NORTH HALEDON Mary Help of Christians Academy has been getting young girls ready to assume leadership roles in the workplace, the Church and society for the past 75 years by offering strong academics, deep spiritual formation and extracurricular activities on its bucolic and secluded campus here above Belmont Avenue. Today, this forward-thinking Catholic college preparatory school also continues another long legacy of reaching out beyond its iron gates to seek opportunities for students to develop their future careers and to serve the poor — both in their neighborhood and half a world away.
Bishop Serratelli visited the campus to help Mary Help celebrate 75 years of learning, leadership and faith at a Mass May 14 that was part of a weekend filled with events for the school community, many of which featured participation from alumnae.
The academy maintains its commitment to diversity, educating students from varied backgrounds and heritages. Its college prep program includes Advanced Placement courses; internships; after-school activities that promote athletics and other interests, as well as leadership and service; and opportunities for students to deepen their faith through Masses, prayer services, confession and Eucharistic Adoration.
Last weekend’s 75th anniversary celebrations kicked off on May 13, when Father Philip-Michael Tangorra, chaplain at William Paterson University, Wayne, led a prayer service for students and faculty in the morning, followed by an alumnae reception and class reunion gatherings in the evening. On May 14, the school held a lunch, campus tours, indoor and outdoor activities, a May crowning, the Mass with Bishop Serratelli and a gala dinner. Salesian Father James Heuser, president and director of Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, delivered the homily for the anniversary liturgy. On May 15, Mary Help held another Mass and breakfast with the Salesian Sisters, who operate the school, which they opened in 1921.
“The 75th anniversary is a celebration of all that has been at Mary Help and is also a pledge for things to come. We pledge that, no matter how different society looks in the future, we will continue preparing young women to become leaders by helping them focus on their talents,” said Salesian Sister Marisa DeRose, who became Mary Help’s principal at the start of the current academic year. “It was a thrill to have Bishop Serratelli celebrate with us. He always speaks with great esteem about Mary Help. We have always been in step with the Church and the Diocese. The Bishop’s presence is important to us,” she said.
Mary Help has reached out to the community in many ways, including its two internship programs: Health Care Connections, which gives girls career experience in medicine at St. Joseph Hospital, Wayne, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, and Business Community Connections, which gives them experience in business at Atlantic Stewardship Bank. The Diocesan Schools Office honored Health Care Connections with a Best Practices Award in 2006.
“The internship program helps the girls make college and career choices. It changes them. For most of them, it confirms their future direction,” said Sister Marcia, who noted that Mary Help hopes to make internships a requirement for graduation and to expand their range to include law, religion, fashion and hospitality.
One of those interns at St. Joseph’s was Alexia Snape, Class of 2016, who plans to major in pre-med at Penn State in the fall. She said that the internship confirmed her desire to pursue obstetrics. Snape also has taken a role in leadership as a member of the student council, captain of the cheer team and president of the school’s chapter of Future Healthcare Professionals.
“It’s a family situation at Mary Help. The sisters care for us and embrace us to help us become a better us,” said Snape of Paterson, who credited Mary Help for inspiring her to enter into full communion with the Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. “The academy helps us understand the faith by giving us room to grow and find our own way.”
Students, like Snape, have reached out to the poor in the community and beyond through volunteer activities, both as part — and, in many instances, above — of their graduation requirement. They have served at St. Joseph Hospital; Lighthouse Pregnancy Center, Hawthorne; and Oasis, a haven for women and children in Paterson. They also have donated funds to Salesian Sisters in Ecuador and assembled care packages for the poor at Father English Community Center, an agency of diocesan Catholic Charities in Paterson. Students follow in the footsteps of the sisters, who have reached out over the years, including inviting Cuban girls in the 1960s to come to North Haledon for an education, Sister Marisa said.
One of the many graduates, who have returned to work at Mary Help is Elsie DeJesus of the Class of 2005, who works in its development office. She noted the sisters “instill confidence in us as women that we can make in the male-driven business world as professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and executives for Fortune 500 companies.”
Mary Help’s legacy of love and faith began in 1921, when the Salesian Sisters bought a 16.33-acre tract of land on Belmont Avenue, known as the Muhr Estate, to be used as an orphanage. Mary Help of Christians School opened in 1924 for day students, followed by significant expansions to its facilities to meet increasing enrollment, the addition of resident students and the needs of modern instruction. In 1941, the school became an accredited high school, known as Mary Help of Christians Academy. Further improvements to facilities and academics over the subsequent decades included a multi-level, multi-purpose building, a new chapel, a new residence for the sisters, science and computer labs, a campus-wide wired and wireless network and a modern television production studio. In 1988, the resident student program ended and Mary Help became solely a day school, according to its history.
Helping to carry on this rich legacy is Elizabeth Manzzella, a Mary Help assistant principal over the past three years, who started 12 years ago as an art teacher. One of her daughters was graduated in 2011 and another daughter is expected to be graduated in 2018.
“When I pull onto Mary Help’s campus, I feel peace and serenity. I feel Mary’s presence,” Manzzella said. “All the girls here feel something that they can’t explain. It’s so rewarding to see them become what they are going to become,” she said.