Article by Phoenix writer Caitlin Hanratty ’25:
Latest News
Article by Phoenix writer Cristina Palmieri ’25,
Article by Phoenix writer Grace Andino ’25:
Article by Phoenix writer Eva McLaughlin ’26:
Article by Phoenix writer Cristina Palmieri ’25:
The PhoenixOnline is the school newspaper, published by the students of Kellenberg Memorial High School. Articles are posted throughout the school week to PhoenixOnline at kellenberg.org/phoenix. PhoenixOnline covers various Faith, Academic, Extra-Curricular, and Athletic stories and features at Kellenberg Memorial. PhoenixOnline staff contribute to the school journalism publication by conceiving stories, attending school events, conducting interviews, and writing and editing articles. Membership on the PhoenixOnline staff is open to all students in grades 6 through 12. Editorship positions are available by application.
PhoenixOnline Surveys
Throughout the year, we run open surveys polling our student body on some general interest topics.
PhoenixOnline Video Segments
Athletics News
Dancers Finish Winter Strong at Nationals
March 20, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Grace Andino ’25: Over the February Break, Kellenberg’s Varsity Dance Team traveled down to Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, February 12 to compete in the NDA (National Dance Alliance) High School National Competition from February 13 to February 17. The team made it to finals in all
Von Receives Coach of the Year Honor
March 13, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Sophia Kelly ’26: This winter, our very own Mrs. Catherine vonSchoenermarck was named Coach of the Year for Region 1 by the AVCA. The American Volleyball Coaches Association awards the top High School Girls Volleyball Coaches for their unwavering commitment to their respective teams. This award
Bowling Team Dominates State Tournament
March 12, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Cristina Palmieri ’25: In a string of athletic victories, three Firebird bowlers travelled up to Buffalo for the state tournament. Outstanding athletes Juniors Chloe Horstmann and Kerri Callahan and Senior Emma Dolan all qualified for the tournament based on their regular season average. The girls not
Firebirds Defeat Flyers in Final Seconds
March 4, 2025
Wednesday night, the Boy’s Varsity Basketball team defeated Chaminade at Chaminade with a score of 46-42. The stakes were high, as Kellenberg and Chaminade were fifth and fourth seeds, respectively. The score was neck and neck throughout the game, leading to high tensions as the game progressed. Senior Jordan Leach
Activities News
Honor Society Seniors Change Lives
March 20, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Keira Quigley ’26: This year, the National Honor Society seniors went through the Red Blanket Project, an organization that builds water tanks in Kenya, for their service mission. NHS set a goal to raise enough money to build 2 tanks and fill them with water. Thousands
Kellenberg SMART Program: “The Greatest of these is Love”
March 18, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Mary O’Brien ’27: It’s 2:52 PM, and the final bell has just rung, signifying the end of another school day. Students are at their lockers, putting their blazers and ties away, many of them getting ready to go home, go to practice, or another after school
Whodunit Hit Thrills Audience
March 12, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Margaret Nitkewicz ’26: This past weekend, Kellenberg’s very own Drama Club put on two outstanding performances of Agatha Christie’s “A Murder Is Announced.” After countless hours spent rehearsing in the Kellenberg Auditorium (and occasionally Room 240), the small but mighty cast finally got to share their
Junior Musician performs with Prestigious Ensemble
March 12, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Griffin Strauss ’25: This past weekend Zach traveled to Syracuse New York to take part in the New York State Band Directors Association Honors Band. As a participant, Zachary was identified as one of the top musicians in all of New York State. The weekend was
Apostolic News
Fathers and Sons Bond at St. Joseph’s Night
February 25, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Sophia Venturino ’26: Every year, Kellenberg Memorial hosts St. Joseph’s Night, an evening of fun and prayer for Kellenberg gentlemen and their fathers or father figures. The night consists of quality time such as sharing a meal and time spent in prayer. The purpose of this
Seniors Learn About Life and Death
February 13, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Grace Andino ’25: On January 29, senior students and faculty heard an annual presentation regarding Catholic Moral Tradition and modern medicine from alumna Meagan Ledetsch. Meaghan Ledetsch graduated from Kellenberg in 2005. Since then, she attended the University of Scranton where she received a Bachelor of
Kellenberg Gathers to Celebrate Founders Day Mass
February 12, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Sophia Venturino ’26: On January 30th, Kellenberg Memorial finished off the shortened week with a mass celebrating Founders Day. The school community will not be in school Friday for this reason, as Kellenberg celebrates the individuals who founded both the school and the Marianists themselves. This
Kellenberg Marches for Life
February 4, 2025
Article by Phoenix writer Sophia Kelly ’26: On January 23, members of our junior and senior classes headed down to Washington D.C. for the annual March for Life held on January 24. The March for Life began in Washington, DC in 1974. This peaceful, national protest is in response to
Last Week at Mass
LWAM: Make the Time
October 10, 2024
Article by Phoenix writer Kevin Kirley ’25: Walking into St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre on Sunday, September 24 was a cathartic experience. I didn’t expect the church to be as full as it was: there were dozens of families, Moms bringing their kids from a soccer game, filling up
Last Week At Mass: Goat or Sheep?
