A Day in the Life

Pope Francis is committed to developing and nurturing the whole student, whether in the classroom, on the field, or out in the community. We strive to develop students who are respectful and responsible role models inside the school and out. No matter where Pope Francis students find themselves, they are ambassadors of the school.

Through extracurricular activities, Pope Francis students have an opportunity to learn and develop beyond the classroom. The goals of these activities align with our school mission to develop faith-based leaders. We are proud and honored to help each of our students realize their full potential; our goal is to prepare them for successful post-secondary lives as future leaders.

Pope Francis Players, under the direction of Mr. John Anziano, CHS ’91, presented the musical “Into the Woods” with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwined the plots of several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairy tales. The main characters were taken from “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Rapunzel”, and “Cinderella”, as well as several others. The musical was tied together by a story involving a childless baker, portrayed by Seth Mastriani ’19 and his wife, played by Elizabeth Bess ’18 and their quest to begin a family despite their interaction with a witch, played by Gianna Branco ’18, who had placed a curse on them. The show ran for three days, May 11, 12, and 13. Part of PFPS’ varied fine arts program, the Pope Francis Players perform twice a year.

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Thanks to our continued partnership with The Community Music School in Springfield, students participate in a music program for brass, woodwind and string instruments, piano, guitar, percussion and vocals. With the added benefit of our brand new acoustically sound music room, students are now able to add this enrichment offering to their regular course schedule.

Students from Mr. Ilson’s Illustration class and Ms. Boudreau - Kinsey’s entries for the Annual Stop the Swerve event hosted by Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni CHS ’98 in April. Their PSA videos were awarded $2,000 in prize money to be used to support school technology. The school purchased digital teleprompter equipment and extra stylus pens for the Microsoft 1:1 initiative. Additionally, her classes were part of a national emergency training initiative called “Stop the Bleed”. Medical staff from Baystate Hospital, including Ida Konderwicz, RN CHS’78 taught our students how to pack a wound and place a tourniquet to “stop the bleed” in a life-threatening situation. Pope Francis Prep is the FIRST school in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to have students trained in this way!

Advanced Art class traveled to Smith College Museum of Art and greenhouses last spring. The trip offered the students an opportunity to practice as agents of meaning-making by gathering evidence from the works of art (visual texts) to support their interpretation. Also, visiting the beautiful greenhouses helped to remind them that spring was

Students in Mrs. Perreault’s health and wellness classes created PSA video

on its way!

Ida Konderwicz CHS ’78

wellness

Mr. Decoteau’s AP English students welcomed poet Jack Powers to Pope Francis this past spring. The visit coincided with April’s designation as National Poetry Month. Poems written by the students were shared with Mr. Powers and he selected two winners prior to his visit - Joe Fernandes ’18 and Katie Boutin’19. The third winner, Jenna Ross’19, received a special citation for the art class’ book of poems and Haiko inspired artwork.

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Mr. Salloum’s engineering class started this academic year by testing their design prototype and the height of our new stairwell by dropping an egg, water balloon and nails strategically packed and dropped from the 3rd floor. Some survived the fall. Others, it’s back to the drawing board!

National Honor Society members supported the Springfield Rescue Mission throughout last spring by making over 100 sandwiches and delivered to those in need. Also, NHS students collected toiletries to support those in need.

The Student Council sponsored a spring food drive called the Cardinal Red Hat Challenge which added much needed donations to Springfield’s Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen pantry shelves. The “Red Hat Challenge” recognized the 5th anniversary of the selection of Pope Francis by the College of Cardinals.

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The winning homerooms earned the coveted RED HAT – the biretta worn by members of the College of Cardinals when they meet to choose the new pope. The “Red Hat” challenge was a meaningful way of recognizing the spirit and work of Pope Francis in the students’ lives.

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Athletics

Bessone Award Honors This past spring saw our Cardinal athletes closing out the sports calendar strong, with all Cardinal athletes looking ahead to the opening of the new campus and its first-rate athletic facilities. Our ice hockey team celebrated a final accolade The Cardinal spring team final records were: Of note, the baseball team qualified for the WMass Division 1 tournament and made it all the way to the championship before falling to Longmeadow by a score of 5-0. The softball team made the WMass tournament for the first time in 3 years, losing in the first round to Mt Everett. The boys spring track team finished 6th at the Western Mass Division 2 championships, and were led by Tamil Tate, who finished first in the high jump, and by Tevin Early, who finished third in the discus. by having two team members honored at the 52nd Annual Bessone Awards. Brendan Nehmer ’18 received the Amo “Betts” Bessone Award as Western Mass. Hockey’s Most Valuable Player, and Jacob King’18 received the Eddie Shore Award The girls spring track team finished 4th at the West/Central Mass Championships (out of 53 teams). Alexandra Gonet won 3 individual WMass titles at the WMass Division 2 championships (in the 100 hurdles, 400 hurdles and long jump) and won 2 individual titles at the West/Central Championships (in the 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles). Tanner Longo, Emily

for Top Defenseman. Jon Tavella ’19 and Max Cocchi ’19 were also recognized by MassLive’s sports writer Conor Ryan. The top coach’s award, the Joseph Buchholz Coach of the Year Award, went to our

Softball Girls Lacrosse Boys Lacrosse Boys Spring Track Girls Spring Track Girls Tennis Baseball 1-14-1 2-10-1 6-12 4-3 1-8 10-7 15-8

very own, Coach Brian Foley.

Boutin and Alexandra Gonet each qualified for the all-state championships, with Tanner setting a new school record in the high jump (5’4”) and Emily setting a new school record in the mile (5:15). Alexandra Gonet also qualifed for the New England Championships, where she finished 10th in the 300-meter hurdles and 6th in the 100-meter hurdles.