We had an interesting weekend, going out with friends last night, and visiting JFK and Stepinac high schools today, as we try and size up Joe’s options for school next year.
Saturday night was Frodo’s in Pleasantville with our friends, Mike and Karen Riner, Paul and Doreen Novotny and Dennis and Denise Cannon. Frodo’s was discovered by Doreen, and they all know her. At least well enough to give us a couple of free apppetizers and a bottle of wine.
These dinners usually start with drinks at the Novotny house (conveniently located ten minutes from Frodo’s) and frequently end with dessert back at their house. And yesterday was no different.
Here are a few pictures:
Mike chatting up Brigid –
Doreen and Paul – it only looks like Doreen has punched Paul in the nose, and he’s trying to straighten it out!
The dazed man is me – the sharp lady is Karen
Here’s Denise, followed by Brigid and Dennis and then Dennis and moi
We’d squeezed into our Mountaineer for the drive back and forth to Frodo’s from Paul and Doreen’s – here’s a cool shot of three chickies in the third row
While Denise (who looks like she’s about 28!!) was between Paul and Mike
It was a late night, with champagne, cocktails, wine and after dinner drinks, so we got off to a uhhh, slow start today. I went to Mass with Joe at 10:45 (Brigid and Tim had gone Saturday evening with my mother) and then we all beetled off to JFK high school in Somers.
For some reason, all the local Catholic high schools were holding their “Open House” from one to four today. So after going to JFK we then hustled down to White Plains to see Stepinac (I’m a Stepinac graduate; class of ’69. That’s where I first met Mike and Paul. My brother Phil attended JFK, where he was a big-time wrestler, graduating in the mid 80’s. ) I didn’t think of bringing my camera; it would have been nice to take one or two pictures of each school.
The JFK Open House was more informal – you walked around from class to class, talking to teachers, etc – while Stepinac was more structured. Stepinac showed a short film in the auditorium, had two seniors speak, and then had student-guided walks around the building with brief presentations by teachers.
JFK is coed, while Stepinac is all boys. I think Stepinac may have a bit more to offer academically, and have more clubs and extracurricular activities. Everyone at Stepinac kept saying they were an “Educational Community” with the emphasis on both words. JFK is just within the 15 mile limit so we qualify for free and convenient busing there, while Joe would have to take public busing to Stepinac. Some of the Stepinac students mentioned that students attend from as far away as Mahopac and Brewster.
I asked Joe how he felt after seeing the two schools, and he seemed to lean towards JFK.
We will see.
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