Remembering Pope Francis
Archbishop Molloy High School mourns the passing of Pope Francis (December 17, 1936 – April 21, 2025), beloved Holy Father of the Catholic Church. In many ways, Pope Francis reflected what it means to be Marist. He was a compassionate advocate for those on the margins of society, often putting the needs of others before his own. Through Laudato Si, he inspired people across the globe to care for our natural environment, thereby protecting Earth, as well as the poor and vulnerable affected by environmental issues. He led by example, always modeling empathy, charity, and love.
Reflecting on the passing of Pope Francis, US Provincial Br. Dan O’Riordan ’85 shares, “His incredible legacy and witness as Holy Father has impacted our world in so many powerful ways. In his ministry and through his numerous writings, he has continuously inspired us to deepen our faith, to live the Joy of the Gospel, and to compassionately walk with those on the periphery of our world. He has been a leading advocate toward communion with God’s creation and has challenged us to care for our common home. He has called us to truly live as Pilgrims of Hope. May the Angels lead him into Paradise so that he might embrace our risen Lord, to whom he dedicated his life. As we continue to live this Easter season, let us honor Pope Francis’s legacy by how we embody the gospel, serve those most marginalized, and bring faith, hope, love, and compassion into all the lives we encounter.”
Please join us in prayer for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis. We also pray for the Papal Conclave, that they may be inspired by the compassion and selflessness of Pope Francis as they gather to elect our new Pope.
You Could Win a Rolex Watch at the Jim Kinnier Stanner Golf Classic!
Each year, the Jim Kinnier Stanner Golf Classic welcomes alumni, family members, corporate sponsors, and friends for a great day out on the greens. It isn’t just a fun day of golf – since 1987, the Classic has raised over $3 million in support of Molloy scholarships. These scholarships have helped countless students to attend Molloy who might otherwise have been unable to afford tuition. Everyone at Molloy deeply appreciates the generosity of all our golfers, sponsors, alumni, families, and volunteers over these past nearly 40 years!
The outing will be held on Monday, May 12, 2025 and will welcome golfers to four private courses on Long Island: North Hills Country Club, North Hempstead Country Club, Lake Success Golf Club, and Wheatley Hills Golf Club. There is still time to register! Click the button below for our registration page.
ABOUT OUR ROLEX RAFFLE: This year’s outing features a special raffle offering a chance to win a genuine Rolex Sea Dweller Watch valued at up to $13,350! Only 500 of these special raffle tickets will be sold at $50 per ticket. Like our auction, it is not limited to our golfers, meaning anyone in the Molloy community can purchase Rolex Raffle chances online. Click the button below for more information and to make your purchase. Special thanks to Gerald Peters Inc, Certified Rolex Dealer, for donating this amazing item. *Note: Raffle drawing will take place the evening of Monday, May 12th. Winners need not be present.
ABOUT OUR AUCTION: We have many exciting items up for bidding in our Online Auction! Anyone in our community can place a bid, and you do not have to be signed up to play or attend the event to bid and win! Items include vacation getaways, golf packages, signed sports memorabilia, and more! Click the button below to browse our auction and place your bids now!
THANK YOU TO OUR CO-CHAIRS: Archbishop Molloy High School extends congratulations and our sincerest things to this year’s Golf Co-Chairs. Shaun Cheng ’04 (pictured above, bottom row left) serves as Account Executive at Signature Metal and Marble Maintenance. Thomas Arocho ’03 (pictured above, bottom row middle) is Vice President, Business Development Director at Morgan Stanley. Together, they have done a great job recruiting new sponsors and golfers, promoting our outing, and being wonderful representatives of Molloy. We look forward to celebrating them on May 12th.
