
Th e process included a lengthy and collaborative
self-study, culminating in an
on-site visit by nationally recognized art
educators. Prep is only one of two schools
in the world that holds this distinction.
Additionally, its music department
was the fi rst program ever to be recognized
by Middle States by earning their
Program of Distinction in Music, which
is aimed at recognizing only those schools
with the most sophisticated programs
and the highest goals in music education.
Th eir elite ensembles followed up
their 2016 tour of Rome and Assisi, with
a 2018 tour of England, including Oxford,
Stratford-upon-Avon, Canterbury, and
London. Th is summer, the students will
be traveling to France, including Paris and
Normandy.
Current construction includes an
orchestra rehearsal room, orchestra storage
room, chorus room and faculty offi ce.
St. Francis Prep’s Open House will feature auditorium and departmental classroom presentations, and a tour of the school’s new state-of-the-art facilities.
Recently, the fi rst of three phases opening,
including a small rehearsal space,
and a dedicated percussion room, with
new equipment. Th ere is also a suite of
seven Wenger SoundLok Sound Isolation
Rooms of various sizes. Th ere is also a
dedicated classroom for advanced electives.
Th e fi nal stage of construction will
include a new band room and storage, and
electronic music studio.
Academically, Prep has an
extraordinary array of electives,
honors and advanced placement
classes in every subject area,
which is supported by a fi rm
grounding in a core curriculum
that prepares students for both
college and their adult lives as
stewards of their society.
Last year alone, Prep students
earned nearly $170 million in
merit scholarships to colleges
and universities all around the
world. Colleges that welcomed
Prep alumni this fall include
Brown University, Cornell
University, Tufts University,
Amherst College, New York
University, the Sophie Davis
School, Th e Cooper Union and
McCaulay Honors College.
Seventeen institutions off ered
onsite interviews through the
course of the school year, which
alone resulted in nearly $18 million
in freshman year scholarships.
Middle States has also
recognized Prep’s Guidance
department, as they earned the
Association’s Program of Distinction in
School Counseling Services. Th at makes
Prep one of only three schools worldwide
who currently hold three of those recognitions.
St. Francis Prep President, Brother
Leonard Conway, O.S.F., has been committed
to ensuring Prep is able to off er
state-of-the-art facilities and resources
for all students — a complete upgrade
Courtesy of St. Francis Prep
of infrastructures, including HVAC and
PA systems, an Art Education Center,
Athletic Center, collegiate quality, Science
Labs with full Smart technology integration,
including Digital Microscopes, and
Vernier Lab Quest interface systems.
Th is year, Prep received a $100,000
grant from NewYork Presbyterian-
Queens, for its award-winning Science
Department to be equipped with an
Anatomage Table — the world’s
fi rst virtual dissection table that
provides hands-on visualization
tool for students in anatomy
and biology courses. Students
will be able to see the interior of
the human body and perform
“operations” on over 1,000 virtual
cadavers.
Students from a myriad of
faiths and cultures attend Prep,
and all of its students learn the
importance of giving back to
society, helping those in need,
and caring for creation. Prep
is the only high school in the
Brooklyn-Queens Diocese to
have a full-time chaplain, and
a well organized and energetic
Campus Ministry team that
off er service opportunities in
New York and abroad.
For more information on St.
Francis Prep’s Open House, contact:
Th e Admissions Offi ce at
the Prep at 718-423-8810, x229,
or admissions@sfponline.org, or
register at https://sfponline.org/
AdmissionsVisit.asp
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
/
link
/
link
link
