'Like a family' at Maria Regina

Students from Maria Regina School were on hand for the open house on Jan. 25.

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Frosty met Quinlan Damato, a nursery school student at Maria Regina.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Vincent Mondello, Pattie Migliore and Patricia Brown baked fresh cookies for guests.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Maria Regina alumni, from left, Anthony Vecchio, Kyle Purcell, Sean Caramore, Kevin McGee and Julia Rooney came back to give tours at the Jan. 25 open house.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Jamie Barrett, Angela Barrett and Kaitlin Mulvilhill checked out selections at the book fair.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Brian Pietrangelo, 3, who likely will attend nursery school at Maria Regina next year, explored an igloo made from plastic bottles.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

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Maria Regina School is like one big family. That was the message from administrators, teachers, parents, students and alumni during the school’s annual open house on Jan. 25, the kick-off to Catholic Schools Week.

Community members were invited to come in and tour the school. They were able to see completed students projects, get a look at the facilities and ask questions about the various programs. Parents looking to send their children there in the future were encouraged to visit the parochial school on the eastern edge of Seaford.

“It’s really a day for us to celebrate who we are and to welcome new families at the same time,” first-year Principal Leona Arpino said.

The school has about 400 students, from nursery school through eighth grade. Arpino said that while the school primarily draws from local areas like Seaford, Wantagh, Massapequa and Levittown, children come from as far west as Uniondale, as far east as West Islip, and as far north as Syosset.

For guests that day, there were plenty of people to talk to. Tour guides took visitors around from room to room, where teachers eagerly answered questions. Arpino said that prospective families got a “well-round view of the school.”

Among the tour guides were Michael Zarro and AnnMarie Heaney, both of Wantagh. Zarro, who also works there doing maintenance, has a daughter who graduated from the school, and a son in eighth grade. Heaney enrolled her daughter there for nursery school and pre-K, expecting to then send her to public school. She liked the atmosphere at Maria Regina so much, her daughter stayed for kindergarten.

Several graduates of the school also came back to give tours including Anthony Vecchio, of Seaford. He is now a junior at Chaminade High School, and has fond memories of his time at Maria Regina.

“I just felt I had to give back to my family,” he said. “I love this place. I grew up here. I made my first friends here.”

Vecchio added that Maria Regina’s rigorous academic program prepared him well for the challenges of high school. The school follows the New York standards and Common Core, and has also offers religion classes. Once a month, the entire student body attends mass together at the church.