St. Agnes celebrates Catholic Schools Week

St. Agnes Cathedral School was filled with pride, prayers and competitive spirit as the students and staff celebrated Catholic Schools Week from Jan. 29 to Feb. 3.

The theme of this year’s week was “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.” The intent of the week is to celebrate the many contributions that Catholic schools make to the larger society, according to Rockville Centre Diocese officials.

At St. Agnes, the festivities began with a Mass and open house on Sunday. Students enjoyed a special lunch during their Appreciation Day on Monday and showed off their sports allegiances with Tuesday’s Jersey Day. There was another Mass on Wednesday before the week concluded with the highly-contested Red, White and Do Day sports competitions on Thursday and Friday.

“It’s the best week of the year,” said sixth-grader Jake Truncale. “You get so much. You get special lunches. We get Jersey Day. It’s just great overall.”

The students in each grade were divided into red and white teams. Physical education teacher Kathleen Cook ran the events, which featured variations of age-appropriate “Tom-n-Jerry” relay races, volleyball games, basketball shooting contests and a tug-o-war. The White team rallied to win the competition and received 60 percent of the money raised for their charity, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Center. The red team earned the other 40 percent for ther Lung Cancer Colorado Fund. Roughly $1,400 was raised overall.

The money collected from Jersey Day enabled the National Junior Honor Society to make 120 bagged lunches for the INN in Hempstead. 

Many of the students enjoyed the relay races, in which competitors ran around a large rectangle trying to tag their opponents with a baton. The boys used footballs instead of batons and had the option of throwing a pass to the next teammate in line after rounding the final corner.

“I like the ‘Tom-n-Jerry,’” said sixth-grader Maddie McCabe. “It’s just fun because you get to run around. It’s different than being outside. It’s more fun than playing tag.”

Others preferred elimination volleyball.

“In love how intense it is,” Truncale said. “Everyone gets so riled up about it. It’s cool.”

The charities were special for the St. Agnes students because a sixth grader is receiving treatment at Sloan Kettering. Those students wore orange-accented clothing to raise awareness for the disease.

“I think it’s really nice,” said sixth-grader Shannon Smith. “Everyone misses her.”

The Diocese of Rockville Centre continued to invest in Catholic schools. The diocese recently completed a new center to house the diocesan Department of Education at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, including new offices, conference rooms and training facilities in a 12,200-square-foot space. The center is also home to a new meetings series called “Making Connections,” at which parents are invited to chat with the schools superintendent over coffee on Saturday mornings.