During the scavenger hunt, one member of each team was dressed in the items they picked up along the way, making for some interesting outfits when the game was over.
TLIC photos/Mary Iapalucci

Riverhead — It was the last week of August, but the halls of McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School were already alive with students rushing from room to room, laughing and chatting. They weren’t getting an early start on their course work, just getting to know their new surroundings.
Incoming seventh- and ninth-graders had gathered for a welcome program of fun and games and their parents also got a chance to meet each other at a meeting and family barbeque.
The welcome program is designed to give students and parents a chance to get to know each other and the school in a relaxed atmosphere, according to math teacher and junior high school coordinator Jacklyn Paton. She organized the program which included team scavenger hunts through the school building, ice-breaker games on the back lawn and a short informational meeting for the parents.
“It’s an opportunity for everyone to become a little more familiar with the school and to ask questions and get to know the faces of the people at the school,” she explained as kids rushed by wearing the various bits of sports uniforms and equipment they had to collect as part of the hunt.

McGann-Mercy’s principal, Dr. Steven Cheeseman, noted that starting a new school is just as stressful for the parents as the student. The goal of the welcome program is to make everything a little more familiar to ease some of that stress.
Dr. Cheeseman is excited about the new school year and welcoming the largest freshman class in 22 years with 127 students. The school has grown over the past six years from about 300 to 500 students. Grades seven through ten are all full and have waiting lists.
“We have to keep reorganizing because the school has grown to almost 500 students,” he said, noting they have added sport teams, electives and activities to meet the demand. Over the summer, new athletic fields were built and the gym was renovated.
Outside the school’s chapel where students were busy identifying the stained-glass saints to check off on their scavenger hunt lists, incoming freshman Hana Phifer said she thought the program was “a good way to socialize and to find your way around the school.” One of her teammates, Tara Sledjeski, who attended McGann-Mercy for eighth grade, was also glad she came to the event. “Even though I have been here for a year, I don’t know where some of the rooms are. They changed a lot of stuff over the summer,” she said. Wearing a basketball jersey and carrying the gold pom-pom the team had collected, she added that it was a lot of fun.
Their two other teammates, Kathryn Bockino and Erin Konkel, are both from St. John the Evangelist parish in Riverhead and were already friends, but they said they were glad for this chance to meet others. “This is good because we get to see all around the school, all the classrooms, and get to meet our fellow classmates,” said Erin.
“It’s really cool,” added Kathryn. “It brings us out of our inner circle, out of our comfort zone, to meet new people.”
A few minutes later her words were echoed by school chaplain Father Mike Rieder, who welcomed the parents to the auditorium and warned he might push them a bit out of their “comfort zone.”
He asked the parents to sit in sections of the auditorium according to the geographic area they came from, a good way to meet potential car pool partners. And, during the question-and-answer period that followed, when one parent bemoaned the fact her school district does not provide late buses for sports, another parent who already had children in the school noted how great the parents in that area are in helping each other out with transportation. Names and phone numbers were being exchanged before the evening was over.
Debbie O’Kane, whose daughter Claire will be traveling from Orient to attend the seventh grade at McGann-Mercy, was “happy to have the opportunity to meet other parents.” She thought the welcome night was good because the kids were having fun and would be more comfortable on the first day of school.
Christine Edmonds, whose son James is starting ninth grade, agreed. Although she is not technically a “new” parent as James attended eighth grade at the school, she said, “This is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with the old and meet new parents.”