Our President-Principal, Terry Matthews plans to meet with some influential alumni with whom he could share the news of Hudson Catholic and solicit input about the school -- what it means to them, what insights they can add to what we are doing, and ways in which their help could benefit the mission of Hudson Catholic.
It has not been lost on us that the message sent out to the entire nation by St. Peter's University as a result of its recent success in the NCAA Tournament is one that resonates precisely with Hudson Catholic graduates about OUR school.
"What makes [our school] so special is [it] is so rooted in diversity and care for the whole person that it enables students to beat the odds and produce outcomes that are better than expected given their academic and economic backgrounds. That's why so many of us are so proud............it represents many of us --- underdogs with heart and grit who beat the odds."
This was said by an alumnus of St. Peter's University. But is it not also the message and the history of Hudson Catholic?
Hundreds, if not thousands, of Hawk alumni share this or a very similar view of our school.
If you receive an invitation to meet, you will be asked to offer a preferred date, time and venue for a meeting. Terry is happy to visit with you if you are unable to come to the campus, although, we would love to roll out the red carpet on Mercer Street for those who can make the visit to see some of the 513 young men and women entrusted to our care, along with what we have done with the place.
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In a year filled with too many losses of faculty members, present and past, we are saddened to report that we have lost yet another long-tenured, beloved Hudson Catholic legend and retired faculty member, Mr. Joe Pace, who served 24 years from September 1993 to June 2007. He passed away on April 22nd. Joe was a long-time History teacher for us and was a true character. His students loved him and have countless stories. The same goes for his co-workers.
Mr. Pace had most recently served as a Professor at New Jersey City University, and lived in Brooklyn.
Maged Hanna ‘91, perhaps said it best about Mr. Pace: “This is heartbreaking news. I owe so much to Mr. Pace, who was an amazing teacher, mentor and friend. May God repose his beautiful soul.”
Mr. Frank McGady, a long-time faculty colleague of Mr. Pace, remembered Joe as “the ultimate Renaissance Man,” chair person of the History Dept., and the most knowledgeable history person I ever knew. This is especially sad after losing another good friend and colleague, Tim Eigo, earlier this month.”
May he Rest In Peace.
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Legends of the Fall (Winter, and Spring too): Photo taken at HC graduation in 1998 - L to R: the late Joe Pace, Frank McGady, Tom Gentile (d.2017), Tim Eigo (d. 2022), Donald Schlachter, and Paul Lenczuk.
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With just 60 days remaining in the school year, we are drawing ever closer to our budgeted goal of $250,000 for the Annual Appeal for 1964: The Fund for Hudson Catholic. Now at 83% of the goal, we crossed the $200,000 threshold in April.
We continue to thank all our generous supporters, including many first-time donors, for all you do to support the LaSallian mission of Hudson Catholic that has served us so well for nearly 58 years.
The bills for the school year all come due over the next 60 days, so we continue to appeal to those who have not yet made their gift to the annual fund to kindly do so, and to do so generously. We also ask those who are already in this year, to consider what you might be able to do to increase your total giving for the year. Please act as though our kids' future depended on it. Because it does!
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Young Alumni Making an Impact
Introducing
The Young Hawk Alumni Scholarship Fund
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Shannon Ruiz ‘13 and Alana Rios ’13, decided to make a difference at their alma mater, so have designed a scholarship fund and initially funded it. In doing so, Shannon and Alana cordially invite other Young Alumni, i.e., Classes 2013, forward, to join together to make an impact at Hudson Catholic by establishing and offering two one-year awards of $1,000 each, issued annually, to a rising sophomore and incoming Freshman.
We will be announcing the scholarship to our students this week and sending the application information out to the students. The goal is to select a rising Sophomore and incoming freshmen by May 31st.
From Alana: " I had a good time at Hudson and I wanted to give another student that opportunity. My mom is a single parent and I know how much she sacrificed to send me and my brother to Hudson and I know a lot of parents do the same now. To just make it a little easier for the students now to be able to afford it all four years - I would love to give that to a student."
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Shannon Ruiz, Terry Matthews, Alana Rios |
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Costanza ‘76 Makes Significant
Multi-Year Gift Pledge
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Larry Costanza ’76, a member of our Board with personal experience in the 2008 Save Our School Campaign, knows and appreciates the importance and value of multi-year gifts to the school. From that experience, Larry wants Hudson Catholic to know that we can count on his gift, not only for this year, but each of the next three years as well.
While the focus in development is very much on current year through ongoing appeals for The Fund for Hudson Catholic and what those proceeds can do to help a school balance its budget and meet the challenge of unanticipated costs that surely arise each year, the presence of multi-year pledges is what once sustained our school after saving it.
Fourteen years later, we continue to encourage multi-year pledges that provide strength and confidence in forward financial planning for our school.
