New to St. Rose High School but well known and respected in the world of Jersey Shore Athletics, Louis “Del” Dal Pra has joined our team as our Supervisor of Athletics.

Del Dal Pra has spent most of his life on the Jersey Shore. He grew up in Rumson and was an All-Shore football and baseball player at RFH in 1984 and was inducted into the Bulldog Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. He then continued playing Baseball and Football at Glassboro State College and graduated in 1991 with a teaching degree in Health and Physical Education. After graduation he returned to RFH were he taught H/PE and was an assistant football coach from 1992-1999. He also coached baseball at RFH from 1991 to 1994. As a baseball coach, Dal Pra first standout season came in 1996 when he guided Henry Hudson to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 1 sectional championship game and was named Asbury Park Press Baseball coach of the year. In 1998 he was the head coach at OCC and in 2000 was named the head baseball coach at Ocean. Dal Pra led the Spartans to four Shore Conference division titles, two Monmouth County Tournament titles, one Shore Conference Tournament championship and two NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 3 sectional titles. 

Dal Pra was also an assistant football coach when Ocean won the Central Jersey Group 3 crown in 2000 and 2005 and was named baseball coach of the year in 2006 by the Asbury Park Press. While teaching and coaching at Ocean Coach Del earned his Masters degree from Kean University with a degree in School Administration. In 2008, Dal Pra was then hired as Red Bank's athletic director and tasked with resuscitating a struggling athletic department. That fall season, the football team was 0-10 and the boys and girls soccer, girls tennis and field hockey teams combined for just nine wins. "Those times were horrible for me," he said. "We had teams playing on fields and courts that had no upgrades in almost 40 years. Outdated uniforms and equipment had to be replaced with one of the smallest budgets in the Shore Conference. I knew I had to think outside the box because it was not safe for our student-athletes and they deserved better."

With the help of some very dedicated parents, Dal Pra founded the Buc Backer Booster Club in 2009. He fostered the buy-in from the entire coaching staff and they helped him build a winning culture in Little Silver that was missing for a long time. From 2010-2020 he was also able to start and finish such projects as lights for the stadium field, new home and away stands, a new wood gym floor, new gym lights, new gym bleachers and new scoreboards in the fieldhouse. His most proud moment was the opening of a new state of the art weight room. Coach Del was named Athletic Director of the year in 2016 and 2020 and retired from RBR in July 2020. Before retiring all of the RBR teams were running successful programs and playing on top notch facilities.

In 2021 the NJSIAA enshrined Coach Del in the New Jersey State Coaches Hall of Fame in Robbinsville. Last school year 2021-2022 Dal Pra worked at Matawan High School in the Security Department. Currently he works for the Philadelphia Phillies as an assistant groundskeeper for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. “I love working for the BlueClaws and enjoy every minute I am at the ballpark,” Dal Pra said. “However, I am even more excited to get back to working as a high school Athletic Director, especially at St. Rose. I’ve had a lot of great offers this past summer but when the opportunity to work at a school that appreciates its coaches and athletes like St. Rose does came along- I jumped at the chance."

"St. Rose's win of the Shop-Rite Cup in 2021-2022 for Private Group 1 schools demonstrates its commitment to athletics with programs and coaches on the top of their game. I am excited to work with the coaches and athletes to take the program to the next level."

Help us

Meet the cast and director of St. Rose High School's 2022 Fall Drama, "Puffs!"

Two weeks of AP Testing just wrapped and we would like to thank our Guidance Counselors for all their hard work and dedication to our students. Watch/Listen to the latest episode of the "Power of Potential" Podcast to learn more about Mrs. Fallon, Ms. Wight, and Ms. Durham. Together these three have helped the Class of 2022 earn over twenty million dollars in scholarships for college with a 100% acceptance rate. Learn why they got involved in school counseling and what drives them every day. You can watch on our website or listen below or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode of the Power of Potential is about the spring musical this year, Seussical!!  The cast of our exciting musical stopped by and we talked about the exciting things that happen during a musical, their individual feelings about the show and the characters, and we even got a sneak peek of one of the biggest songs in the show!   The episode is full of funny jokes and interesting takes from our actors and our director, Mr. Henderson.  The Sour Kangaroo(Shannon White), The Cat in the Hat(Izzy Stevens), Jojo(Chloe Benson), and Horton the Elephant(Dan Martin), and two of the Bird Girls and your resident hosts(Arianna Simon and Sami Golding) all came to our podcast for a loud show full of colorful characters. Seussical is opening this Friday(4/29) at 7:30.  There is a show Saturday(4/30) at 7:30 and the closing show is Sunday(5/1).  Please come out to the Spring Lake Theater to come see our wonderful show!!

