East Catholic Graduates Continuing Their Education

By East Catholic High School

Oh, the places you’ll go.

In the past five years, East Catholic High School students have been accepted to hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, including College of the Holy Cross, Loyola University Maryland, University of Michigan, Northeastern University, Yale University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Boston College.

East Catholic graduates are also attending McGill University, University of Notre Dame, Providence College, Trinity College, Villanova University, Georgetown University, University of San Diego, College of the Holy Cross, and College of William and Mary.

For the Class of 2014, 99.4 percent of students chose to continue their education, 91.7 percent advanced to a four-year school, and there were 12 National Merit Commended students.

Two students in the Class of 2014 scored a perfect 800 on at least one section of the SAT. The top 20 percent “Honors” students averaged a 710 CR, 700 in math, and 705 in writing.

With 98 percent taking the SAT, the class of 2014 average was significantly higher than the State of Connecticut. As a whole, East Catholic students averaged a score of 554 in reading (state of Connecticut 507), 558 in math (state of Connecticut 510), and 555 in writing (state of Connecticut 508).

East Catholic is college preparatory high school, so starting in freshman year, we are preparing the students for continuing their education beyond East. This happens in multiple settings and for every student. In the classroom, teachers are not only teaching content knowledge, but they are also teaching skills that will be invaluable throughout their schooling.

“We want to foster lifelong learners by the time our students graduate,” said Director of Guidance Stacey Boisselle. “As school counselors, we start freshmen year talking to the students about the importance of creating good habits in and out of the classroom. We talk to the students and parents about finding a college that is the right fit. There is so much more to a school than its name and we want students to research and visit schools to make sure they consider the rigor of the school, the academics offered, the feel of the community, the location, and more.”

She continued, “I think this is why we see our students going to schools across the US and not just in the immediate area of our high school. Each year, 98 to 99 percent of our students go on to further their education after graduation.”

Many graduates receive scholarships to aid in going on to the college or university of his or her choice. Last year, East Catholic students were awarded at least $13.8 million in scholarships and grants.

“This is a student reported number so the number is most likely even higher, but we are not given this information directly from colleges or scholarship organizations, so we have to try to pull it out of students,” said Boisselle.

Parents make a sound investment by sending their student to East Catholic and it benefits the student when applying to colleges and with scholarship awards. Many families will not receive significant financial assistance in college, so the academic/merit scholarships students receive after attending East Catholic can make a significant difference.