Kellenberg High marks 25th anniversary

The Catholic high school in Uniondale had gone through two name changes in three years and was on the verge of closing when the Diocese of Rockville Centre asked the Marianist Brothers to come in and save it.

A quarter-century later, Kellenberg Memorial High School is not only surviving but thriving. Enrollment has grown from 1,400 to 2,550, with more students applying to get in than seats available. New athletic fields are covered with artificial turf, a student TV station operates in the school and the campus is a beehive of daily activities that last from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and beyond.

"As a senior I am devastated. I don't want to leave. I love it here," said Mary Brennan, 17, of Merrick, who spent her February break on a school service project refurbishing houses for the poor in West Virginia.

As Kellenberg marks its 25th anniversary this year, the Marianist Brothers are in demand, having built a reputation for academic excellence on Long Island. Parents trying to save six Catholic grammar schools ordered shut by the diocese in June have besieged the brothers to help, though after some initial contact the brothers now say the closings are inevitable.

For many parents, the Marianists are the "gold standard" in Catholic elementary and high school education. They also run the elite all-boys Chaminade High School in Mineola and St. Martin de Porres Marianist School in Uniondale, a grammar school the order took over in 2004 at the request of the diocese as it was about to close. Enrollment has shot up from 120 to 440.

Chaminade's graduate list reads like a "who's who" of notable Long Islanders: Thomas Suozzi, former Nassau County executive (class of 1980); Thomas Spota, Suffolk County district attorney (1959); Alfonse D'Amato, former U.S. senator (1955); Bill O'Reilly, talk show host (1967); Lou Gerstner, former chairman and chief executive of IBM (1959); and Jeffrey Campbell, former chief executive of Burger King (1961), to name some.

The Marianists are "a fantastic organization that combine a desire to serve others with ability and discipline," Suozzi said. "Looking back, I received a fantastic education and a great foundation for life."

Applications at Chaminade hit a record 1,600 this year, said Brother Thomas Cleary, the school's president. One of every three applicants had to be turned down, including many who are talented and could have handled the school's rigorous all-honors curriculum if there were enough seats, he said.

While Chaminade opened in 1930 and has a long and rich history, the Marianists' newer high school, Kellenberg is coming into its own as well, said Brother Kenneth Hoagland, a Chaminade graduate and principal of Kellenberg and St. Martin.

"The Kellenberg name has gotten out there now to the colleges" looking for top-flight applicants, Hoagland said.

At both Kellenberg and Chaminade, 100 percent of graduates are accepted to college.

The Marianists say whatever success they enjoy as educators is due partly to a focused mission: The order was founded in 1817 by Father William Chaminade, who saw schools as the best way to restore the faith in France after a post-revolutionary assault on the church eased.

While many religious orders have diversified their missions since the Vatican II reforms of the 1960s, the Marianists have stayed with one: schools.

The order uses its own curriculum and comprehensive tests in the high schools, eschewing the state Regents, and at Kellenberg pays the lay teachers who make up the majority of their staffs on a merit system. The brothers also try to educate not just the minds but the hearts and souls of their students, Hoagland said.

"We want ultimately to graduate faithful Christians, good citizens, young men and women who would make good spouses and good parents," he said.

The brothers, who live on the school grounds where they teach, are not afraid to buck societal trends. In 2005 they gained national attention when they canceled the senior proms at Chaminade and Kellenberg because they felt they'd become ostentatious displays of wasteful spending and wanton behavior. "It was a social institution that was not conducive to the values we are promoting at our school," Hoagland said.