St. Hubert High School inducted seven women into its Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Knowlton Mansion.
Here are the honorees:
• Tricia Metzger Crane ’98 (Athletics), a star member of the soccer and track and field teams at St. Hubert and Long Island University Brooklyn.
• Sister Mary McNulty, IHM ’78 (Catholic Witness)
• Rita Schwartz (Christus Vincit)
• Marianne Sisco Burpulis ’67 (Education)
• Bridget Collins-Greenwald ’88 (Public Service), the city Licenses and Inspections Commissioner for Quality of Life and former commissioner of the Department of Public Property.
• Brooke Schmidheiser ’01 (posthumously – Science/Medicine), who worked in the ER at Jefferson Torresdale Hospital for 18 years, working through the coronavirus pandemic. She used to sing the St. Hubert school song to her daughter Gabriella as a lullaby.
• Maureen Berran Kubicek ’98 (Volunteer), an All-Catholic basketball and volleyball player who went on to join the Mercy Volunteer Corps and work as a nurse, teacher and volunteer.
The school’s chamber ensemble performed at the March 6 event, with school president Lizanne Pando serving as emcee.
Pando, in her ninth year as president, was joined by current and former faculty members, members of the board of directors, past Hall of Famers and members of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Principal Gina MacKenzie, a 1993 graduate and Hall of Fame member, offered a prayer.
Pando spoke about the school’s new outdoor courtyard and Connelly Arts and Design Center. Fran Burns, a 1993 graduate, Hall of Famer and executive vice president of the Connelly Foundation, was at the ceremony.
Pando mentioned the school’s health care career partnerships with Holy Family, Manor College and Jefferson University. And she noted that the class of ‘24 earned $39 million in grants and scholarships.
Meanwhile, the inductees fondly recalled their associations with St. Hubert.
Sister Mary McNulty attended the school when Monsignor Philip Cribben was principal. She recalls him asking students in a homily whether they would rather be like Farrah Fawcett or Mother Teresa. Sister Mary might not have become one of Charlie’s Angels, but she has had a distinguished 41-year career in education and is in her 19th year as principal of St. Francis de Sales in West Philadelphia.
Burpulis said the induction was “icing on the cake.” She taught at the school for 43 years and chaired the world language department. “Once a Bambie, always a Bambie,” she said.
Schwartz attended the old Ravenhill Academy in East Falls. She described her time teaching at St. Hubert as the “12 most wonderful years I could ever imagine.” She spent 26 years as president of the Association of Catholic Teachers Local 1776.
“I’m officially a Bambie, aren’t I?” she said after accepting her Hall of Fame induction medal. ••
