LA SALLE ACADEMY 2017-2018 ANNUA L UPDATE OUR MISSION The mission of La Salle Academy, a rigorous college-preparatory high school, is to educate students of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds with special outreach to those most in need. We provide a nurturing environment, which fosters spiritual, moral, intellectual, emotional and physical growth in the Roman Catholic tradition and the Lasallian spirit, as embodied in St. John Baptist de La Salle. We create experiences of community within the school and encourage each student to develop their gifts and talents for their own growth, as well as engage in the caring service of others, through its academic, extra-curricular and spiritual programs. LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Dear Members of the La Salle Community, As we begin another school year, I wanted to take the opportunity to update the La Salle Community on a few of the things happening at La Salle. At the close of fiscal 2018, we find ourselves in one of the best financial positions the school has ever been in. We have just concluded our fourth consecutive year of significant growth in fund raising with nearly $2.7M and our projections are to exceed that amount again this year. I would like to congratulate our administration and faculty led by Dr. Catherine Guerriero. Over the past year, we have expanded to the third floor in our current building and have added a band room, a Chapel, a special education classroom and a library. In addition, we now have more flagship programs than ever before that wrap around the core academic work of La Salle: La Salle in the City (action-based learning trips), La Salle @2:30 (after-school clubs), La Salle Works (internships), La Salle Partners (several collegiate partnerships including The Cooper Union, NYU, La Salle University and St. John’s University), La Salle Abroad (study abroad – Spain last July plus Italy for Art and California for STEM study in April 2019, La Salle Mentors (mentoring program), La Salle in the Summer (academic programs) and La Salle Supports (SAT prep). Our Board continues to look ahead. We are currently assessing the progress we’ve made over the past few years and strategically planning to determine the future of La Salle. Indeed, these are very exciting times at our school. Thank you to our Trustees for their participation and leadership this year, and a special thanks to Co-Vice Chairmen, Marty Cottingham ’88 and Carl Gambino ’76 for their tireless work and support of our mission. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, thank you for your on-going commitment to La Salle Academy. Sincerely, Salvatore LaRocca ’82 Chairman, La Salle Academy Board of Trustees LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT/PRINCIPAL Dear Friends and Alumni of La Salle Academy, We kicked off fiscal 2018 with a bang! At the start, La Salle officially expanded our footprint to a full one-third more capacity, allowing us to recruit more students, pro- vide our faculty with their own classrooms and set aside separate spaces for music education and catechesis. Our trajectory for the future has, in a word, skyrocketed. At La Salle, we lovingly referred to the last year as the “Year of Assessments.” High off our expanded footprint, our faculty and staff – and even our students – dove in head first and meticulously prepared for the Middle States Accreditation Evaluation and the Lasallian Mission Assessment Process. The results were nothing less than stellar – we passed with flying colors and “exceeded expectations.” La Salle also experienced our biggest fundraising year yet, with close to $2.7 million raised in development revenue. That is special thanks to you, our supporters and friends who have shepherded us along with your generosity and kindness. You helped us break the glass ceiling of fundraising for a Catholic high school with a needs-based mission. Who would have thought that a high school, let alone La Salle Academy, would close in on their $2 million scholarship gala goal and come close to $3 million raised in a year? That’s just how we do things now at the “new” La Salle. On May 31st, our Class of 2018 wore sleek black tuxedos and walked down the aisle at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral to receive their diplomas, as is now tradition among our senior class. 