St. Mary’s celebrates Legacy

LYNN – The St. Mary’s boys and girls basketball teams may own the court during the winter, but on Friday night, the high school gym was transformed into a fully functioning ball room, complete with a four-piece jazz band, an open bar and a black tie wait staff serving hors d’oeuvres for the inaugural Legacy of Giving Gala.The four massive spot lights outside the main entrance could be seen in the sky throughout Lynn, as a full valet staff in blue jackets awaited the arrival of close to 250 alumni, donors and their families and friends.”It’s not often I walk into the gym and it looks like this,” said principal Carl DiMaiti. “I’m very excited about the evening because it gives us a chance to showcase our students.”Head of School Dr. Raymond Bastarche said nights like this are what help St. Mary’s keep its long-standing tradition of success.”Quite frankly the school has achieved what it has achieved because of the generous sacrifices of folks and the generous gifts,” said Bastarche. “We’re always conscious of one thing here and that’s affordability. We service the blue collar families and their children. There’s a big difference between the price we charge and what it costs us to educate a student here. That difference is made up through fundraising.”As alumni mingled around the entrance to the gym, DiMaiti marveled at the wide array of people who turned up to show their support for the school.”It really is an amazing bond that’s formed here,” said DiMaiti. “I’m often told that the friends that were made here are the friends that remain close for life. We can see that tangibly by the support we receive from classes going all the way back to the 30s, 40s and particularly the 50s.”Perhaps no one could attest to that more than Joan (McGovern) Regan and Maureen Gilroy, who have been friends since they graduated St. Mary’s in 1963. It’s that bond that Regan said keeps her involved in the school.”I think it’s a love of the school and I think that in my era ? we were blessed with a tremendous education that prepared me for college like you wouldn’t believe,” said Regan. “I made some of the greatest friends of my life in high school, Maureen being one of them. We’ve stayed friends for over 50 years.”Gala Chair John Schickling, who graduated St. Mary’s in 1957, donated $100,000 to the school and was one of the Educator Underwriters being honored Friday night.”It’s all about scholarship,” said Schickling. “The work that we’ve done with the kids here is just outstanding. You get these inner city kids getting a tremendous opportunity. Look at the college acceptance list. We’re not just talking about the local state schools, we’ve got kids at Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale.”Daniel Lobo graduated in 2009 and is now a sophomore at Harvard. Lobo said he used to get “into a lot of trouble” when he attended Lynn Tech, but things changed once he came to St. Mary’s as a freshman.”It was just an environment that was much easier for me to be excited about learning,” said Lobo. “I was able to foster relationships with my peers that I was never really able to. It was the right place for me to be. There’s no way I would be at Harvard if I kept going to Tech.”Lobo is currently studying social sciences and said he wants to focus on international development.William and Jane Mosakowski were also in attendance Friday night. The Mosakowskis recently donated $1.2 million to the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese and donated $1 million back in June for scholarships at St. Mary’s.Mosakowski, who sits on the Board of Trustees, said he was urged to do so by Monsignor Paul Garrity.”I saw the great things that (the Board) was doing with the students and how much the teachers cared not only about the curriculum but student outcome,” said Mosakowski. “Urban education is so important and building strong values in the kids and the students is absolutely essential. St. Mary’s has a long legacy of proving they can do that and they’re continuing to do it to this day.”Bet