St. Mary High School Rutherford Alumni

Happy Thanksgiving from St. Mary High School!

The students, faculty, and staff of St. Mary High School wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude to God, our Creator and Provider, whose guidance and care go before us, and whose love is with us forever. Let the blessings of Thanksgiving be upon your family this season.

There are still things to be grateful for this year. The SMHS family is most grateful for our generous alumni. Your support throughout the year allows St. Mary to provide our students with top-notch academic, athletic and extra-curricular programs.

The 90 years of football celebration drew hundreds of alumni, former players and coaches back to their alma-mater. Pregame, Mayor Frank Nunziato and councilman Mark Golsack presented a proclamation to Principal Frank Viteritti declaring the day St. Mary HS Football Day in the Borough of Rutherford.

At halftime of a fiercely fought game between the Gaels and the Boilmarkers of Garfield H.S family members of the first SM Gaels of 1932 were recognized and presented with a photo of that team. Former players and coaches were then called out to the field by their respected decade of participation led by Jerry Breslin and Jerry Frain graduates of the class of 1955 and members of the Back to Back State Championship teams of 1953 and 1945.

The proud tradition of St. Mary high school football was on full display for current players, coaches, students and families to see and feel.

Forever Road Warriors

If you previously went to, currently go to, or at the very least have been to our beloved St. Mary’s school, you know our gymnasium. While this gym has given us all that we need to practice, (the good and the bad), it has also enabled us to be one of the most consistent “road warrior” teams our league has ever seen for years.

The 2022 Gaels Volleyball team already had their eyes set on improving from a breakout season in 2021. This year, our “road warrior” team finally had the opportunity to host a few home matches this year, all thanks to Felician University. This new home allowed us to host 4 regular season games, more than we’ve ever seen before, which helped us to reach our incredible 21-3 regular season. A season which saw a major league realignment, in an even more competitive league, at that.

This year’s St. Mary’s girls’ volleyball team has seen a lot of firsts to say the least. In the forefront of these firsts are the team’s co-captains, Krystal Pozo & Alex Griesbauer, who reached 300 and 250 career kills respectively. These girls have been the glue of the team, exemplifying leadership & comradery throughout the season for the younger players who, for some, may have had their first ever Varsity starts this year. With that being said, each of our players have demonstrated their own individual skills throughout the year, which in simplest terms, have led us to our position today.

The Gaels enter their first state tournament game this Tuesday, November 1st at 4:15PM at their new home court. The team plans to continue their positive season going & look to bring the school their first state title in Volleyball. After completing the season undefeated in league play and capturing the league title this year, St. Mary’s has most definitely been put on the map for future Volleyball prospects. The program looks to continue to recruit future players to carry a dynasty that was created from the ground up. Let’s go Road Warriors!

Join us on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 as we celebrate the Class of 2022 and welcome them into the St. Mary High School Alumni family! Watch the livestreams of the Baccalaureate Mass and Commencement Exercises on the school website.

The Baccalaureate Mass will take place on Tuesday morning at 8:30 AM.

The Ninetieth Annual Commencement Exercises will take place at 7:00 PM.

Go to https://www.stmaryhs.org/graduation to watch the livestreams.

Back in 2015, Paul Connolly, Class of 1955, passed away and bequeathed St. Mary High School $250,000. Paul’s gift allowed us to make upgrades to the technology our students use in various classes, such asIntroduction to Technology and Graphic Design. Over the years, the student’s reliance on technology has grown and the programs they use, like Photoshop, grew past the limitations of the hardware of 2015.

It's been seven years since Paul’s gift helped usher in a new generation of technology here at SMHS. Recently, the interest alone that we accrued on the gift has allowed us to purchase upgraded computers for our library and the Paul J. Connolly Technology Center. Paul's generosity continues to allow St. Mary
High School to stay on the cutting edge of technology without having to add that expense to the cost of tuition. We began the process this week of upgrading 24 computers in the Technology Center, and we will begin the process of upgrading the library computers in a few weeks.

Were it not for the generosity of Paul, we would not have been able to provide our students with the technology necessary to learn in the 21st century. Paul understood that technology is an ever-present part of our lives, both inside and outside of the classroom. His gift all those years ago has set us up with the ability to provide our students with the tools necessary to learn in a modern world.

Homecoming is Saturday, October 16 at Tamblyn Field in Rutherford. Come see the St. Mary Gaels take on Butler Bulldogs. This season marks the 50th Anniversary of the Thomas Holden MVP Award. Join us as we celebrate our proud football tradition by recognizing one of our most heroic alumni who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, Thomas Holden. Kickoff is at 1:00 PM. We can't wait to see you there!

St. Mary High School is pleased to announce the selection of Mr. Frank Viteritti as its new principal.

Mr. Viteritti has over two decades of experience in public and Catholic education. His most recent position was as Associate Superintendent for Teacher Personnel for the Archdiocese of New York, where he shared oversight of over 100 archdiocesan schools.

Prior to his work with the Archdiocese of New York, Mr. Viteritti was principal of St. Eugene School in Yonkers, NY, West Hempstead High School in West Hempstead, NY, and Westlake High School in Thornwood, NY. His work with developing academic and extracurricular programs for students, as well as professional development for administrators and faculties, has defined his career in education.

Mr. Viteritti earned his B.A. in History with a minor in Education, his M.S. Ed. in Secondary Social Studies/Education, and his Professional Diploma in Education Administration from Iona College.

We welcome Mr. Viteritti and wish him the best of luck during his time at St. Mary High School.

"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

The students and faculty of St. Mary High School and The Academy at St. Mary wishes you and your family a Happy Easter!  We hope that you and your family stay safe and healthy during the Easter season.

SMHS Heroes in Education
Trinette Carruthers, Ed.D. '00

Trinette is a Universal Literacy Coach for the New York City Department of Education. Last year, she and others from the DOE partnered with WNET/Channel 13 to bring daily instruction to children ages 3 to 8 via WNET/ Channel 13 and PBS.org due to the pandemic. The goal of this partnership is to provide instruction to those students who were falling behind each day academically because they either didn't have a device or adequate internet connection to access instruction remotely. Last year, Trinette and her colleagues only aired in New York, but this year, new episodes will air nationwide. This daily program will help the country's youngest learners until things return to normal.

To watch the Let's Learn series, go to https://www.thirteen.org/programs/lets-learn

Congratulations to the Boys’ Varsity Basketball team, who has started their season off with a 7-1 record. Visit our website to watch all basketball games live-streamed.

Today is SOUP-ER Bowl Friday! All canned donations will contribute to those in need in our local area! Come by and drop off a donation to help kick off SuperBowl Weekend!