St. Francis Of Assisi School Opens New Science Lab

Marseca blessed the lab as Patrick Smith and Dominic Grimaldi looked on. Classmates gathered to support and congratulate honoree Thomas Hutton. Grimaldi and Patrick Smith cut the ribbon to open the science lab at St. Francis of Assisi School in Long Island City.

Catholic Schools Week at St. Francis of Assisi School in Astoria was the occasion for a celebratory Mass, honoring a graduate and the blessing of a new science laboratory classroom, which officially opened on Friday, February 2.

Monsignor Ralph Marseca celebrated the Mass, at which Thomas Hutton was honored as a distinguished graduate of the school. Hutton works with the Louis LaForga Foundation, which provides a scholarship for a St. Francis of Assisi graduate and makes donations to the St. Francis community. LaForga was a St. Francis of Assisi alumnus who died at a young age but left the foundation as a living memorial. "He was a very giving person," Laura Bertuccio of St. Francis of Assisi School, said.

The science laboratory, a work in progress for more than a year under the direction of Patrick Smith, father of a child now attending St. Francis of Assisi and a researcher at prestigious Rockefeller University, was the result of many hours of work put in by Smith and other volunteers, including Leo DiGioia, Dominic Grimaldi, Dave Jampol, Ed Kelly, Dominica Mastrocola, Danny Monge, Dave Pacione, Pat Roeder, Plinia Sarchese, Tom Singer, Alex Smith, John Soltesz and Irene and Louis Tossone. Rockefeller University contributed equipment for the lab as well and Grimaldi did most of the construction work.