Roselle Catholic High School celebrates special anniversaries
For Laura Skrec (maiden name Laura Maire), her commute had grown from a one-block walk to a short car ride for the 1983 – 84 school year.
Those extra blocks would mean more to her future than she knew at the time.
Skrec was one of the first female students to enter Roselle Catholic High School on Sept. 8, 1983 and was among the first co-ed class to graduate from the school almost 40 years ago in June 1984.
Previously she attended nearby Girls’ Catholic High School, which had closed the prior spring. She was familiar with her new school – her older brother was a student there – and while she was upset that her tiny, former school was shutting its doors, a new adventure was on the horizon.
“I just remember going from this little school to this big building and entering with so many new faces,” Skrec said. “It was just so overwhelming at first because the building was almost triple in size. But as soon as I started to know where I was and what I was doing, I was graduating.”
When you speak with graduates of and current students at Roselle Catholic High School, which celebrates its 65th anniversary in 2024, you can sense in their voices that they knew they were part of something very special.
Tom Libonate entered the school in September of 1960, and he graduated in 1964. Roselle Catholic opened in 1959 to 43 boys, and 35 of them graduated in 1963.
Libonate (who was the first board chair when Roselle Catholic initiated an advisory board) and the rest of the boys at the young school attended classes in the former convent building for the Sisters of St. Joseph. The latter were teaching at St. Joseph the Carpenter School.
“When they built the new convent, this building became the first building that Roselle Catholic used that freshman occupied in the fall of 1959,” Libonate said. “I came into the school in 1960 and went into that same building, and then sophomores moved over to another house that was on the school’s property.”
Newer structures were eventually built. Libonate reminisced. “I remember sitting in a classroom on the new campus, looking out the window and seeing construction, and realizing that at some point in time, this was going to be an institution of some real importance.”
In his junior year, he and his classmates would move over to the new building, which would finally be completed in his senior year. The new physical structure stood, but a more important foundation was laid much earlier.
“That was a sense of community,” Libonate said. “The students – we felt like we were the pioneers; we were doing something we felt was important at that time. We were part of the founding of something that was going to be a wonderful institution.”
The students had and still have great mentors. “From the very beginning, life at Roselle Catholic has been informed by the work of the Marist Brothers. Dozens of the Brothers have served, and continue to serve, the school in a variety of capacities, and the Marist charism has always influenced the school’s philosophy and practices,” according to the school website.
Libonate added, “The thing that I see in most of the kids that are in that school today is a sense of support for each other. Kids go out of their way to help other kids, and the upperclassmen kind of embed some of their traditions in the underclassmen. There is a wonderful spirit there, and what I like about it is the kids want to be there. It is not just the kids who want to be there, but the parents want the kids to be there and are involved.”
Current Roselle Catholic senior, Alexis Artiga, agreed.
“It is the support within the community, how close everyone is, and the feeling of home and comfort I get every time I walk through the doors,” she said. “At Roselle Catholic, I am guided in my faith in a way that suits me and allows me to grow spiritually and emotionally.”
Artiga, who in her four years has taken part in soccer, basketball, track, softball, student council, campus ministry, and is part of the National and Spanish Society, recalls her early days at the school.
“I was nervous to enter a new environment with new people, but after adjusting to everything I started to feel more comfortable and began to make close bonds with my teachers and friends,” she said.
The campus ministry, which Artiga is involved with, is very popular and involves a good number of the student body.
“Merissa Berrios (2018), does a marvelous job with campus ministry,” Libonate said. “And that is a volunteer thing. That is not something that is forced on the kids. That is what I find so interesting, and I am so proud of that.”
Fellow senior, Nicholas Salameo, who is a member of the National Honor Society, a peer leader, a tutor in the Homework Club, and runs the Gaming Club, like Artiga briefly reflects on his first year at Roselle Catholic, which was virtual due to the pandemic, to where he is now.
“It was extremely strange for me because my freshman year was all virtual,” he said. “Therefore, my first time entering the school proper was sophomore year. When I did, it was very different from my 8th grade school. I felt a little overwhelmed, but over time, it was easy to acclimate to the environment.”
He values the community environment at the school.
“The students here are good, and I have made some good friends in my time here,” Salameo said. “The teachers are great and support me in a lot of the things that I do.
“My decision to come to the school was made entirely on a whim, so the fact that I am graduating in the year of this milestone is bizarre to me. It is very remarkable that I get to be here for this milestone!”
Like Skrec, Eileen Nahaczewski (formerly Fallon) was among the first young women to enter Roselle Catholic High School as a student in September 1983.
“I am the youngest of eight. My three brothers had graduated from Roselle Catholic, and my four sisters graduated from Girls Catholic,” Nahaczewski said. “I remember the conversation a lot as I was growing up, more so while I was in high school. ‘When will they (Roselle Catholic) go co-ed?’ My brothers and sisters had always talked about it; it was always a background rumor.”
The rumor was no more. Nahaczewski, Skrec, and their Girls Catholic classmates found out in their junior year they would be continuing their education at 350 Raritan Road in Roselle.
“For the first couple of weeks as seniors, I remember we went with our Girl’s Catholic uniforms: gray and plaid skirts, a maroon sweater, and a white top,” Nahaczewski said.
Like many former and current students, her experience was wonderful.
“I thought that the teachers were great,” she said. “There were a couple of male teachers, like Anthony LaPolla, who had been at Roselle Catholic for years before; he was an incredible teacher. Brother Robert Salmon taught Religion, and we did the Marriage Project, where you had to ‘marry’ someone in your class and had to come up with a budget and finances, what your job would be, and how much money you would make. They were teachers who welcomed the change and did so much to make it comfortable for us. Also, Donna Robinson, who was an English teacher at Girls Catholic and was fabulous, came over to Roselle Catholic. It was a really fun experience.”
In addition to being friends, former Girls Catholic students, and then Roselle Catholic seniors, Nahaczewski and Skrec had something else in common. Nahaczewski met her future husband, John, during her one-year at the school, and Joe and Laura Skrec met during that same school year during a basketball game.
The Skrecs were married in 1989.
Joe currently serves as Assistant Principal of Student Affairs, but has also coached freshmen boys’ basketball coach, served as Roselle Catholic’s athletic director, and was also a history teacher. Laura was hired in 2000 to be Joe’s secretary in the athletic department, and she worked for 17 years at the school. Their three children, Michael (2009), Allison (2010), and Ashley (2015), are all Roselle Catholic graduates.
“Joe was the athletic director when all three of our kids graduated, and if you were a faculty member, you got to hand your children their diploma,” Skrec said. “My husband was able to give all three of our kids their high school diploma, and it was very touching.”
Roselle Catholic High School has indeed played a big role in the lives of the Skrecs and many others. It is a feeling that has resonated for over six decades.
“I feel honored to be a part of this milestone,” Artiga said of the 65th anniversary. “Even though my journey is coming to an end, I feel privileged to be part of this family.”
Featured image: From the 1983 – 84 yearbook when Roselle Catholic High School became a co-ed institution.