It is in this spirit that we have seen some significant multi-year pledges in the recent past, and are hopeful that more alumni and friends will consider stepping forward to make such commitments.
If you would like to jump on this train, speak to the Chief Advancement Officer, Gary Ferrari, and request a Gift Pledge Form to help you think through how you might like to structure such a gift.
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New Hall of Fame Plaques
Viewing Set for June 6th
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Our newest inductees to the Hall of Fame have been invited back to Hudson Catholic on Monday, June 6th at 6pm to view the newly installed plaques honoring their entrance to the Hall of Fame.
As a matter of tradition, all members of the Hall of Fame are invited and encouraged to attend in support of those who they elected to join them in the Hall.
If you are interested in joining in, please contact Jill Cypher ahead of the event.
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A Chance Meeting of Hawks
Dateline: Miami, May 2007
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Around the Clock Doc. Ramsey Saffouri ’79 founded and leads AM-PM Doc, a Miami-based organization of medical professionals that makes house calls to hotels, offices, and VIPs, to which the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences has awarded its coveted “Five Star Diamond Award.” Following is a true story exemplifying the nature of Dr. Saffouri’s services.
What Were the Chances?
-- by Gary Ferrari '73
While on extended assignment in Miami for American Express for the duration of 2007, one day I became fatigued while at work in my office on Brickell Avenue. As the morning wore on my condition worsened. I knew I was in for a world of hurt unless I received some medical attention.
I no longer recall all the details of the event, but the office staff alerted me to a medical practice that made ‘house calls’ to workplaces. Within the hour, a physician was on site taking my vitals as though it were his examination room.
Not uncommonly, we got to talking and exchanging information about ourselves as the Doc went through his paces. He told me how his practice was borne out of being called into emergency action in a Miami hotel, to treat the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra. Several celebrity referrals later, AM-PM Doc was born. Black and gold colors, naturally.
Additional chit-chat led to the discovery that we were both from New Jersey. You know how the rest of this goes. Then Jersey City. Finally, Hudson Catholic! I was ’73 and he was ’79. He had been practicing in Florida for many years. That day he brought me back to good health with a cocktail of treatments, folded up his bag, shook hands, and he said “It’s on me. For my Hawk brother.” One of the great road experiences of my professional life - being ‘comped’ by a doctor!
His name: Dr. Ramsey Saffouri, Class of 1979
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A Personal Note
Ramsey has very fond memories of Hudson Catholic and about the quality of the education received there. He is particularly thankful for the influences of faculty members Jack Campion, John Ferro, Nadia Makar and Ken Dandorph, and wishes to pass along his fondest regards to them. “The great education we received at Hudson Catholic was as good as what we received at the next level. We were trained to beat the odds.”
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The volunteer Healing Emergency Aid Response Team of HEART 9/11, led by its founder and CEO, Bill Keegan ’73, have in the past year, responded to the catastrophic hurricane in Louisiana, flooding in NYC, and the tornado in Kentucky. Now, their Rapid Response Team deploys for a mission to Poland over the next few weeks to assist with humanitarian efforts for Ukrainian refugees.
An initial team of 6 first responders, consisting of members of the FDNY and LiUna, landed in Jaroslaw on April 26th to provide logistical assistance to Ukrainian refugees as they move through the refugee processing center there, and to avail HEART 9/11's management resiliency program (developed at Harvard) for frontline first responders.
The mission will also focus on making contacts on the ground and determine where HEART 9/11 can be most useful, setting the stage for an effective second team deployment on May 4th and determining if more teams are needed at that time. Bill himself will make the journey in the second wave.
There is a need for medical assessments, logistical tracking of refugees in need of services and feeding, unloading supply trucks that are streaming in, transporting people to other cities, and more.
Those seeking to help in the humanitarian crisis can link to HEART 9/11’s Donation Campaign for the response at HEART 9/11 Ukrainian Refugee Response.
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May 7th! On the Hudson Catholic Stage. Drama Club Productions are back!
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"There's no way you can stop...The School of Rock!" Ticket sales are open for Saturday, May 7th production of School of Rock at Hudson Catholic! Tickets MUST be purchased in advance; no tickets will be sold at the door. The cost is $6.00 and the doors open at 6:30pm. Curtain rises at 7:00pm. Come out and support our amazing cast! |
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Summer Theatre
at
Hudson Catholic
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Our Assistant Principal/Dean of Students, Sarah Degnan-Barbi, is thrilled to announce our new summer program here at Hudson Catholic, a summer theatre workshop capping off with a stage production.
We'll be hosting a Theater Camp for elementary school students and working on a production of The Lion King Jr. This is an ongoing effort on the part of Admissions to draw more students to Hudson Catholic at a younger age and keep them involved in our activities leading up to high school.
