Marianne Compere '26 and Carolina Quinones '26
Fontbonne Hall Academy, founded in 1937 by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, is celebrating its 85th anniversary as a small, welcoming, and spiritual community in the heart of Bay Ridge. Over the years, many young women have walked into the school, not knowing what to expect, but leaving knowing that Fontbonne will always be their home.
Sister Maria Pascuzzi, along with the board, felt as though certain adjustments and upgrades needed to be made to ensure Fontbonne is a beautiful and safe environment for students to learn and faculty to teach.
“It lifts everyone’s spirit up, and it just makes everyone feel better about the environment you’re in,” says Sister Maria of the recent renovations she helped coordinate.
This "facelift," as some have referred to it, includes new additions to the school as well as many upgrades to existing features, such as a new entrance to the school on Shore Road, the revival of the library, classroom changes, and a student favorite, the cafeteria upgrades.
Even with these new eye-catching changes, we would like to spotlight the new people filling the positions of principal and vice principal. On behalf of all students and staff, the Folio would like to welcome Mr. Rocco Gentile as principal and Ms. Maria Iannucci as vice principal. As many students adjust to the many upgrades and adjustments made, they should also get to know our principal and vice principal, who were gracious enough to answer a few questions during an interview with two of our Folio members.
Mr. Gentile has many years of experience within the educational field, which gives him a great advantage. He has about 20 years of experience in education, serving in many different positions such as a social studies teacher, instructional coach, and school administrator.
As for other experiences outside of the educational field, he is a father and served in the army. Mr. Gentile noticed an opportunity for the position of Fontbonne principal in the Tablet, a newspaper for the Diocese of Brooklyn, and knew he wanted to be a part of the Fontbonne community.
Mr. Gentile immediately made a point to emphasize his admiration for Fontbonne's Catholic identity. He expresses his admiration for the idea of “unity with God and one another, reconciliation, and all-inclusive love.”
He also praises the school and its culture of academic excellence – more specifically, the efforts made by students and faculty to meet this objective. Mr. Gentile’s main desire for Fontbonne and its students is success, meaning he wants students to leave Fontbonne feeling empowered and knowing that, though it is a small community, “it doesn’t take many people to do great things.”
New vice principal Ms. Iannucci also has many years of experience in the field of education, both here at Fontbonne and outside of it. Although the position of vice principal isn’t what Ms. Iannucci had in mind for herself when the suggestion to apply was made to her, luckily she did. Ms. Iannucci has a great love for teaching and working with students, as well as a deep respect for students.
She has been a teacher for many years in multiple schools and for many grades. When speaking about our school culture, she emphasizes the importance of the voices of the students.
“Students are the driving power underneath any school.” She says that though many people see it as a pyramid with the principal and vice principal at the top and students at the bottom, in reality, it is flipped: the students are a powerful force and often underestimate this.
Ms. Iannucci continued to emphasize her love for the students as she spoke about her ideas to make Fontbonne a more comfortable learning environment for them. An example of this is that she is working towards getting better furniture to make Fontbonne a more welcoming and comfortable space.
“I feel furniture changes the experience of a room and makes people act differently in it.”
Ms. Iannucci says she is both honored and excited to be able to get to know not only her students but all the students at Fontbonne as vice principal.
Overall, Fontbonne's new look has everyone excited to start another successful and productive school year, creating a new environment for all students and faculty to enjoy.
“I love the new atmosphere of the school, it’s so welcoming!” says Victoria Fasone '26.
“I love the new cafeteria and the new round tables,” says Alexis Stathopoulos ‘27.
Thank you so much to the Sisters of Saint Joseph and everyone else who helped make this possible. We encourage them to keep making great decisions for this small but powerful school. Fontbonne is much more than a learning institution for generations of young women who know they can return whenever they want to enrich themselves in the loving and welcoming environment Fontbonne has created.
I’m very disappointed that there is no mention of the deaths of Gabriella Maria Shammas who died in a horrific car accident 9/3/23 and her classmate and best friend Gabriella Rose MAZZA who died suddenly on 10/15/23. They were home room FA4 with Mrs Brussi and loved by all. very disappointing that there’s no Memoriam in this newsletter about them. They were such a big part of the school from 2014 to 2018 And loved by all. Such a disappointment from Fontbonne.