Liz Cholakis had heard the rumblings and saw the letter sent home from school, but she didn’t want to believe what she was hearing and seeing about the fate of Stella Maris.
“Everyone heard rumors about it, that it was going to close, but I never thought it was going to happen,” the junior forward said. “It couldn’t close.”
On Sept. 19, the administration of the Rockaway Park all-girls school met with the parents and announced it would be closing its doors after 66 years because of low enrollment. The school has been battling the problem for a number years.
“The decision to close is heartbreaking,” principal Geri Martinez said in a statement. “I truly believe that the closing of Stella Maris H.S. is a great loss to education and to young women.”
Cholakis said she was “hysterical crying” when she heard the news and there was a feeling of shock. Her soccer team, in the midst of one of it best seasons, had just tied St. John’s Prep and was to play St. Agnes the next day. Stella Maris (7-3-1) is currently fighting Chris the King for second place in the Queens division of CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens. The Royals won the team’s second meeting, 6-1, Monday at Juniper Valley Park. Stella won 2-1 on Sept. 28.
“How do you tell a group of girls mid-season that their school is closing?” Flippers coach Michelle Raaf, a 2007 graduate of the school, said. “I did what I could. You can’t coach that. You can’t coach emotions like that.”
Two of the team’s top defenders, Maria Steele and Lynn Raider, have already transferred from the school to Forest Hills and St. Edmund Prep, respectively. Monday’s game was the first without them. Raaf said she had the team play dodge ball recently at practice to help them take out their frustrations and take their minds off soccer and school.
“You want to make the best of what you have, but you don’t want to think about what you are losing,” freshman midfielder Regina Paskoff said.
Paskoff, who scored Stella’s lone goal against CK, said she came to the school even after being criticized by her junior high school friends, who said there were better places to go. Her mother Therese went there and she felt at home the first time she walked in.
The players, most of whom are still trying to figure out where they will end up next year, said things are different at school and the students are trying to cope with the reality in front of them.
“We are not like we were,” Paskoff said. “We are kind of like a big family at Stella. We are all supporting each other through it. It’s been hard, but it never going to be completely whole.”
Yet there is also a push to make the year memorable for other reasons.
“For the seniors it is their year, but everyone is trying to make it a good year for everyone,” Ashley Raaf, Michelle’s younger sister, said.
The Flippers season will at least continue through the playoffs and the two regular-season games they have remaining with Bishop Kearney and Fontbonne Hall. They will likely need to win or tie one of them to hold off the Royals for second place in the division.
“It makes it really bitter sweet,” Cholakis said. “Every game you have to appreciate and play our heart out. “
