An all-girl Catholic high school education will be harder to come by in Westchester
Maria Regina, Our Lady of Victory Academy, Good Counsel Academy, and Ursuline. These were some of the names that filled the Catholic-school cafeteria conversations of generations of middle school and high school girls in Westchester county and the surrounding areas. Eight graders compared each school, tried to figure out where they would best fit in, and then narrowed down their options to three to apply to when taking the TACHS (Test for Admission into Catholic High School) exam.
GCA students and their cougar mascot welcomed middle school students to learn more about their high school at the October 2014 open house.
When in high school, girls continued comparing everything from sports teams to locker sizes. There was plenty of discussion over who had the prettier campus and the cuter uniforms, as well as the most AP courses and best list of college acceptances. But nearly everyone had friends at other schools; the struggles and joys of Catholic schooling, and, more specifically, the struggles and joys of all-girl Catholic schooling created a bond between the students and alumnae.
But private all-girl education options— especially the affordable ones— have been dwindling. (By affordable, I mean under $12,000 a year tuition). Our Lady of Victory, which had a comparable tuition to Good Counsel and Maria Regina, closed in 2012.
The Leadership Team of the Sisters of Divine Compassion has recently announced that this is the last semester of operation for Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy High School.
Instead of comparing uniforms and sports teams, girls from Good Counsel are preparing to transfer, just as Victory girls did about three years ago.
More on the Good Counsel closing:
letter from Sr. Laura Donovan, principal of GCA high school
Shock at the GCA closure
The chapel at Good Counsel, built in 1897.
Good Counsel Academy High School has been operating for over 90 years— we were told we could get married in the campus chapel (maybe we still will be able to), and my senior class of 2012 was given lifetime passes (most of them discarded pretty quickly) to the little workout room that was finished right before we graduated. I think it’s safe to say that the school was working to grow, build connections, and attract more students as it reached its 100th year of educating “confident women, compassionate leaders.” No student could have guessed that the campus would be sold. No alumnae could have guessed that our lifetime Good Counsel gym memberships— that no one actually used—would expire in less than four years.
Catholic school tradition lives on
Of course, the above named schools were not the only options for Catholic/private schooling. There were, and still are, more all-girl Catholic or private schools all around New York City, and there are several co-ed schools in different areas. But some of those options aren’t the most feasible. Holy Child was (and still is) another all-girl school in Westchester, but I didn’t list that one because the tuition is about $30,000 a year. (Ursuline doesn’t really make the cut to be considered very affordable either, being that its tuition is nearly $18,000).
Victory is no longer an option and Good Counsel probably won’t be either. Maria Regina, therefore, is the last really affordable all-girls school in Westchester, with a tutiion of less than $9,000. However, their enrollment is only about 500— Maria Regina probably won’t be able to absorb all of the girls that must transfer out of Good Counsel, meaning that girls are either going to have to travel farther to go to school, pay more in tuition, or go to a co-ed school. An all-girl education will be harder to come by.
It is unfortunate that Our Lady of Victory Academy closed in 2012 because of low enrollment. Many of their girls were welcomed by Good Counsel; the senior class alone went from having about 60 girls to about 75. For the most part, Victory students seemed to have found another home at Good Counsel.
The reason for Good Counsel’s closing is not low enrollment — that much has been clear. If Victory could have remained open for a few more years, perhaps that school could have welcomed Good Counsel girls and increased their enrollment— one school would have had to close instead of two.
For now, at least the closed schools will continue to have strong alumnae networks. The Catholic school traditions in Westchester will surely remain strong, even with two less all-girl schools.
Shenanigans and Self-Realizations 