Archbishop Molloy High School - School's Origins and Philosophy

School's Origins and Philosophy

The school is staffed by the Marist Brothers, founded by Saint Marcellin Champagnat

In 1892, Br. Zephiriny opened St. Ann's Academy in two brownstone buildings at East 76 Street and Lexington Avenue. Initially a parish elementary school, the program soon expanded to include a two-year commercial course and then a full four-year high school program. Initially conducted entirely in French, the school gradually moved to English-language instruction, and by the start of the 20th century, the Brothers anglicized the name to St. Ann's.

During the Teddy Roosevelt era, the school briefly took on a military air, with uniforms and a marching band. Boarding facilities were added, and the phenomenal growth of the school began. When the original parish church was replaced in 1912 with the huge present-day Church, the Brothers acquired the old building and converted it as a gymnasium. A purpose-built five story school building was then constructed, and other neighboring buildings were acquired.

Sixty-five years after its foundation, the school enrollment had swelled to 800 in grades one through twelve, and all available buildings were bursting at the seams. Moreover, some of the earliest buildings had deteriorated structurally, and required replacement.

Archbishop Thomas Edmund Molloy, the Ordinary of the Diocese of Brooklyn, offered the Marist Brothers a 6-acre (24,000 m2) site he had purchased in central Queens County. In 1957, the Brothers moved to the new site, naming the building in honor of Archbishop Molloy. The expanded facilities enabled the school to nearly double its enrollment, meeting the urgent needs of the post–World War II baby boom generation.

Despite the move, many of the hallowed St. Ann's traditions continued as the faculty and students moved en masse to the new site. Today, students are still known as Stanners (St. Anner's), and the school newspaper is the Stanner.

In 1987, the Ralph DiChiaro Center for Arts and Sciences was dedicated, giving the school new, state of the art, facilities, including a theater, computer labs and a biology lab.

In 2000, Molloy became co-educational and opened the doors to women for the first time. It graduated its first female in 2004.

In 2006, two Molloy alumni, John Faso (1970), and Andrew Cuomo (1975) ran for two top offices in New York State, Faso running for governor as a Republican, and Cuomo for Attorney General as the Democratic nominee. This is the first time in New York State that two of the candidates running for the two most powerful positions in the government graduated from the same high school. While Faso was beaten in a landslide by Eliot Spitzer, Cuomo won in his race and is the former Attorney General of New York State. Cuomo ran for Governor in 2010 and, on November 2, of that year, was elected as the 56th Governor of New York.

Richard Karsten, class of 1981, was appointed President of Molloy in July, 2010. He served on the school's first director in the 1990s and is a member of the Stanner Hall of Fame.