Community and Service

Elizabeth Moccia ’24 and McKenzie Deperry ’24 delivered free GIRL SCOUT COOKIES to Meals on Wheels seniors. They followed along a Meals on Wheels driver while lunch was delivered and gave the seniors a delicious dessert to enjoy. Elizabeth and McKenzie are in Springfield Girl Scout troop 11639.

POINTS of Pride

Keira Fitzgerald ’24 and Madelin Roy ’24 held a product drive for CONNOR’S KINDNESS KITS. They made flyers and shared them with family and friends. The organization was in awe to see the number of items our two students were able to collect, and commented, “Never in a million years did we imagine this. They truly exceeded our expectations on this project. We are truly grateful!” Connor’s Kindness Project delivers Kindness Kits to children, local hospitals and shelters throughout Massachusetts and is an accredited 501c3 non-profit.

PROM 2022 was held at GreatHorse in Hampden. It was a beautiful night that our Cardinals won’t soon forget! The POPE BLANKET MINISTRY is a new club at PFPS. Their mission is to provide a blanket of comfort for those who may be suffering from depression, anxiety, mental illness or sadness. Each blanket is uniquely made by a Pope student and blessed by our school chaplain. >

SENIOR AWARDS AND PARENT

APPRECIATION NIGHT. On the evening of May 24, the Class of 2022 and their parents were celebrated. This was an evening for the seniors to say thank you to their parents for supporting them during their time at Pope Francis Prep as well as an opportunity to celebrate the many accomplishments of the senior class.

NHS members met with Michelle Graci, Events Coordinator for Baystate Health Foundation, to present her with a check for $3,116 (a new PFPS record!). Our students participate annually in the RAYS OF HOPE WALK & RUN. However, that was not possible in 2021. Instead, an event was coordinated by NHS members Lily Turmel ’22 and Samantha Culver ’22. Participants wore pink shirts and walked or ran individually to raise funds for Rays of Hope. Congratulations to all who participated and contributed to this worthy cause! >

District Attorney Anthony Gulluni joined us to congratulate our winners of the STOP THE SWERVE campaign and present the school with a check for their winnings. Congratulations to Mrs. Perreault and her students who earned a total of $10,500! These funds will go towards enhancing school technology. At Pope Francis Prep we are proud to be a TIGHT-KNIT COMMUNITY. To celebrate the last day of classes for the Class of 2022, we surprised them with a fun allschool send off to end their day. It was a special opportunity to wish them well as they embark on their next adventure and to also remind them that they always have a home at Pope Francis Prep!

After STUDENT SERVICE HOURS are completed, each student participates in comprehensive assessments. Freshmen and sophomores have professional interviews with their theology teachers or create video presentations about their service projects. Juniors and seniors write reflection papers. Approximately 8,000 hours of service were performed by Pope Francis students in the 2021-2022 school year! We are grateful for the POPE PREP PRODUCTIONS team for all that they do to keep our community informed and up-todate with all that is happening at our school. Each morning at 7:50 a.m. the team goes live on the Pope Prep YouTube channel to share the morning announcements with our community.

GROWING IN our Faith

We were blessed to be able to celebrate our seniors at

BACCALAUREATE MASS

on June 1st at St. Michael’s Cathedral. Thank you to Mr. Anziano, our Christian Leadership team, Father Stan, Father Mark, Father Jon, Father David, our faculty, staff, and the choir for a beautiful Mass for our seniors and their families.

FR. JONATHAN REARDON joined us this fall as our new Chaplain. We are excited to welcome him to the Pope Francis Prep family! >

Led by Christian Leadership students, all Religion classes spent time in our chapel journeying through the fourteen STATIONS OF THE CROSS, stopping to reflect and pray after each station. During EARTH WEEK, all Religion classes gathered by our St. Francis statue for a Prayer Service.

The 2022-2023

CHRISTIAN

LEADERSHIP team!

During HOLY WEEK the entire Pope Francis Prep community gathered for a prayerful reenactment of the Stations of the Cross. The stations included prayers and reflections. Our Christian Leadership team served as actors for the stations and provided thoughtful modern scenes to depict the lessons found in each station. Music and beautiful lighting effects helped set the tone for this prayerful service.

We were blessed to begin the 2022-2023 year with a SPECIAL

PRAYER SERVICE

in our theatre. This was the first time we gathered as a school community and it was wonderful to see our theatre bursting at the seams with new and returning Cardinals.

The CATHOLIC SCHOOL CORD was given to 32 members of the Class of 2022 who attended Catholic Schools from grades K-12. The schools represented included 9 local Catholic schools: Blessed Sacrament, Mater Dolorosa, St. Joan of Arc, St. John the Baptist, St. Martha, St. Michael’s Academy, St. Mary’s Academy, St. Stanislaus and St. Thomas the Apostle.

EASTERTIDE LATIN

MASS. All Latin classes entered into the joy of the Easter season at a Latin Mass. Father Stan was the celebrant and preacher. The school’s music students offered a lovely and moving rendition of César Franck’s Panis angelicus. Over the previous months, Latin students had been practicing Mass chants and Fr. Stan beautifully chanted all the celebrant’s prayers.

CARDINAL Nation

Congratulations to the five Cardinals who earned ALL-WESTERN MASS for all three seasons. This is quite an accomplishment for our Cardinals! To put things in perspective for the 2021-2022 school year, MassLive named more than 2,100 athletes to its All-Western Mass teams, but only 304 earned All-Western Mass twice, and just 45 athletes earned the honor for fall, winter, and spring. Pope Francis Prep led the way with five Cardinals earning All-Western Mass honors for all three seasons!

BRENNA SEARS ’23

Girls Soccer, Honorable Mention; Girls Indoor Track & Field, 1st Team; Girls Outdoor Track & Field, 1st Team

RYAN O’LEARY ’23

Golf, 2nd Team; Boys Hockey, 1st Team; Baseball, 1st Team

MAEVE O’SULLIVAN ’23

Girls Soccer, 2nd Team; Girls Indoor Track & Field, 1st Team; Girls Outdoor Track & Field, 1st Team

MEGHAN SULLIVAN ’22

Girls Cross Country, 1st Team; Girls Indoor Track & Field, 1st Team; Girls Outdoor Track & Field, 2nd Team

KAITLYN ONDRICK ’24

Girls Cross Country, 1st Team; Girls Hockey, 1st Team; Girls Lacrosse, 1st Team

SENIOR SIGNING DAY

Congratulations to our studentathletes, their families, coaches, and everyone who helped them reach this tremendous achievement. We cannot wait to follow their collegiate athletic careers.

PFPS is excited to announce the addition of

VOLLEYBALL

to its sports program. Under the direction of Coach Justin Dalessio, the team began its inaugural season in the Fall of 2022.

Spring Sports

BASEBALL finished the season 13-10 with a +41 run differential. In the first year of the new state playoff tournament format, the team beat Wayland at home 10-4, then beat the two-time defending state champs, St. Mary’s Lynn, on the road 3-0. The boys fell to Falmouth on the road 7-3 to end an impressive season. The team was led by Drew Bolduc ’22 (Hobart baseball commit), Brady Debarge ’23, Jack Moltenbrey ’22 (St. Joseph’s of Maine baseball commit), and Ryan O’Leary ’23, who earned both All-Western Mass and All-League honors, as well as Ryan Hemenway ’22 (AIC baseball commit) and Connor Niemiec ’24 who earned All-Western Mass honors. Additionally, the program fielded two JV teams. JV A completed their season with a 14-6 record and a +118 run differential. JV B completed their season with a 7-1 record and a +35 run differential. The Cardinals will return 38 players to the program in 2023 plus a large group of 23 new and talented freshmen.

The SOFTBALL team had their best season in school history, finishing with a final record of 15-3 and qualifying for the state tournament. The team went to Ipswich for a preliminary state tournament game, winning 17-4 before losing to Amesbury in the round of 32. Pitcher Samantha Stortz ’23 led the team on the mound and at the plate recording over 100 strikeouts on the season, pitching a no hitter and earning both All-League and 1st team All-Western Mass honors. Taylor Moreau ’25 earned All-League and 2nd team AllWestern Mass honors.

