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Academy of the Holy Cross, Kensington, Maryland

Founded in 1868, the Academy of the Holy Cross is an innovative college preparatory school that describes itself as “dedicated to educating young women in a Christ-centered community which values diversity.”

Academic studies and co-curriculum programs – service projects and personal development opportunities – are given equal emphasis at the academy, and not just in school literature but in graduation requirements, further underscoring the kind of balanced education Father Moreau wished for his Holy Cross schools. 		Academy of the Holy Cross, Kensington, Maryland

Situated on a three-acre campus in suburban Maryland outside Washington, D.C., the Academy of the Holy Cross is nationally recognized for its model of education – the U.S. Department of Education awarded the school its Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award for 1997-98.

An Academy of the Holy Cross classroom

Besides the language clubs, student council, honor and athletic societies usually offered, Amnesty International, Model United Nations, Black Awareness Society, Oxfam and other service opportunities give students a variety of ways to become familiar with their world.

Spiritual retreats, the Moreau Advisory Program, and the Madeleva Scholars program, a unique four-year leadership development program, provide opportunities for spiritual and personal growth. The virtues of Courage, Compassion and Scholarship, called out in the school’s mission statement, directly reflect the Holy Cross founder’s vision of the ideal model of education.

Academy students, school principal Sister Katherine Kase observes, “want a chance to make a personal commitment to live the Catholic faith, to transcend their adolescent world, and to know the reality of the world, near and far.”

~From a report by Sister Katherine Kase, CSC, principal

A diverse student body reflects the ethnicity and socio-economic makeup of the Washington Metropolitan area. Eighty-five percent of the student body is Catholic, 35 percent receive grants or scholarships, and 60 percent take advanced placement or honors courses. The academy maintains a teacher-student ratio of 1 to13 for its 550 students.