100% of these young men were accepted to college, 97% enrolled and the remaining graduates enlisted in the armed forces to serve our country and protect the flag. Take a look at the pages of this annual report and you’ll see. This is our new La Salle. It can only go up from here. St. John Baptist de La Salle… pray for us. Live, Jesus, in our hearts. Forever! Sincerely, Catherine L. Guerriero, M.P.A., Ph.D. President/Principal YEAR OF ASSESSMENTS The 2017-18 academic period at La Salle Academy will be remembered as the “Year of Assessments.” La Salle’s administration went through two grueling assessment pro- cesses to evaluate the school’s educational quality as well as the Catholic and Lasallian character based on the mission of St. John Baptist de La Salle. In 2017, La Salle hosted an accreditation team from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which conducts accreditation evaluations every seven years. After four years of data collection, La Salle Academy was given top preliminary honors, with an “exceeding expectations” prelimi- nary grade by the Middle States Evaluation Accreditation team. In fact, La Salle received national, formal accreditation six months ear- lier than expected. Middle States highlighted our English, History and Math departments and targeted our Guidance Department as championships and one state championship. District of Eastern North America (DENA) being – on a national scale – “extraordinary.” Our finance/accounting and fundraising and takes place on a cyclical basis every five Middle States also highlighted the “new arms of the “back office” were considered years. The primary intent of the assessment is vigor” of our music program and noted that “business savvy and exceeding national to affirm the work of the district’s educational our school was “one of the cleanest and expectations.” Our website is “one of the best ministries in living their Lasallian charism and physically brightest” they had ever seen, high school websites” the team had seen. to identify critical areas for their continued thanks to our Buildings and Maintenance In May 2018, La Salle Academy received a growth as Catholic Lasallian schools. The team. Our leadership team and extracurric- Certificate of Accreditation from the Middle LMAP was framed around three key compo- ular programming – including La Salle in the States Association. nents: Evangelization and Catechesis, Service City (our action-based curriculum) and La In the Lasallian world, there is an assess- with the Poor Through Education and Living Salle Works (our internship program) – were ment process that takes place in our schools the Charism. La Salle Academy was blessed “exceeding of national expectations” and called the Lasallian Mission Assessment to have been given an exceptionally positive specifically highlighted was our athletics Process, or LMAP. This assessment is review (“with commendation”) by the Chris- department, with an unprecedented four city conducted by the Christian Brothers of the tian Brothers as a result of the LMAP. ENROLLMENT/ADMISSIONS STATISTICS DEMOGRAPHICS STUDENTS ENROLLED Breakdown of Students Students Enrolled by Class Class of 2020 By Ethnicity Class of 2021 African- 24% American Class of 2022 7% Multiracial 53% Number of Students 100 105 110 115 Latino/ 10% Asian Hispanic 6% Caucasian/ CONVERSION RATE* European 28% 28% 26% By Region Brooklyn Class of 2020 Class of 2021 Class of 2022 20% Average GPA Bronx 14% AVERAGE GPA 49% Manhattan 11% Queens B/B+ B/B+ B/B+ 6% New Jersey (2%) Staten Island (2%) Westchester (2%) Class of 2020 Class of 2021 Class of 2022 PUBLICPublic VS. vs. CATHOLIC Catholic MIDDLEMiddle School** SCHOOLS** * Conversion Rate is the total amount of student applicants that fully registered at La Salle Class of 2020 divided into the total student applicants. ** The percentage of students that are coming Class of 2021 to La Salle from Public Middle Schools versus Catholic Middle Schools. Class of 2022 Public School Catholic School Statistics reported as of September 2018 and subject to change. GRADUATION STATS 100% 97% 97% $15M of La Salle Academy’s of La Salle Academy’s of La Salle Academy’s was collectively received in 2018 graduating class Class of 2018 received 2018 graduating class scholarships and grants by was accepted to a their high school enrolled in a college or the Class of 2018. college or university. diplomas. university for the fall. LA SALLE GRADUATES WERE ACCEPTED TO THE FOLLOWING COLLEGES FOR FALL 2018 Belmont University Long Island University Siena College Catholic University Manhattan College St. Francis College Colgate University Marymount Manhattan College St. John’s University Cornell University New York Institute of Technology St. Joseph’s College Fairfield University New York University St. Peter’s University Fordham University Niagara University Stony Brook University George Mason University Northeastern University Syracuse University Hofstra University Ohio Wesleyan University The College of St. Rose Iona College Pace University University at Albany, SUNY Ithaca College Penn State University University at Buffalo John Jay College Rider University University of Arizona Johnson & Wales University Rochester Institute of Technology University of New Haven La Salle University Sacred Heart University University of Notre Dame Le Moyne College Sarah Lawrence College University of Scranton Seton Hall University West Virginia University LA SALLE EXPANDS “ Why do I think of La Salle as a flagship for Catholic education in New York City?” In a move that bucks the trend of most Cath- the third floor of our school building, we olic high schools across the country, La Salle held a ribbon cutting ceremony in Septem- Academy embarked on a major expansion ber 2017.