St. Ignatius proudly salutes a milestone in its history
By Monica A. Suma
monicasuma@gmail.com
Photos by Monica Suma
The first girls to graduate from Saint Ignatius are: front row, l. to r., Amy Arias, Mercedes Carrasco, Tiana Cora, Britny Rivera, Joslyn Diaz, Paola Martinez, Shayann Santiago and Jane Francisco, and back row, l. to r. Destini Beauregard, Shaina Garcia, Nicole Taveras and Darleny Urena.
The girls in the eighth grade at St. Ignatius School on Manida Street work extra hard, says their math teacher Katie Connors.That’s because they’re breaking new ground. When they get their diplomas on June 14, they will be the first girls to graduate from St. Ignatius, which was founded in 1995 as a school for boys only.
“The girls are extremely hard-working. They know what is expected of them as the first generation to graduate from this school,” said Connors. “Not to talk about stereotypes between boys and girls, but girls are quieter, much better at organizing and they work harder,” said Adrienne Brock, their social studies teacher.
“Boys have more creative ideas and they want to compete with each other. Girls are happier to work together in a group.” The 12 girls, who will be graduating along with 11 boys, don’t make comparisons. They’
re just glad to have come to a school where they get individual attention and are held to high expectations.
“I used to have problems with my speech because I am bilingual,” recalled Shaina Garcia. She said she got constant help to improve her proficiency. “In four years, my mind grew older,” she said.
Like most of St. Ignatius’ students, Tiana Cora had gone to public school. At PS 48, she said, kids only cared about fighting, so on arriving at St. Ignatius, “At first it was weird; I thought I wouldn’t make friends and be bullied.” Instead, she said, “It’s just like home. It’s kind and nice.”
Like the girls, Jeremy Zelaya, who will also be graduating, says, “It’s different from public schools. There are many more opportunities. With smaller classes, we get more work done.”
Boys and girls learn in separate classrooms and eat lunch separately. They only come together on Fridays, in the assembly period.
Shaina likes it that way. “We get to focus more on the subject. I don’t need to worry about impressing some boy,” she says.
And Tiana says the girls have become like sisters and are one another’s best friends.
“We are like a family,” agrees Rosario Ureña,whose daughter Darleny is also a senior. “If we have a problem, we call the teachers or Mr. Ortiz (the vice principal), and they don’t ignore us. Everything is important to them,” including family problems, she said.
Destini Beauregard credits the school for the full scholarship that will take her to the School of the Holy Child, an all-girls high school in Rye, next fall. She will have to get up at 5:30 a.m. to arrive on time, but she says it’s worth it. Tuition at the college-preparatory school is $21,900 a year, and without the education she received at Saint Ignatius, she wouldn’t have been able to attend, she said.
Her classmates, too, expressed gratitude to St. Ignatius, especially because they know of other girls just like them who followed a very different path, getting pregnant at the age of 13 or 14 and struggling for the rest of their lives. “One girl that was accepted here was expelled because she was pregnant,”
Destini recalled.
“Temptations of violence, drugs and sex are very real on the streets of Hunts Point,” the school says on its Web site. In response, “Saint Ignatius School provides an intense after-school experience.”
Students stay for a study hall and tutoring from 3 to 4:30 p.m. They also use the fields and the recreation center across the street for a sports program that includes basketball, tennis, baseball, track and soccer.
“This school happens to be one of the best opportunities my daughter or any child will ever have, because of this small setting,” said Marisa Santiago, whose daughter Shayanne is one of the graduates. “If it’s one thing she’s going to take with her throughout her life, it’s the fact that she became more responsible.”
When Jesuit priests founded Saint Ignatius 13 years ago, the school enrolled just six boys. In 2004, a volunteer, Maryann Hedaa, sensed “a need in the community of a good middle school for girls,” said Vice Principal Omar Ortiz, and founded the girls program.
What distinguishes St. Ignatius are its strong Jesuit values, Ortiz emphasized. Students are expected to strive for excellence, he said, and to observe a certain etiquette. They are taught to guide themselves by the Latin word “magis”—a Jesuit principle of doing more for others.
Though they are graduating, the girls will remain connected to St. Ignatius. The school raises funds for a program called “graduate support”: students who go off to high school can always come back if they need support, emotionally or financially.
During their last days of school, the students continued to be challenged. They prepared for a mock trial, in which they played the role of lawyers and had to plan courtroom strategy and act out a trial in competition with teams from other schools. Last year, St. Ignatius finished second, and the students were determined to win this year.
“I learn as much from them as they from me, from their resilience of overcoming obstacles,” said Connors, their math teacher.