December 7, 2023
Article by Phoenix writer Cristina Palmieri ’25: Something I have always struggled with is judgment. Especially in this society of scrutiny, I find myself passing judgment on others far too often. I would deem somebody bad for spreading rumors or for breaking rules. I would deem someone good for helping
LAST WEEK AT MASS: “Ja te volim.”
November 30, 2023
Article by Phoenix writer Paulina Barnjak ’24: “Ja te volim.” With those three words, I am assured that I am loved, in this world and the next. I think it’s universal that society does not know how to handle the loss of a loved one. Even as Catholics, as we
Last Week at Mass: With Eucharist in Hand, I Knew God’s Plan
November 1, 2023
Article by Phoenix writer Caitlin Hanratty ’25: While many of my peers struggle to know what they are meant to do with their lives, my problem was that I naively assumed I had it all figured out. That was until my junior year of high school. In the past few
But What Do I Know?
But What Do I Know
But What Do I Know: Words that Last
Article by Phoenix writer Victoria Vakser ’26: There is something beautiful about a blank sheet of paper— something that awakes the mystery and excitement inside a person born to be a writer until the depths of his soul are stirred and he picks up the pen. The potential, the emptiness waiting to be filled, the lines begging for a pencil to make contact, all cry out with the promise of what could be— and who has never been intrigued by the unknown? My pencil flies across the page, scribbling, scratching, creating worlds and dreams and stories. I am lost to another realm, oblivious to everything but the words forming on the paper before me. The room is silent. The only sounds are the sharp sssht, sssht, of my hand moving along the paper and the furious scratching of my pencil as I lean over my desk. Soon my paper becomes
October 15, 2024
But What Do I Know
But What Do I Know: The Musings of a Margin Scribbler
Article by Phoenix writer Paulina Barnjak ’24: Many students dread summer reading, especially when they have to annotate and highlight in the books. But let me tell you a secret – I LOVE writing in the margins of books. Some people may view this as a destruction of property or a waste of time. If they see an annotated book on the shelf or a hand me down book from a relative, they might choose a neater, nicer book to read. The annotations might get in the way of your perception of the book. But in my eyes, that’s good – a new perspective is great, sometimes even life changing. Billy Collins writes about these annotations in his poem, “Marginalia.” I can picture myself as the people within the lines of this poem, especially in the following excerpt: “One scrawls ‘Metaphor’ next to a stanza of Eliot’s. Another notes the
December 7, 2023
But What Do I Know
But What Do I Know: Vinyl is Final
Article by Phoenix writer Cristina Palmieri ’25: Photo by Ryan Arnst on Unsplash Listening to music has always been a favorite pastime of mine where I can express myself. Many people share this hobby with me. In recent years, cultivating playlists or mixtapes has become very popular. Personally, my Spotify account has close to one hundred playlists with songs spanning countless genres and time periods. As much as I love being able to access my favorite songs at the click of a button, something about listening to an album on a vinyl record cannot be topped by digital listening. One reason I prefer records over a playlist is the storytelling aspect of an album. While this may not be true for all albums, some of them, such as David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,” are meant to be listened to as a
November 2, 2023
But What Do I Know
But What Do I Know: CheatGPT Is Cheating Humanity
