I was 12 years old in May 2007. This was the first time I toured the campus of Good Counsel Academy in White Plains, New York.
Walking around the campus, I was enchanted by the beauty and the sense of community.
How could there not be a sense of community in such a beautiful, unique, and historical place?
Chapel at Academy of Our Lady of Good Counsel, White Plains, NY
Even in the seventh grade I recognized this, and I decided right then that I would definitely apply to Good Counsel Academy when I took the TACHS exam in October. That was over seven years ago.
Now, I am 20, and I am forever grateful to Good Counsel and to the Sisters of Divine Compassion for providing me with a beautiful, faith-filled, close-knit, challenging and rewarding high school experience.
I am grateful that I was able to go to school in a place that housed plenty of girls before me; I am grateful that I was able to go to school in a place that emanated history and still kept up with the current needs of students. I love the campus and I love the city of White Plains.
I spent hours jogging around the lush green campus to warm up for softball. I spent hours dancing in the chapel to rehearse for the Christmas Pageant, an event that was particularly special to my family and myself because my youngest brother enjoyed it. He has autism and is afraid of going to Mass, but he loved the music and dancing of the pageant. So, that became my family’s Christmas tradition since we have not been able to go to Mass together in a very long time. No other high school could have given that to us.
I’m happy I got the opportunity to go back to the campus, but it is a shame that my cousin and friends younger than me won’t get the opportunity to do the same.
I am just as enchanted with the campus and community now as I was then. I have gone back each year to give tours at the open house and to visit the students, teachers, and faculty that made my high school experience special. I love going back to the campus that was, and still is, a second home to me.
(I also hoped that one day I could get married in the chapel, because I was told that on a tour in 2007 and the idea has always stuck with me.)
I was heartbroken when I heard the news of the campus being on the market. I have been checking my email so as not to miss any new updates or press releases. The first result of a Google search for Good Counsel Academy is the a story in the Journal News with the headline “Parents worry move will end Good Counsel Academy.”
I worry, too. Parents who spoke to the Journal News claim that “they” (school leaders and board members and whoever else is heavily involved with the move) have not been “upfront” about what is happening. I agree completely.
On May 30, 2014, alumnae first learned of the intention to market the Good Counsel property, but it seemed as though the plan wouldn’t move forward as quickly as it has been moving. Personally, I assumed that much more information would be relayed to the Good Counsel Community before any final sale of the property and relocation of the school was established. I say this because the announcement of the marketing of the property was spoken of toward the end of the alumnae letter sent by email on May 30, 2014. I imagined that something would be done to at least keep the school open for a few more years, and I understand that this effort has been taken and is not feasible for some reason.
“Our commitment to educating confident women and compassionate leaders for the 21st century stands firm,”Sr. Laura Donovan, principal of Good Counsel Academy High School and Sr. Imma DeStefanis, President of the board of trustees, said in the letter.
“With full capacity and an incoming class of approximately 90 students we are affirmed in the belief that GCA provides a much-needed quality, Catholic education for girls. In the months and year ahead we will keep you apprised of any new information relating to the sale of the property or any further developments regarding the location of the High School.”
The next letter gave much more information, “in the spirit of transparency.” The letter detailed the search for a new property for Good Counsel Academy, and spoke of the conclusion made that the old Blessed Sacrament property in New Rochelle would be the best option. Still, it seems, from the information in the letter, that it is a financially infeasible option.
I appreciate the effort put into that letter to share information with those who care about GCA, but, being an alumna of Good Counsel, I want more information.
I want to know why.
Why has it been decided that it would be in the best interest of the Sisters of Divine Compassion to sell the Good Counsel property– the property that Mother Mary Veronica strove to purchase in the late 1800s as a haven for orphaned girls from New York City?
It is the property that today still meets Mother Mary Veronica’s mission of creating a haven and a community of faith and education for girls. Good Counsel was a haven – a homey, welcoming, full-of-love place–for me and still is for the over 400 students and a vast number of alumnae who would like to remain connected with the campus.
Why don’t they sell Preston? Is that property more lucrative? What about any other property that the Sisters are in possession of? I want to do more research to find out this information, but I am not sure where to begin.
Sisters of the Divine Compassion, I appreciate all you have done for me. I plead that you tell us more about why the property is being sold. I and so many other alumnae, current students, and families of those students want Good Counsel to continue “educating confident women and compassionate leaders.” We are a family, something I wrote about in another blog post, Catholic School Bonds.
I am afraid if Good Counsel property in White Plains is sold that this will no longer happen. The open house for Good Counsel is on October 18. I am concerned that girls may not even want to consider applying to Good Counsel because of the current uncertain circumstances.
The high school, according to GCA’s website, was added to the campus in 1918. That means it would have been less than four years before a 100-year anniversary of educating high school women. I hope Good Counsel will reach that anniversary and many more after it.
The main building
Shenanigans and Self-Realizations 