Click here to buy your tickets.

This episode of the Power of Potential focuses on the origins of the St. Rose Bagpipe Band and how they have evolved over the past year. Hosts Samantha Golding and Arianna Simon are joined by Miss Weingarten (founder, Pipe Major), Mr. Petrillo (Campus Minister, Base Drum), and Shannon White '24. They talk all about how the band was formed last fall by our innovative and dedicated music teacher Miss Weingarten and about how the band is made up of both students and teachers who have a passion for playing music together. This year, the Pipe Band has played at St Rose Open Houses, the Belmar St Patrick’s Day Parade, both the Christmas and Spring Concerts, local elementary schools, and has even made an appearance on News 12 NJ! This summer they are heading to Scotland to be immersed in the culture, life, and food of that Bag Pipe-loving country.

On this episode, we meet two of St. Rose High School's Track and Field Coaches: Alumni and Head Coach Kaitlyn Lavender and Assistant Coach, Pete Casagrande who along with Cross Country's All-County Player Brian Theobald '23, share their experiences that led them to three championship titles:

• Non-Public "B" Girls Relay State Champions
• Non-Public "B" BOYS Relay State Champions
• Non-Public "B" BOYS State Group Champions

This is the first time in program history that we've won both the state relays and the state individual team title. For the Purple Roses, the Boys State Group Championship victory came after they won the NJSIAA Non-Public B Relay Championships in January. This was the first time in program history that St. Rose won both in the same year.

“The boys were counting how many days until the state title,” St. Rose head coach Kaitlyn Lavender said. “They really wanted to win this. We had many log personal bests and just shined tonight. The team shows up. They all want to be there and we’re really well-rounded. These kids really put in a lot of effort.”

Brian Theobald won three events (800, 1600 and 3200) as St. Rose scored 67 points to capture the state Non-Public B boys indoor track and field championships.

St. Rose HS left the meet with full grins as the boys and girls swept the team championships collecting multiple gold medals throughout the evening. Many athletes stepping up to compete in multiple events, Brian Theobald and Tilly O'Connor playing big roles in anchor spots.

It was no secret that St. Rose’s Tilly O’Connor was the favorite in the 3200 meter run. The real question was how much would she win the event by? The answer turned out to be quite a large margin. O’Connor set a meet record with a time of 11:01.97, nearly 40 seconds better than the second-place finisher.

“It means a lot because I love racing,” O’Connor said. “Having this opportunity was special.” Leading from the opening gun, O’Connor found herself lapping other runners early in the race. When she crossed the finish line, she was all alone and pushed herself without anyone on her heels to motivate her.

“I thought they would try to stay with me a little longer, I was a little surprised when I took the lead right away,” O’Connor said. “It’s tough. I always remember that I can always do my best even if there’s no one there. I can always keep pushing myself.”

The wins were complemented by a second-place finish in the shot courtesy of Joshua Huisman, 45-10, and William Nate Dempsey, 25-2.5, as well as a sixth-place run in the 4x200m.

Congratulations to the St. Rose High School Track/Field and Cross Country teams on an outstanding year.

4 Years of St. Rose Got Talent

Arianna Simon and Samantha Golding interview the 4th Annual St. Rose Got Talent's student producers, Ellen Gallagher '22 and Chelsea LaGotta '22 (also last year's 2nd place winner) to learn more about this year's show, how we connected with our celebrity judges, and what's in store for us this year.  They both share the history of the St. Rose Got Talent Show and tell us how much work is involved in putting together this annual event.

Click here to buy tickets for St. Rose Got Talent on 3/10/22

Click here to donate and support, "Hope for Haiti."

Meet Jerry Joyce, a fixture at St. Rose High School and for 40+ years the advisor of the Senior trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In this episode, he passes the pixie dust to Heather Carlotz to take the senior trip into St. Rose's second century. We will learn the evolution of the senior trip, understanding what is the same and what is different. We are also joined by a few students from the Class of 2022 to share their experiences from their trip.