With a student body of more than 2,600 students, it is one of the cornerstones of Catholic education in the country. It functions, logistically, like a small college with respect to its ties to the community.
Starting in 1933 St. Anthony?s Juniorate was located in Smithtown, Long Island and remained there for 50 years. In 1958, due to the growing need for Roman Catholic education, St.Anthony?s became a day school for young men. In1983 St. Anthony?s high school became co-educational and moved to its current location in S. Huntington, NY.
Educating that many high school students in mind, body and soul is a tremendous undertaking. Consider that more than 1,800 students are involved in interscholastic athletics, music, theater and other activities, and you have the makings of a small college atmosphere. Add to those numbers the more than 600 students involved in intramural athletics and activities and it looks even more like a small college. And like most small colleges, the hub for activities that brings these students together is the Student Center.
Completed in 2009, the 140,000-square-foot Student Center includes a multi-lane indoor Mondo track, wrestling room, locker rooms, chorus and band rooms, four art studios, and a dance studio. It is utilized for practices, games, performances and recitals and some parts of the facility are used by local colleges as well.
The team of Baldassano Architecture and HOK Sports Facilities Group partnered to design the facility. Construction of the Student Center was managed by the Tritec Building Company.
St. Anthony?s principal, Brother Gary Cregan, thinks the facility affords students a great opportunity to develop beyond the classroom. And that type of development dovetails closely with the school?s mission.
?The mission essentially is, ?capture the heart and the mind will follow?,? said Br. Gary. ?This new facility enables us to have a myriad of activities which always captures the heart of any teenager.?
The new student center, a campus building that services more than 800 students daily, was a need that surfaced from the interest and involvement of the student body and the St. Anthony?s community.
Br. Gary notes, ?The impetus was to accommodate the existing 1,200 student athletes, and the future St. Anthony?s students, who require the very best facilities that we could provide.?
For the students, this new facility gives them the opportunity to train in an environment that befits the school?s profile academically, athletically and artistically.
?Our student athletes now train and compete on the highest level with the facilities that we offer,? said the Friars Athletic Director Don Buckley. ?They know it and appreciate it. Scheduling of training and hosting of competitions is much more enjoyable. In the height of our cold, snowy northeast winter months, our students are training in a professional atmosphere.?
For what are they training? Track and Field, Wrestling, Weightlifting to name a few of the sports, plus the training facilities for all involved in team sports. The building?s 5 lane on the turn and 6 lane straightaway, state-of-the-art Mondo surface track hosts numerous events and gives the Friars? excellent indoor and outdoor track teams the chance to work year-round. This type of indoor 200 meter track, with the Mondo surface, is considered to be the fastest in the world.
And there is that unique aspect of intramural sports at St. Anthony?s that involves over 600 students every Monday after school. The director of the student center and the intramural programs is John McCree, a retired federal agent. McCree is also the throwing coach for the winter track and field team. If you want to know something about the St. Anthony?s Student Center, you go to McCree.
?Within this building is the regulation track with a sand-pit for the long jump and triple jump that can be covered,? said McCree. ?I pull out the mats and we have the high jump. I pull out all the mats and we have the pole vault landing area. I pull out my throwing circles and we throw the indoor weight throw and the indoor shot put.?
The students never leave the building as they transition from the classroom to the student center for after school activities and practices. The facility has permanent bleachers that accommodate 1,200 fans. For Baccalaureate and Commencement ceremonies, the school brings in 4,500 folding chairs and turns the student center into a temporary sanctuary and arena for the thousands who will witness those events.
In addition to hosting these big events, the St. Anthony?s student center is host to several local and regional events as well.
?We like to say, ?Friar Pride Starts Inside?,? said McCree. ?With that in mind, we try to incorporate the synergy among the student body, alumni and various youth groups. As for athletic competitions, we hold our indoor track meets as well as the entire schedule of Long Island public schools? indoor track meets. St. John?s University and Molloy College rent out our facilities for practice twice a week early in the morning.?
Lest anyone think that the facility is for sports and graduation only, the Fine Arts Department is housed in the student center. That part of the facility includes four art studios, a symphonic orchestra music area with sound-dampening, a choral room that has over 600 students involved and a dance studio.
Suffice it to say, thousands of students, alumni and friends of the school use the facility on a weekly basis. As St. Anthony?s has become a pillar in the Long Island community, their Student Center has evolved into one of the hubs of activity for all to use.
Source: http://www.catholicsportsjournal.com/facilities/st-anthonys-student-center-is-hub-of-activity/
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