St. Mel School, a co-ed Catholic elementary school, open since 1960, boasts of a holistic approach to the child by incorporating a curriculum of academic studies, foreign language, computers, physical education, art, music and a complete program of religious studies. Located in Flushing, NY, it serves nursery age through eighth-grade children from the Flushing, Whitestone, College Point, and Bayside areas of Queens.

What makes our school special is the combination of activities that take place both inside and outside of the classrooms.

Inside the classrooms the students are encouraged to use higher order thinking skills in a variety of ways including:

·        the creation of multimedia presentations,

·        participation in a regional Stock Market challenge in which one of our teams placed first in the region

·        the use of technology to prepare school newspapers and brochures

·        participation in class “bees” using the CPS system

·        participation in ThinkQuest NYC which is a program in which students create educational websites and submit them for judging by outside judges. In the past 2 years our teams have made it to the semi-final round and one team made it to the final round. This team was chosen in the top ten of several hundred entries

·        “buddying” with a younger grade to promote a sense of school community which fosters  students to develop their qualities with younger students as well as their peers.

Outside the classroom the students are encouraged to reach outside the school building to help the surrounding community. This is done through a variety of activities including: