Academy of Mount St. Ursula High School
Encyclopedia
The Academy of Mount St. Ursula is a girls’ Catholic college preparatory school, established in 1855 in the East Morrisania section of the Bronx
, New York. Since 1892, the school has been located at Bedford Park Boulevard and Bainbridge Avenue, two blocks east of the Grand Concourse, in the Bronx
, New York. This school is the oldest continuous Catholic High School for girls in New York State and a U. S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School. It is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
.
Owned and administered by the Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union
, the Academy of Mount St. Ursula offers a program based on unchanging spiritual and moral values, concretized in a curriculum and co-curriculum designed to meet the needs of today’s women. Providing advanced placement courses, the Academy gives qualified students the opportunity to earn college credit in their junior and senior year. Regular college preparatory courses enable the students to excel and apply to a wide variety of colleges and professional schools.
With a faculty and staff of fifty-five, including Ursuline Sisters and lay personnel, and approximately 400 students, the Academy of Mount St. Ursula has a teacher-student ratio of one to fifteen and an average class size of twenty to twenty-five students.
The academy focuses a great deal on community service. The girls are required to complete a certain amount of hours volunteering. The girls recently has joined together with students of Cardinal Hayes high school to create the "Cardinal Hayes Program Exceptional Children." The program takes place most Saturdays during the academic year. There, the students join together in helping children with special needs.
from St. Louis come to his new Melrose parish, at the southern tip of Westchester
, to teach. The Sisters, who began the St. Louis work in 1848, had originally come from Oedenburg (now Sopron in Hungary) and Landshut, Bavaria. As their first mission community had grown quickly, the nuns visited the village of Melrose and happily accepted the invitation with the permission of their archbishop, Peter Kendrick. On May 15, 1855, Mother Magdalen Stehlin set out again for Melrose with three companions to actually begin the new work there.
Before the end of the summer there were eleven Ursulines in the area residing with the Hennings and other generous families while the convent school was being built. It is said that Archbishop John Hughes himself chose the site in the village of East Morrisania, near what is now the intersection of Cauldwell and Westchester Avenue. It was a lovely spot, high enough for a view down to the waters of Long Island Sound and surrounded by scattered homes and estates, but also close to the growing business corridor.
came from both the German-speaking community of Immaculate Conception and beyond. The Academy and monastery
were incorporated together by the New York State legislature in 1868 as the Ursuline Convent.
Eager for clean Croton water and city services, voters chose to bring the Bronx
into New York City
in 1874. Meanwhile, the nuns were already considering relocating northward to escape the encroachment of industry right at their threshold and the projected purchase of their property for streets. The actual move, however, did not occur until 1892, when the Ursuline Convent and the Academy (under the protection of St. Joseph), moved to Bedford Park
; with the relocation, the school began using the name Mount St. Ursula to capitalize on the lofty topography of the new site. Before 1900, the New York State curriculum and Regents examinations were introduced and the Alumnae Association was founded.
Ms. Terri Cook, author, Sacred Havens, A Guide to Manhattan's Spiritual Places.
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York. Since 1892, the school has been located at Bedford Park Boulevard and Bainbridge Avenue, two blocks east of the Grand Concourse, in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York. This school is the oldest continuous Catholic High School for girls in New York State and a U. S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School. It is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York covers New York, Bronx, and Richmond counties in New York City , as well as Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties in New York state. There are 480 parishes...
.
Owned and administered by the Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union
Ursulines
The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
, the Academy of Mount St. Ursula offers a program based on unchanging spiritual and moral values, concretized in a curriculum and co-curriculum designed to meet the needs of today’s women. Providing advanced placement courses, the Academy gives qualified students the opportunity to earn college credit in their junior and senior year. Regular college preparatory courses enable the students to excel and apply to a wide variety of colleges and professional schools.
With a faculty and staff of fifty-five, including Ursuline Sisters and lay personnel, and approximately 400 students, the Academy of Mount St. Ursula has a teacher-student ratio of one to fifteen and an average class size of twenty to twenty-five students.
The academy focuses a great deal on community service. The girls are required to complete a certain amount of hours volunteering. The girls recently has joined together with students of Cardinal Hayes high school to create the "Cardinal Hayes Program Exceptional Children." The program takes place most Saturdays during the academic year. There, the students join together in helping children with special needs.
Location and history
In 1854, John Casper Metzler (the first pastor of the German language Church of the Immaculate Conception) requested that a group of UrsulinesUrsulines
The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
from St. Louis come to his new Melrose parish, at the southern tip of Westchester
Westchester
Westchester may refer to:*Westchester, Connecticut*Westchester, Florida*Westchester, Illinois*Westchester, Indiana*Westchester, Los Angeles, California*Westchester County, New York*The Westchester, a shopping mall in White Plains, New York...
