Supporting Excellence
How Your Contributions are an Investment in Success Prep Students Develop an appreciation for
History, Literature, Languages and
Writing
Prep offers students a variety of course electives (in all subject areas) that exceed NewYork State’s requirements. In the English Department, the one-day Renaissance Festival supplements a course of study and challenges students to emulate the Shakespearean period with costumes and dress in order to develop a greater understanding and appreciation for the actual Renaissance environment. Other course offerings include Gothic Literature, Drama, and Fiction, to name just a few.
In recent years, students from Gerard Kruger’s German II and German III classes earned outstanding scores recently on the National German Examination for High School students. Andrew Kim ‘10, Gayun Lee ‘11 and Kathy Zajac ‘11 all scored at or above the 90th percentile. Kathy ranked a remarkable 98th percent nationwide! The exam was taken by nearly 26,000 students throughout the United States.
Prep students participate in Poetry Out Loud, a National Recitation Contest created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. It starts at the classroom level. Winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends made available. Prep’s Jessica Ruddy ‘09 was one of three finalists in the NYC “Poetry Out Loud” National Recitation Competition in her senior year. She competed against thirty other students from the New York-Metropolitan area and St. Francis Prep was the only Catholic school with a qualifier in the competition.
The Writing Center is a place where students can meet with faculty to further develop their writing style and ability to find their “voice” for both academic and extracurricular writing endeavors. “Our goal is to help students with all aspects of the writing process, from the initial draft through proofreading in order to encourage a lifetime enjoyment of writing.” said English Department Chair, Dr. Stephen Marino ‘71.
Peter Facinelli ‘91
“Prep is a great place. As a student, I found that I could just be myself. I didn’t have to belong to a clique or a team to fit in and feel comfortable,” said movie and television actor Peter Facinelli ‘91 in a talk he gave to our graduating seniors. Peter credits St. Francis Prep with providing him with the self-knowledge and freedom that he needed to discern his true vocation and to go on to study acting in college. “I think everyone has an inner voice which tells them what they should do in life. Prep gave me that.” He achieved success on the “big screen” in the Twilight series, and on television in HBO’s Nurse Jackie.
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St. Francis Preparatory School 2010-11 Annual Report
For more than 50 years “The Little Portion” has been a vehicle to encourage creative writing and to provide our talented students with a professional level journal in which to publish their works of poetry and short fiction. Prep alumnus and faculty member Eric Hafker ‘86 serves as the moderator and inspiration for the current generation of creative writers. Eric is both a faculty member and a talented writer. Recently he won the Atlanta Review’s 2010 International Poetry Prize and is working on his second book of poems.
Pete’s “Tweet”
“Visited my old high school St. Francis Prep this morning 2 speak 2 the graduating class”