Stanners Celebrate Spring with Annual Chorus, Band Concerts
This week, Molloy’s talented musicians offered back-to-back evenings of exciting performances, as our Junior-Senior Chorus, Band, Chorus Ensemble, and String Ensemble presented our annual Spring Concert Series! Night one featured the Junior/Senior Chorus, directed by Mr. Jim Sheehan ’75. Many of the songs were from popular Broadway shows, including “Memory” from Cats, “All Good Gifts” from Godspell, “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables, and numerous selections from West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Little Women, Oklahoma!, and Wicked. The evening spotlighted many outstanding soloists and duet performances, as well as a set performed by Mr. Ken Farnum’s MultiQuire, which featured singers from Fordham Prep, Fordham University, and Molloy. The evening concluded with a medley of popular tunes by The Beatles. Thank you to Mr. Sheehan, Mr. Farnum, and all our performers for a wonderful evening!
Night two of our Spring Concert Series showcased dozens of Stanners from our Band, Chorus Ensemble, and String Ensemble – all directed by Mr. Daniel Jones. The evening’s theme, Around The World, offered our community an eclectic mix of music representing artists and cultures from many different countries. The Band led off with songs including Another One Bites the Dust by Queen (London), Suavemente by Elvis Crespo (Puerto Rico), and One Love by Bob Marley (Jamaica). The Chorus Ensemble performed songs including Stay by Rihanna (Barbados), No One by Alicia Keys (New York), and Every Praise by Hezikiah Walker (Brooklyn).
After intermission, the audience was treated to a unique fusion performance, blending Scottish bagpipes with South Korean and African drumming. During this section, Assistant Principal Mr. Cameron played the bagpipes, while Mr. Jones’s DLIMITZ drum band joined Molloy students for what was truly a unique performance! The evening progressed with more international flair, including a guitar duet segment featuring Somewhere Only We Know (Keane, London) and Howl’s Moving Castle (Joe Hisaishi and Youmi Kimura, Japan) performed by Imani Germano ’25 and Van Yao ’25, and Thinking Out Loud (Ed Sheeran) and Time to Say Goodbye (Andrea Bocelli) performed by the String Ensemble. The evening concluded with the Band returning to the stage to perform rock hits like 7 Nation Army (The White Stripes), Livin On A Prayer (Bon Jovi), and Rock With You (Michael Jackson).
It was a truly special night that highlighted Molloy’s evolving music program and the great progress Mr. Jones and his band have made in just one year. Congratulations to all performers on an amazing and memorable evening!
DiPietra Foundation Showcases Molloy’s Photography Club
Molloy recently participated in the William F. DiPietra Foundation’s Sixth Annual Photography Exhibition! The foundation was created by Helen DiPietra, in honor of her late son William DiPietra, a proud Stanner from the Class of 1994. William had a passion for media arts, and after sadly passing away in 2017, Helen established various media arts awards that she asked to be given out at institutions that were a part of her son’s life, including Molloy.
This year, 17 members of the Photography Club submitted photos to the exhibition based on a theme of their choosing. 10 students were chosen to be featured in the online exhibition; some of their photos are featured here! You can view the rest of the exhibition by visiting: https://www.wfdfound.com/photos-2025
Top Three Winners: First Place – Aiden Valerio ’28 (“Capture the Moment”) | Second Place – Ryota Sato ’25 (“Beauty in Silence”) | Third Place – Ariela Loveras ‘27 (“Peaceful Trips to Remember”)
“The exhibition is an incredible opportunity for members of Molloy’s Photography Club,” says Mr. Jonathan DiDonato ’01, moderator of the Photography Club. He continues, “I’m consistently impressed with the students’ ability to not only take photos of beautiful places and things, but of how they are able to think outside of the box and come up with something so creative and aesthetically pleasing. You could clearly see the students’ passion and desire for taking photographs. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all who participated!”
Thank you, Helen DiPietra, for giving students such a great opportunity to showcase their art! Mr. DiDonato says, “Stanners are thrilled to be a part of this exciting exhibition, and may it continue for a long time!”
Class of 2026 News – Junior Leadership Liturgy
Molloy held its annual Junior Leadership Liturgy on Tuesday, April 29th! Members of the Class of 2026 gathered together, celebrated Mass, and received their class rings and leadership pins to officially mark them as rising leaders of our school!