This program is open to any children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews in the Hudson Catholic community who would like to join. The registration form is on the Hudson Catholic FB page, or you can contact the Director, Sara McGrath at theatre@hudsoncatholic.org.
Interested Hawks, particularly our thespians, filmmakers and stage pros who might like to help underwrite this program -- contact advancement@hudsoncatholic.org.
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What I Learned From…….
(and am still applying today)
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Jeff Ramos ’97 took the time to write and share some of his fond memories about life’s lessons, and how they started right here at the Hawks’ Nest.
He believes that teachers are one of the many pillars of society. They deserve more recognition for what they give. In Jeff’s case, that gift continues to give 25 years later.
His ‘pillar’ was/is Brother Raymond Murphy, his freshman year homeroom teacher. In Brother Ray’s case, size and demeanor might fool you, but his child-like looks hid a warrior from the mean streets of Philly. He was a fitting homeroom teacher for freshmen, by setting the example that succeeding in life can’t merely be seen through physical attributes. Grit, integrity, tenacity, adaptation, courage, commitment, intelligence, and emotional capacity are to be cultivated. Life itself can be a bully, and the fight in all of us cannot be small.
And just like a seasoned veteran at any game, his homeroom won the Hudson Catholic Cup, awarded to the homeroom that exhibited the most Hawk spirit, by winning many events through the year -- Dress Down Day participation, and the highest total pounds of donated food during the November Food Drive being two examples of such events.
I never knew how well prepared I was until I signed up to join the U.S. Marine Corp right after graduation, along with another classmate, Edgar Cinense.
As Brother Ray Murphy would say: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog that counts.”
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If you would like to share a ‘learning’ from a memorable encounter with a teacher, administrator, coach, or staff member who were part of your life’s learnings and success, write to advancement@hudsoncatholic.org |
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To Long Way From Home Greg Knipp ’84, Boilermaker has a very different definition than it does in Jersey City. From his perch in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he works at Purdue University as Faculty Director, Translational Pharmacology. When we wrote to him suggest that he might be the only Hawk not rooting for hometown SPU against Purdue in the Tournament, this is what he had to say: “I had a St. Peter's shirt on during the game, if that is any consolation. I did attend Rutgers and Kansas, so they would be the exceptions, but I was happy for St. Peters. I remember 11 or 12 years ago when they opened up against Purdue in the tournament. My doing the "Peacock" with my hands annoyed a few Purdue fans. You just cannot take the Jersey City out of anyone.”
He’s Been Working on the Railroad. Tim Daly ’71 of Hoboken is an artist who was commissioned to create 32 individual acrylic painted murals that are on display at the Lautenberg Transportation Center in Secaucus. The murals present views of and from several NJ Transit lines connected by the transfer station. Appearing like photographic images, they include station clocks, the catenary systems, rails and bridges, and views from trains in places like Raritan Bay, Jersey City, Boonton, Newark and Ramsey. Tim’s murals can be seen in the South Mezzanine of the Terminal.
Vet Set. Shane Thalman ’92 served in the US Army from '93-95, achieving the rank of Corporal. He was stationed at Fort Hauchuca (Arizona), Redstone Federal Arsenal (Alabama), and Yongsan Army Base (South Korea). He is living on the Northport NY VA campus through their work program, working in the IT dept.
Man for All Seasons. Correy Mezzina ’11 is Supervisor of Sports Investment at Optimum Sports.
Media Mogul. Tony Monte ’78 is the Owner & Founder of Marion Section Multimedia, and Owner, Creator, Writer and Executive Producer of Celebrity Taste Makers.
Shooting the Stars. Tatiana Lopez ’20 has started a new position as Sports Photographer at Barry University.
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Everybody's favorite Alumni Association Officer Larry Basinski '70 is seen here in a file photo invading the set of 'Wheel of Fortune', obviously utilizing the game board in an unauthorized fashion! That's our Larry! No word on what became of Vanna. She has our sympathies. |
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Send us your shirt! Well, not the shirt, itself.
A photo of your treasured Hawk shirt. Any era. We'll publish it.
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“It is not enough for us to be successful. We aim higher. We aim for significance and want to leave behind a legacy of service to others. We use our time, talents, and treasure to help make a difference for everyone in the communities we serve."
- Kevin Cummings, former Chairman & CEO Investors Bank
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Zelle is Here!
We now have a Zelle account, to enable you to make direct payments between you and Hudson Catholic. We can be reached at gifts@hudsoncatholic.org
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The Office of Advancement ~ Gary, Jill & Jenine
201-332-5970 x118
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Please check out our long-running and recently added sponsors |
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Chris Johnston, HC Director - Technologies & Football Coach |
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