Article by Phoenix writer Griffin Strauss ’25: In our rapidly changing world, technology often outpaces our ability to adapt or even transform. This is profoundly evident in the case of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that has recently taken over the world of writing. It enables people to cheat the system and create new works of writing with minimal input. The dangers of this are great, and yet we continue to misuse it. ChatGPT presents a plethora of issues for writers, foremost is the question of authenticity. Writers of all walks of life from academics to employees can use the software of ChatGPT to formulate reports and essays easier than ever. They simply tell ChatGPT what they want to accomplish and it executes it in minutes. When utilizing ChatGPT, the user is tapping into a database teeming with information that the user has never known. If the use of ChatGPT becomes
September 28, 2023
Academics News
Students Dominate the Courtroom at Yale Invitational
September 25, 2024
Article by Phoenix writer Sophia Kelly ’26: On September 13, the Kellenberg Mock Trial team set out on their first invitational of the year, the Yale Bulldog Invitational. The team skillfully delivered examinations of the witnesses, presented their case, and introduced evidence in their greatest attempt to prevail in the
Sophomores Attend Yearly Trip to Holocaust Museum
April 29, 2024
Article by Phoenix writer Sophia Kelly ’26: On April 19, many of our sophomores attended the Holocaust Museum in Glen Cove to learn about the history, experience, and persecution of Jewish people during World War II. The students got a tour of the museum and heard the story of Arnie
Poetry Week Celebration Lifts Up Student Body
April 24, 2024
Article by Phoenix writer Michelle Paszek ’24: Kellenberg celebrated Poetry Week from April 15-19 as part of National Poetry Month. As the halls bustled, students scribbled lines from their favorite poems and penciled in finishing touches to their original pieces. The English department hosted an Open Mic on Thursday, April
Students Offered Construction and Project Management Course
January 31, 2024
Article by Phoenix writer Cassandra Odudukudu ’24: From the construction of the Firebird Center of the Arts & Athletics, an innovative idea emerged: the Construction and Project Management Course. This course, run by Mr. Kenneth Conrade, is a fairly new elective at Kellenberg that started last summer with the beginning
Firebird Crosswords
The Renaissance
An important extra facet of the academic life at Kellenberg Memorial is the literary magazine, Renaissance. Published twice a year in Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer issues, it contains the creative writings and artistic talents of students from grades six through twelve.
The creative voice heard in the poems, short stories, essays, and art is often unheard in the day-to-day work within the classroom.
The Renaissance: Poetry: “A Glimpse of 2013” by Danielle Kercy
“A Glimpse of 2013” by Danielle Kercy Winner of The Renaissance Challenge: “Memory” The specific scent of sanitizer stings my nose, and I am only
March 10, 2025
Prose: “Childhood Christmas” by Ciara Bice ’25
“Childhood Christmas” by Ciara Bice ’25 Waking up on December 1 to find the Elf on the Shelf and open the Advent Calendar there is
January 20, 2025
Renaissance Views Powerful Documentary
Article by Phoenix writer Griffin Strauss ’25: Photo credit: Mary O’Brien The Renaissance gathered together to view the 2015 documentary “I Come From,” a film
January 9, 2025
Poem: “A dusk was come” by Viktoria Vakser ’26
A dusk was come; the earth a sullen quiet Had raised to protest Night’s impending gloom, And pulled the tired land to noiseless riot, Forestalling
December 7, 2024
Poem “The freedom we chase” by Kylie Mummendey ’25, The Renaissance Challenge Winner
The freedom we chase Kids’re so quick to grow up, they dream of being “free” They race through long grass barefoot, past playgrounds and climbing
November 22, 2024
Poem “The Gossamer Curtain” by Victoria Vakser, ’26
Sometimes Time seems but a sad joke Millions of tiny pictures Bright, flashy, Cheap. All crowded Into a frame which reads, Your Life. But if
October 18, 2024