Even when empty, the cafeteria at All Saints Catholic Academy echoes with voices.
Although these are the voices of students and teachers elsewhere in the school, you can’t help imagine them as the spirits of students from the past.
A classic post-World War II structure, the school – formerly known as Saint Mary’s, Star of the Sea – looks like a 1955 scene from the movie “Back to the Future” with its round tables and tiled walls. While this might be very nostalgic, it is also a drawback, since the school’s restructuring two years ago was designed to look ahead, not back, and was remodeled to provide educational opportunities going into the 21st century, not the past.
Most who attended schools like this in the 1950s know how rare a thing like air conditioning was, and indeed, this school’s cafeteria isn’t air conditioned.
The school was founded two years ago when four parish schools combined to make one institution.
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While school officials did a lot of modernizing two years ago and set plans for academics that are moving ahead, some of the issues needed more money than was available. The school had to set priorities, and focused largely on upgrading those things that directly contributed to a student’s education and temporarily put aside those which had less priority, Sister Eileen said, such as air conditioning.
Thanks to the Richmond County Savings Foundation, however, the school received a $15,000 grant that will help the school meet this need without having to divert funds from other areas, such as textbooks.
The foundation was established in 1998 as part of the conversion of the Richmond County Savings Bank (which is now a division of New York Community Bank) to a public company. Since then, the foundation has provided $41 million in funding to not-for-profit organizations serving the communities in which the bank operates, including over $881,000 in the Bayonne community, said Kim Seggio, senior program officer for the foundation.
Frank Nile, the director of the foundation, accompanied Seggio to the school late last year to award the school a check so that the school could move ahead with the upgrade.
Sister Eileen said the cafeteria serves multiple purposes for the school, not just as a place for students to eat lunch, but also for other school activities and after-school meetings of parent groups.
“We hold lots of meetings here,” she said.
Knowing that the foundation is committed to supporting projects that enhance the quality of life in communities serviced by the foundation, Sister Eileen said the school reached out to them for help on the cafeteria project.
“RCSF focuses on supporting charitable organizations whose programs and services advance educational opportunity, enrich cultural development and strengthen health and human services,” Seggio said.