GIRLS TENNIS finished the regular season with a record of 12-4 and lost at Martha’s Vineyard in the first round of the state tournament. The team was led by Chloe Stevens ’22, who made it to the semifinals of the WMass individual tournament and also earned 1st team All-Western Mass honors. Katelyn Horky ’23, Leana Vale ’23, and Brooke Eastman ’24 were all named Pioneer League All Stars. Brooke Eastman and Alex Watroba ’23 (doubles) also earned 1st team All-Western Mass honors and Katelyn Horky earned 2nd team AllWestern Mass honors.

BOYS TENNIS, in their second year, finished with a record of 7-5, qualifying for both the WMass and State Tournament. The team lost at Amherst in the first round of the WMass tournament and at Bedford in the first round of the state tournament. AJ Goncalves ’24 received All-League and 2nd team All-Western Mass honors. Malcolm Mohoney ’22 received All-League honors.

GIRLS LACROSSE finished with a record of 3-14, and lost in the first round of the WMass Class C Tournament. Audrey Mason ’23 and Kaitlyn Ondrick ’24 were named 1st team All-Western Mass and Hannah Keeney ’24 was named 2nd team All-Western Mass.

BOYS LACROSSE finished the regular season 6-9, but improved steadily throughout the season and played their best games in the postseason. The team won their first round WMass tournament game over East Longmeadow, 15-4 before losing to Wahconah in the finals. The team went on the road to Old Rochester Regional for the first round of the state tournament where they won 12-9. The boys season ended at Medfield in the round of 16. The team was led by Gage Sperlonga ’23 (chosen as their offensive player of the year), Ryan Gokey ’24 (defensive player of the year), goalie Matt Davis ’25 (team MVP), Richard Roy ’23 (coaches’ leadership award winner) and Colin O’Brien ’22 (team’s unsung hero). Gage Sperlonga, Colin O’Brien, Richard Roy, Nick Cote ’23, and Matt Davis were all named to the All-Western Mass team.

GIRLS TRACK ended the season with a record of 4-1, winning their first Pioneer North league title, and finishing third overall at the WMass Division 2 Championships. Allison Moloney ’22 won her first Western Mass title in the 200 meters and set a school record in both the 100 and 200 meters. Brenna Sears ’23 finished first in the 800 meters at the WMass Championships and was second in the 800 at the state championships, also setting a new school record. Maeve O’Sullivan ’23 won the 400-meter title at the WMass championships and finished second at the state meet, setting a new school record. Other top performers were Meghan Sullilvan ’22 who came in second overall in the 2 mile at the WMass Championships, the 4x400 meter team of Brenna Sears, Madison Koziol ’24, Lily Turmel ’22 and Maeve O’Sullivan ’23 which came in first overall at the WMass championships and the 4x100 meter relay team of Allison Moloney, Norah Walsh ’25, Lily Turmel and Stephanie Cesar ’24 which came in second at the WMass Championships.

Allison Moloney was chosen as the team MVP, Jessica Kenyon ’23 was honored as Newcomer of the Year, and junior Brenna Sears earned the Coaches Award. Allison Moloney, Maeve O’Sullivan and Brenna Sears earned First Team All-Western Mass honors and Meghan Sullivan earned Second Team All-Western Mass honors. Stephanie Cesar, Allie Moloney, Maeve O’Sullivan, Brenna Sears, Meghan Sullivan, Lily Turmel, Norah Walsh, and Siobhan Walsh were all named to the Pioneer North All-League Team.

BOYS TRACK ended the season with a 1-4 record, and finished in 15th place at the WMass Division 2 Championships. The team was led by Vonntae Martin ’22, who finished third in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump at the WMass meet. Tandy Brownell ’22, Julian Parent ’23, Vonntae Martin and Wesley Smith ’24 were all named to the Pioneer North All-League Team.