Senior Jessie-Jaymes Lee ‘25 welcomed students and their families with an introductory speech, sharing her experience at Molloy. She told our juniors, “Every lesson, interaction, and experience you have here is a stepping stone to wherever life takes you in the future,” and reminded them to “savor every moment because it could be something that changes your life forever.” She encouraged the soon-to-be seniors to truly embrace the leadership position they will step into, because “they are all more than capable of doing so.” Our Celebrant, Fr. Anthony Rosado, reflected on being a leader, saying it means understanding that others look up to and follow you. He said there are stages to being a student in high school, and it is now time for the juniors to rise up and be a leader for others. Junior Alex Lopez ‘26 reflected on this next stage, saying the “five Marist Pillars will be able to help guide all of us to have a successful senior year,” and that it is important to keep in mind that underclassmen will now be looking to them for guidance.
Principal Dr. Darius Penikas says that everyone is a student leader, because we can all lead by example, but we are also always learning and growing. We are so excited to see how the Class of 2026 spends their senior year, learning and growing and leading others!
Introducing: Molloy’s New Robotics Team!
This school year, Molloy introduced a new extracurricular: the Robotics Team! With the encouragement of Molloy’s Computer Science & Engineering Department, junior Westen Lipan ‘26, along with classmate Alexandros Bazenikas ‘26, worked together to form Molloy’s first-ever Robotics Team! While Molloy previously had a Robotics Club, the Robotics Team would actively participate in competitions.
The official Molloy Robotics Team is made up of Westen, Alex, Avinash Hemraj ‘26, Francesko Hila ‘26, Megan Chelius ‘26, Yosef Naser ‘26, Sydney Pullo ‘26, and Rocco Fasanello ‘28. The first competition they competed in was held in February at the Harvey School. Compared to their other competitors, Molloy’s team “started from the ground up just three months before the competition, with just one of those months dedicated to actually building!” exclaimed Alex. The dedicated students stayed late almost every school day in the weeks leading up to the competition, even spending the entire Saturday before working as well. “I’m blown away by how much time and effort these students put into this competition, to the goal of this team in general,” says Mr. Van Winkel, CS&E teacher at Molloy and moderator of the team.
Each team needed to build a working, moving robot that could score points by picking up rings and placing them on mobile goals. A total of 38 teams competed, and although it was Molloy’s very first competition together, our Stanners won one of their rounds, and tied another, all against schools with more competition experience! Although there are no more competitions this year, Westen, Alex, and the rest of the team are excited for the Robotics Team to grow. Westen says they hope for more underclassmen to join during the 2025-26 school year so that they can “pass on their coding and building knowledge” and keep the team going strong for years to come!
| Stanner Athletes of the Week (4/14-4/27) – Lacrosse player Kayla Flanagan ’27 had 4 goals, 6 draw controls, and an assist in Molloy’s win against Xaverian, securing the team first in the division! Baseball player Thomas DiGiovanna ’28 hit a game-winning walk-off double in Molloy’s game against St. Anthony’s, as the JV squad won 6-5. |
| Track & Field – Congratulations to the members of the freshman boys track and field team for their victory on Sunday, April 27th at the Brooklyn-Queens Championship! The team was led by champions Tim Hider ’28, Jamel Rankine ’28, Antonio Ramirez ’28, Devin McBean ’28, Martin Nieva ’28, and the 4×400 Relay. Jamel Rankine ’28 finished 1st in Freshman 100m Hurdles (17.06), Tim Hider ’28 finished 1st in Freshman Boys 800, (2:06.79), Matthias Collins ’27 finished 1st and Caleb Morgan ’27 finished 2nd in Soph Boys 100m Hurdles (20.37 and 21.75), Michael Mulhall ’27 finished 1st in Soph Boys 800m (2:09.29), Liliana Win ’28 finished 1st in Frosh/Soph Girls Pole Vault (7-0), Madisynn Facey ’28 finished 1st in Frosh/Soph Girls Shot Put (24-1.75), and Arnario Briggs-Garcia ’25 finished 1st in Varsity Boys 200m (22.42). | At Penn Relays 4×100: Antonio Hernandez ’25, Ben Paula ’25, Jayson Reyes ’25, Brandon Notice ran 44.94 in the 4×100 (season best); Arnario Briggs-Garcia ’25 (51.66), Tommy Barker ’25 (53.02), Anson Cheung ’26 (53.84), Emmerson Villaman ’26 (52.47) ran the 4×400 in 3:30.96 (4th in their heat and ranked 4th in CHSAA; Brianna Poliseno ’25, Saige Swift ’25, Kirstine Perez ’26, Maria Badalamenti ’25 ran the 4×100: in 53.44 (#5 AMHS PENN TIME); Camille Munoz ’25, Emily Potkanski ’28, Aoife Garvey ’25, and Kylie Liriano-Montalvo ’25 ran the 4×400 in 4:19.72. |
