Visitation Academy to hold Open House

Bay Ridge Catholic school seeks to attract new students

February 1, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Arlene Figaro, an alumna of Visitation Academy, has served as the school’s principal for more than 15 years. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas

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Unlike public schools, which always have a steady flow of new students entering the system, private and parochial schools must constantly work to entice parents to enroll their children in their educational institutions. On Feb. 10, a Catholic school in Bay Ridge will be hosting an Open House with an eye toward attracting new students.

Visitation Academy, a Catholic school for girls from pre-K to eighth grade, will be hosting an Open House event for its Lower School (pre-K to fourth grade) on Friday Feb. 10, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Visitation Academy, which is sponsored by the Sisters of the Visitation, a Catholic religious order, is located at 8902 Ridge Blvd.

The school offers numerous extracurricular activities for students, according to school officials.

In 2015, a new Campus Ministry program was introduced with the aim of encouraging the post-9/11 generation the importance of community service.

“These girls don’t remember Sept. 11 and the sacrifices that were made. And these girls will be our future leaders. We want to encourage them to give back to the community,” Figaro told the Brooklyn Eagle at the time.

The Campus Ministry conducted a wide variety of activities throughout its first year, including collecting and donating blankets, diapers and baby bottles to the New York Life Center, a pro-life facility on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge that counsels pregnant women. The girls also served Thanksgiving meals to the Sisters of the Visitation. The sisters live in a monastery. The school is located on the grounds of the monastery.

Visitation Academy offers an array of arts programs, including ukulele lessons to girls in grades two, three and four as part of its music curriculum. Girls in grades five, six, seven and eight have the opportunity to join a brass band. The school’s theater program has performed such musicals as Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.”

Visitation Academy’s educators also believe in encouraging girls who are interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), according to Figaro.

“I want my girls to be challenged. I want them to have confidence and to feel secure and good about themselves,” Figaro told the Eagle.

Figaro, who is a graduate of Visitation Academy, has served as the school’s principal for more than 15 years.

The “Visitation” in the academy’s name refers to the passage in Luke’s Gospel in the New Testament in which Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, visits her cousin Elizabeth. Both women were pregnant; Mary with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist.

For more information on the Open House, call Visitation Academy at 718-680-9452 or visit visitationacademy.net.