St. Francis Preparatory<\/a> High School and called her graduation a \u201cbittersweet\u201d moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\")
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Father Joseph Fonti is thanked by St. Mel\u2019s Board Chair Steven Somers and school community for his working in keeping the school afloat. (Photo: Alexandra Moyen)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been there my whole life, and I\u2019ve grown up with these kids,\u201d Marissa said. \u201cSo it was nice to see them and how they grew and changed as people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The evening began with a Mass celebrated by Father Fonti and concelebrated by Father Alban Baker, a visiting priest from Charles Town, West Virginia, followed by games, tours of the baseball field, and a pitch from Father Fonti.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Steven Somers, who has chaired the school\u2019s board for 16 months and is a graduate himself, credits St. Mel\u2019s for his career and pledged that the community \u201cwill never, ever fail.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI graduated 52 years ago, and I want the school to be around for another 52 years and beyond, and hopefully my part in it will make that happen,\u201d Somers said in announcing a surprise million-dollar donation to the school from his foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also noted that class sizes have grown as the school regained its footing, with this year\u2019s scholarship totals reflecting the staff\u2019s work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Steven Somers announces the one-million-dollar donation from his family foundation to St. Mel\u2019s during the graduation celebration on June 17. (Photo: Alexandra Moyen)<\/p>\n
\u201cThat success ratio \u2014 I\u2019m so proud of that,\u201d he said. \u201cProud of my teachers, proud of Lauren.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eleven students, one of whom is headed to the prestigious Regis High School on the Upper East Side, make up this year\u2019s graduating class that has collectively earned nearly $200,000 in scholarships. Other graduates are headed to St. Francis Prep and Holy Cross, with several on full academic scholarships.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are back in the game better than ever,\u201d Giacalone said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re just really excited for what\u2019s to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking back, Father Fonti said he takes pride in the way the St. Mel\u2019s community stayed connected during the COVID-19 pandemic, including through a weekly livestream that reached more people than he expected. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we kept the school going. We just never closed,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of that, as I think any Catholic school should be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also added that this year\u2019s graduation carried spiritual weight beyond the milestone itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was worthy of giving God the praise,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like we\u2019re in the stadium of life, and we\u2019ve seen the highs and the lows, the successes and the failures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a moment in which we can really just come together and celebrate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All the kids got a chance to meet and greet team mascots, Mr. and Mrs. Met. (Photo: Alexandra…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-271622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260617_232923055_iOS.jpg\")
All the kids got a chance to meet and greet team mascots, Mr. and Mrs. Met. (Photo: Alexandra Moyen)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260618_000104805_iOS.jpg\"\/)
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