| Softball – Records so far: Varsity 13-0 | JV 11-8 …. Earlier this month, the Varsity squad was ranked as high as 12th in New York State! |
| Baseball – Varsity is 10-1 in league play and went 3-1 in the Myrtle Beach Tournament. Patrick DeSarno ’25 collected his 100th hit in his varsity career a game against Xaverian on 4/16! |
| Lacrosse – Team records so far: Girls Varsity 5-6 | Girls JV 11-2-1 | Boys Varsity 5-12 |
STEAM Club Welcomes Alumni as Engineering Panelists
On April 28th, five alumni presented to current students during the STEAM Club’s Engineering Panel! Initiated by officers of the STEAM Club, Molloy welcomed back Allison Terranova ‘14, Anastasia Bizios ‘16, Tristan Bhiro ‘16, Daniel Jimenez ‘16, and Liam Coen ‘17 to speak to students about their careers in the field of engineering.
Each panelist described working in different sectors engineering, sharing advice and explaining that the discipline is extremely versatile. Allison spoke about being a Structural Engineer, Anastasia a Chemical Engineer, Tristan a Cybersecurity Engineer, Daniel a Mechanical Engineer, and Liam a Process Improvement Engineer! The panelists answered questions regarding their specific fields, why they chose to study engineering, what their day-to-day looks like, and how students can begin applying for scholarships/internships now to help them if they choose to become engineering majors in college.
Moderator of the STEAM Club Mr. Autera ’16 says the panel was “a huge success!” He continues, “The engineers were able to share several common experiences, such as gaining a different work ethic in college courses and learning to understand that not every answer is going to come easily to them. Overall, I thought the event provided an engaging way for students to learn about some of the many different engineering disciplines. As they go forward with their plans for college, they will be able to think back to this panel and remember the wisdom shared by our alumni!” Thank you, Mr. Autera and the STEAM Club, for preparing the panel, and thank you to the alumni that came to speak to our students!
While visiting his daughter in London, Maurice Herrera ’87 reunited with his classmate Bob Walsh ’87 after 30 years! Bob lives with his daughters in London, while Maurice’s daughter is there studying abroad this semester. Thanks for sharing this great photo, Maurice!
Remembering Derek “DJ” Southerland ’13
Archbishop Molloy High School is deeply saddened to share the sudden passing of Derek “DJ” Southerland ’13 on April 18, 2025. Derek was beloved by and well known to many in the Molloy community, as well as in the St. John’s University and Msgr. Scanlan High School communities. Over the years at Molloy, Derek worked closely with many athletic teams as an assistant manager. He also worked as a substitute teacher and public address announcer at Msgr. Scanlan and with SJU’s TV production team. Derek also enthusiastically volunteered at many school and alumni events at Molloy. He is remembered as a kind-hearted and generous person, an inspiring presence in the lives of so many, a loyal friend, and a devoted supporter of the student-athletes of Molloy, Msgr. Scanlan, and SJU. Derek was a wonderful person and a friend to all, and he will be deeply missed.
Molloy is awaiting information regarding memorial services for Derek. Once that information becomes available, we will share it with our community. Please continue to pray for Derek, his loved ones, and all the student-athletes he positively impacted.
We are saddened to share the passing of Josephine Gangone (April 24, 2025), mother of retired faculty member Palmina Dionisi and grandmother of Joseph Dionisi ’11 and Vincent Dionisi ’16. Please keep Josephine and her family in your prayers.
