La Salle Academy 2016-2017 Annual Update Our Mission
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LA SALLE ACADEMY 2016-2017 ANNUAL UPDATE OUR MISSION The mission of La Salle Academy, a rigorous college-preparatory high school, is to educate students of diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds with special out-reach 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 OF TRUSTESS Dear Members of the La Salle Community, I am honored to serve as the new Chair of La Salle’s Board of Trustees. As a member of La Salle’s class of 1982, I have experienced firsthand the value of an education at this wonderful school. My four years at La Salle provided the foundation for my future personal and professional life. La Salle’s future has never been brighter. Led by President, Dr. Catherine Guerriero, Principal, Kerry Conroy, and a tremendous faculty, administrative staff, and Board of Trustees, La Salle continues to grow its student body, academic programs and educational standards for all our students. Over the past 24 months we have added and expanded many new programs such as: La Salle Works: An internship program that focuses on real-world experience and provides our students with preparation for college and their future careers. Approximately 100 internship opportunities with prestigious New York City-based organizations are offered. La Salle in the City: Our unique action-based learning program in which students can experience the world beyond our city’s boundaries. From Broadway shows, tours of museums, the New York Stock Exchange, NBA headquarters, to trips beyond NYC. Last year, students visited Historic Salem in Massachusetts, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. La Salle @ 2:30: In addition to an advanced athletics program, La Salle offers more than 30 extracurricular activities, including The High School Innovators Program @ Cooper Union, Federal Reserve Challenge Team, the National Honor Society, Debate Club, Photography Club and Billiards Club. We have also brought our music program back to life and resurrected the Band. There is now a dedicated room, The Scharpf Family Music Center, for this program. La Salle Abroad: Students have the opportunity to broaden their perspective as they travel to Spain under the supervision of Language Department Chairperson, Mr. Robert Torres in summer 2018. La Salle Abroad is set to expand in subsequent years to Austria, England, Germany, Israel and Italy, in an effort to expose more students to a variety of international cities. These are just a few of many programs in place at La Salle. Additionally, you may have heard that we have expanded to the third floor in our current location on 6th Street, which allows us to continue expanding to meet our enrollment goals. Over the course of the next year, our Board will continue to set the strategic direction of the school at a macro level, with a particular focus on whether our current location on 6th Street will allow us to meet all of our projected growth plans over the next 10 years and beyond. As you can see, we have a lot underway and on behalf of our Board of Trustees, we are looking forward to another tremendous year. Sincerely, Salvatore LaRocca ’82 President, Global Partnerships, National Basketball Association Chairman, La Salle Academy Board of Trustees LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Alumni and Friends of La Salle Academy, Last academic year was full of “wins” for La Salle Academy as we kicked off September 2016 by welcoming our biggest wait-list freshman class in decades. We incorporated new programming, academic rigor, and increased partnerships to benefit our prospective and current students. In the second half of the year, we capped off our biggest year of fundraising in the history of La Salle when we raised over $1 million at our Spring Scholarship Gala alone. The graduates of the Class of 2017 earned over $15 million in scholarships and grants for college – over quadruple the amount that our students received in 2016. These are some of our biggest numbers reported – ever. And all of our wins didn’t just occur in the classroom. You may have heard that our boys won on the field, too, with city championships in baseball, basketball, and bowling (Varsity and JV) this year. Not to mention, we also secured our first-ever New York State Federation State Championship Basketball title. Winning is contagious and La Salle Academy is a school full of winners. And it just keeps getting better… You might have received my Annual Appeal letter in June. This letter reiterated a complete run-down of the current state of our school as of July 1st, 2017. Since then, we’ve announced perhaps our most significant upgrade in recent memory. We have officially expanded our school’s footprint and now occupy an additional third floor at our 6th Street campus. This has dramatically increased our space for classrooms, programs, and room for us to enroll an additional potential few hundred students. Another exciting wrinkle in our ever-increasing student programming is La Salle Abroad, our summer travel study program. La Salle Abroad is an opportunity for a handful of lucky students to travel to Spain in summer 2018 to discover a culture different from our own that lies within our New York City streets. They will be followed by student groups traveling to Austria, England, Germany, Israel and Italy in coming years. If I sound proud and in love with our boys, their accomplishments and the whole of La Salle Academy, well… guilty as charged. Flip through the pages that follow and take a look back at the incredible accomplishments that you, too, played a part in helping us to achieve. With the storied past of La Salle – and the breathtaking view towards the future – we all know we wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for you, our alumni and friends. So take a moment and see how far we have come as a school, as an organization, and as a family. 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 LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL Dear Alumni and Friends of La Salle Academy, The 2016-2017 academic year marked my first as Principal and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at La Salle Academy, and it is truly my privilege to serve as the principal of this incredibly special institution. St. John Baptist de La Salle is known for saying that, “To touch the hearts of your students is the greatest miracle you can perform.” This is what we strive for every day as a community. As I reflect on my first year as Principal, I am grateful and a little wiser. As with any new position, there is a learning curve, and I, too, strive to be better each day. The students and my colleagues have taught me a great deal and I look forward to what’s ahead. This is a time of great transition and excitement at La Salle. As you may have heard, we have expanded into the third floor and we could not be more thrilled. This expansion allows us to have three full floors of classroom and office space, which will change the daily experience for every student and teacher in the building. The opportunity for each teacher to have their own personal space to work in consistently will generate even more innovation in our curriculum and pedagogy. We have also welcomed new members into our faculty and staff this fall. They bring new ideas and perspectives to the table that will further enrich our students’ academic lives. This additional space, along with our additional technology (every student now having a Microsoft tablet), are moving us forward and giving our students the edge they deserve. I am confident that the 2017-2018 school year will be our best year yet. On behalf of the students and all of us here at La Salle Academy, I am thankful for the support and dedication of all you who give our young men the opportunity to not only walk through our school’s doors every day, but to have experiences that go above and beyond their wildest dreams. By giving back to these deserving students, you are changing their lives and the impact is truly immeasurable. Live, Jesus, in our hearts. Forever! Kerry Conroy Principal and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs ENROLLMENT/ADMISSIONS STATISTICS DEMOGRAPHICS STUDENTS ENROLLED Breakdown of Students Students Enrolled by Class Class of 2019 By Ethnicity African- Class of 2020 American 24% Caucasian/ Class of 2021 8% European 52% Number of Students 100 105 110 115 Latino/ 9% Mixed Hispanic Ethnicity 7% CONVERSION RATE* Asian 22% 28% 28% By Region Brooklyn 20% Class of 2019 Class of 2020 Class of 2021 15% Bronx AVERAGEAverage GPA GPA 51% Manhattan 9.8% Queens New Jersey (1.6%) B/B- B/B+ A-/B+ Staten Island (1.2%) Westchester (1.2%) Long Island (0.2%) Class of 2019 Class of 2020 Class of 2021 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 2019 divided into the total student applicants.