Kellenberg Memorial High School - Co-curricular and Extracurricular Activities

Co-curricular and Extracurricular Activities

In the Marianist tradition, many students join sodality groups to mutually reinforce their Catholic faith. The groups meet weekly and participate in various religious activities. The school also operates Emmanuel, a Marianist Retreat House devoted to students' spiritual formation. Students attend a series of retreats during their time at the school. Freshman and Sophomore retreats are mandatory, but Junior and Senior year retreats are optional.

A major co-curricular focus is music. Activities in this area include Band (four levels), Chorus (four levels), Guitar Club, Jazz Band, the Firebird Swing Jazz Choir, Orchestra, Pit Band, and Jubilee Choir, Gregorian Consortium (sometimes called St. Greg's). Publications include Blue and Gold (a school yearbook), "The Renaissance" (a literary magazine), "The Phoenix" (a school newspaper), and three additional divisional newspapers—The Sophomore Senitel, The Freshman Flash, and the Early Bird, (a Latin school publication).

Kellenberg also has an Academic Quiz Bowl team and a Science Olympiad team. The Academic Quiz Bowl team came in 11th place at the NAQT High School National Championship and placed second in the 2010 season of the New York area TV show The Challenge. The team won the 2009 New York State NAQT tournament, placing first in the state with the JV team in fifth; at the state level, three of the top five players came from Kellenberg teams. The Science Olympiad team has qualified for the New York State Science Olympiad Competition for the past 15 years.

A major activity for female students at Kellenberg is the Blue and Gold sports night. The students who participate are divided into two teams, a blue team and a gold team. The girls practice from February until May. The competition takes place on one night in early May and attracts a widespread Long Island audience.

Kellenberg administrators have twice eliminated activities that they considered "no longer commensurate with the goals of a Christian education". Kellenberg first abolished the school's hockey team, reasoning that hockey "kept degenerating into physical mayhem". And in 2006, the school received national attention when the principal, Brother Kenneth Hoagland, canceled the Senior Prom. In a letter from late March 2006, he cited booze cruises sponsored by parents, cocktail parties, and the film American Pie as examples of "adolescent culture being formed and led by the media". The school received national attention from ABC, CNN, Fox News, MTV, The New York Times, and Comedy Central's The Colbert Report.