Boarding Schools for Girls

After 110 years of all-female leadership, Pomona Catholic High School, a private Catholic girls school in southern California, recently welcomed its first male principal.

An Oct. 7 article by Monica Rodriguez of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin provided the following details about the landmark event:

Samuel Torres is the first male principal at the all-girl Pomona Catholic High School, but his gender is not what makes him stand out to students or parents. As far as students are concerned, the principal "could be an alien from outer space" as long as that person "does a good job," said Dani Rose Meave-Cateril, the school's student body president. ...

One of his goals is to attract more students to the school, which has a 197-member student body. One way that will be accomplished is by creating the best college preparatory curriculum possible, which is being done by contacting the nation's top colleges, Torres said.

The information gathered will be used to build up and create a more rigorous academic program, he said. Torres also plans to work with parochial middle schools so children and their families can begin thinking of college and what they must do to prepare for it, he said.

Labels: catholic, private school

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A private girls school in Virginia has received what the school claims is the largest single donation in the history of private girls schools. An Oct. 14 press release provided the following details about the donation:

Chatham Hall, an internationally renowned girls' boarding school, has received a $31 million gift from the estate of alumna Elizabeth Beckwith Nilsen, Class of 1931. This is the largest single gift to any girls' independent school.

According to Dr. Gary Fountain, Rector and Head of Chatham Hall, "Mrs. Nilsen's gift is transformational for the School. What remarkable generosity,and what a powerful statement about women supporting girls' education. Mrs. Nilsen's generosity is a head of school's dream."

Mrs. Nilsen directed that her gift be placed into an unrestricted endowment fund. Her gift came to Chatham Hall following the death of Mrs. Nilsen's husband, Robert A. Nilsen, in March 2009. Mrs. Nilsen, who predeceased her husband, died in October 2006.

Labels: single-sex education, girls, private school

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The students of one of New York's most successful girls' schools hosted a special guest Sept. 21, when the queen of Jordan paid a visit. Darragh Worland reported on the queen's visit to East Harlem's Young Women's Leadership School in a Sept. 27 article on the website Tonic.com:

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan ... who has been UNICEFs Eminent Advocate for Children since 2007, joined UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman to discuss the role education plays in improving childrens lives.

For the past nine years straight, every single graduate of the Young Womens Leadership School, the nation's first girls-only public school, has been admitted to institutes of higher education. In her address to the students, Queen Rania emphasized the need for the young leaders to pay it forward.

I want you, girls with voices, to speak up and shout out for girls whose cries fall silent, said HM Queen Rania. I want you to fight for them, as others are fighting for you. I want you to pull up another girl, and help her stand tall and strong. I want you to be great, and inspire greatness in others.

Labels: international, girls, private school

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When the Sisters of Charity of Kentucky announced in January that they would close Our Lady of Nazareth Academy, it looked like the students of the private Catholic school for girls were going to have to either enroll in public school or make the 20-mile commute to attend the Presentation of Mary Academy.

But according to a Sept. 1 article by Theresa DeFranzo on the website wickedlocal.com, the community of students and their parents came up with a third option: find the funding (and a location) to keep the school going:

Not only have students been helping out, but their parents and alumni have been working around the clock to make sure this educational opportunity  both the physical building and the educational curriculum  was available for girls in the area.

We were greatly disappointed after the announcement that they would close, said Joseph Luna, chairman of the board of directors. We had no intention of building a new school. But you cant save a school that doesnt want to be saved.

So he, and many others, got down to work.

No longer staffed by nuns, the school opened for the 2009-2010 academic year under a new name (out with "Our Lady of Nazareth Academy," in with "Nazareth Academy") -- but with a continued commitment to the philosophical underpinnings of its predecessor, DeFranzo reported:

We know the benefit of this type of education, Luna said of Nazareth Academy, which he said offers young women a Christian and classical education in the Catholic tradition that prepares them academically, spiritually and socially for a life marked by leadership and service in todays global community.

Labels: girls, religious, catholic, private school

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