LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Our Lady of
Lourdes High School to be celebrated February 11, 2009

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to recognize and
commend those institutions of commitment and high achievement whose
purpose and endeavors prove a dedication to the pursuit of excellence in
the education of the youth of this noble Empire State; and
WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long-
standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to commem-
orate the 50th Anniversary of Our Lady of Lourdes High School; and
WHEREAS, Principal Father John M. Lagiovane, along with the staff and
the students of Our Lady of Lourdes High School, will recognize this
auspicious occasion with a Feast Day which will include a mass to be
held on Wednesday, February 11, 2009; and
WHEREAS, Our Lady of Lourdes is a co-educational archdiocesan high
school which seeks to offer a rigorous college preparatory education
rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ to a large and diverse communi-
ty; and
WHEREAS, Animated by the charismas of the Sisters of St. Dominic and
the Marist Brothers, Our Lady of Lourdes strives to enable all students
to achieve their fullest potential: spiritually, intellectually, phys-
ically, and emotionally; and
WHEREAS, Our Lady of Lourdes High School opened its doors in September
of 1958, with 280 students and a faculty that consisted of four Marist
Brothers and four Newburgh Dominicans, an athletic coach and Monsignor
Matthew Cox as supervising Principal; and
WHEREAS, The school was two separate co-institutional schools, 140
boys were taught in four classrooms and a lab, with 140 girls housed in
four rented rooms in St. Mary's School; even when the boys and girls
were finally housed in one building, the school remained, until 1970,
co-institutional; and
WHEREAS, The building was purchased from the City of Poughkeepsie and
was dedicated on May 1, 1960, by Cardinal Spellman; the name of the
school was chosen to honor Mary on the 100th Anniversary of the appari-
tions at Lourdes; and
WHEREAS, The school grew prodigiously from 1958 to 1962, accepting 280
students a year, so, that by the time the first class graduated in 1962
the total enrollment of the school stood at 1120 students; the class of
1964 sent 99% of its boys and 93% of its girls onto pursue higher educa-
tion; and
WHEREAS, During difficult times in the early 1990s, the Marist Broth-
ers returned to Poughkeepsie, New York; it would be difficult to under-
estimate the impact the return of the Marist Brothers had on the school;
a renewed sense of the original mission and a fierce determination to
see the school not merely survive but flourish had characterized the
early months; and
WHEREAS, In December of 1995, the Archdiocese of New York purchased a
tract of land and a building from IBM, with the intention of moving the
school to a larger site; renovation of the former laboratory began in
the spring of 1996, when the building's interior was completely gutted,
and was finished in time for the opening of school in September of that
same year; and
WHEREAS, The current enrollment of Our Lady of Lourdes High School is
802, with students coming from over 30 elementary schools within a four
county region; the class of 2008 included 208 graduates of which 207
went on to college and one entered the military; and

WHEREAS, One of the few Catholic High Schools located between Troy,
New York, and Westchester County in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York,
Our Lady of Lourdes High School is one of 10 high schools under the
auspices of the Archdiocese of New York; and
WHEREAS, The steadfast and unyielding commitment of parents, educators
and administrators to provide the highest quality of education for
students has become the hallmark and tradition of Our Lady of Lourdes
High School; and
WHEREAS, Within the 21st Century, Our Lady of Lourdes High School
stands prepared to reach out, in earnest and enthusiastic quest of its
mission, to promote the maximum growth of every student, establishing
standards and building skills which will carry its students and the
citizens of its community into the future; and
WHEREAS, Our Lady of Lourdes High School is proudly aware of its
distinguished past, eager to fulfill its present commitment to parents,
students and the community, and planning with vision and purpose for the
ebb and swell of growth and change it will encounter in the years to
come; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Our Lady of Lourdes High School to
be celebrated February 11, 2009; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to Father John M. Lagiovane, Principal, Our Lady of Lourdes High
School, 131 Boardman Road, Poughkeepsie, New York 12603.