, to teach. The Sisters, who began the St. Louis work in 1848, had originally come from Oedenburg (now Sopron in Hungary) and Landshut, Bavaria. As their first mission community had grown quickly, the nuns visited the village of Melrose and happily accepted the invitation with the permission of their archbishop, Peter Kendrick. On May 15, 1855, Mother Magdalen Stehlin set out again for Melrose with three companions to actually begin the new work there.
Before the end of the summer there were eleven Ursulines in the area residing with the Hennings and other generous families while the convent school was being built. It is said that Archbishop John Hughes himself chose the site in the village of East Morrisania, near what is now the intersection of Cauldwell and Westchester Avenue. It was a lovely spot, high enough for a view down to the waters of Long Island Sound and surrounded by scattered homes and estates, but also close to the growing business corridor.
The Early years
On October 1, 1855 the school opened. Several of the nuns were very young and exceedingly competent. Pupils in the school excelled in music, art, language, and drama. Almost immediately, the school students and the young girls choosing to enter the conventConvent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
came from both the German-speaking community of Immaculate Conception and beyond. The Academy and monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
were incorporated together by the New York State legislature in 1868 as the Ursuline Convent.
Morrisiana Expansion
When the nuns arrived, Morrisania was a sparsely populated, brand new suburb, the result of a series of decisions by members of the Morris family to open their estate lands for development. The population grew rapidly, and so did the industrial base: foundries, breweries, carpentry shops, tailoring establishments, even slaughterhouses. With the rapid population growth and a change in the demographics, more demands were put on the charitable works of the Sisters. As the convent was blessed with many vocations, Ursulines branched out to begin other Academies and staff other parochial schools in New York and beyond.Eager for clean Croton water and city services, voters chose to bring the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
into New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1874. Meanwhile, the nuns were already considering relocating northward to escape the encroachment of industry right at their threshold and the projected purchase of their property for streets. The actual move, however, did not occur until 1892, when the Ursuline Convent and the Academy (under the protection of St. Joseph), moved to Bedford Park
Bedford Park, Bronx
Bedford Park is a residential neighborhood in the northwest Bronx between the New York Botanical Garden and Lehman College. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Mosholu Parkway to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, East 198th Street to the south, and Jerome Avenue...
; with the relocation, the school began using the name Mount St. Ursula to capitalize on the lofty topography of the new site. Before 1900, the New York State curriculum and Regents examinations were introduced and the Alumnae Association was founded.
School pride
The MSU official mascot is represented by the Lady Bear and its school colors are maroon and white. The Lady Bear appears at pep rallies and games as well as open houses to welcome incoming students. The Academy of Mount Saint Ursula is also known to participate in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan. The school motto is "SERVIAM" which means "I will serve".Notable alumnae
- Ms. Ellen Alemany, CEO, Royal Bank of Scotland, North America
- Grace AndreacchiGrace AndreacchiGrace Andreacchi is a U.S.-born author known for her blend of poetic language and modernism with a post-modernist sensibility. Andreacchi is active as a novelist, poet and playwright.-Biography:...
, author - Col. Donna Brazil, Professor, United States Military Academy, West Point
- Lisa Forte-Doyle, English Teacher, Chatham High School
- Sr. Kathleen Finnerty, Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of New Orleans
- Ms. Kerri Gould Reynolds, Group Head, Global Staffing, MasterCard Worldwide
- Ms. Eileen Huntington, CEO, Huntington Learning Centers
- Dr. Regina Peruggi, President, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn
- Dr. Diane Ramos-Kelly, Superintendent of Schools, Valhalla, NY
- Vice Admiral Patricia Tracey,United States Navy, Washington, DC
Ms. Terri Cook, author, Sacred Havens, A Guide to Manhattan's Spiritual Places.
Faculty
- 70% of the faculty have at least one Master's degree and 3% have a Ph.D
- 5% of the faculty are Ursuline SistersUrsuline SistersUrsuline Sisters can refer to one of several religious orders:* Ursulines, founded in Italy in 1535* Society of the Sisters of Saint Ursula of the Blessed Virgin, established 1606...
of the Roman Union. - Three full time counselors, plus a part time social worker from the Archdiocesean agency.
- Two Youth Ministers coordinate the service program, retreat and spiritual development activities.
Students
- Current enrollment is approximately 400. Student-teacher ratio is 15:1. The average class size is 24.
- Students come from 60 elementary schools, mainly in the Bronx, ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, QueensQueensQueens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, with some from Westchester County and New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. - 98% of the Class of 2006 chose college immediately after graduation.