Holy Ghost Preparatory School

Not to be confused with Holy Spirit Preparatory School.

Holy Ghost Preparatory School
Address
2429 Bristol Pike Bensalem (Cornwells Heights) , (Bucks County) , Pennsylvania 19020-5298 United States
Coordinates	40°4′46″N 74°56′45″W
Information
Type	Private, Day, College-prep
Motto	Cor unum et anima una. (One heart and one mind.)
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic (Spiritans)
Established	1897
President	Gregory Geruson
Principal	Jeffrey Danilak
Faculty	53 (2018-19)
Grades	9-12
Gender	Boys
Enrollment	468 (2018-19)
Average class size	18
Student to teacher ratio	10:1
Campus	Suburban
Campus size	50 acres (200,000 m2)
Campus type	Suburban
Color(s)	Red, Royal Blue, and White
Athletics conference	Bicentennial Athletic League
Mascot	Firebird
Team name	Firebirds
Accreditation	Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Publication	Embers (literary magazine)
Newspaper	The Flame
Tuition	$22,500 (18-19)
Dean of Studies	Geraldine Carmine
Dean of Students	Tony Chapman
Director of Advancement	Matt Dwyer
Admissions Director	Ryan Abramson
Athletic Director	James Stewart
Campus Minister	Mark Whartenby
Website	www.holyghostprep.org

Holy Ghost Preparatory School (often shortened to Ghost, HGP, or Holy Ghost Prep) is a private Catholic college preparatory school for young men in Cornwells Heights, Bensalem, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1897 by the Spiritan missionaries.

History

Holy Ghost Prep was founded by Father John Tuohill Murphy, C.S.Sp. in 1897 as Holy Ghost Apostolic College, a preparatory school and junior-college seminary for young men studying to become members of the religious order of the Holy Ghost Fathers and Brothers. In the 1950s, the school started to move its college-level program to Duquesne University and opened its doors to non-seminarians in 1959 for the first time. In 1967, the seminary program was discontinued, and a year later Holy Ghost Preparatory School was formed as a non-profit institution. In the 1990s, the school began a long-range planning process, which resulted in significant structural enhancements to the campus, and today its enrollment consists entirely of non-resident college-bound students.

Since the arrival of Gregory J. Geruson, a 1979 alum, as the school's first lay president in 2015, the school has experienced some obvious forward momentum. Enrollment numbers are heading steadily upward, and the school's "Vision 2020" Strategic Plan has resulted in the building of a new STEM Tower. Step One of the STEM Tower, the Brennan Innovation Center, opened in August 2017. The rest of the STEM Tower was completed in time for the start of the 2018-19 school year. In early 2018, the school also opened the Holt Center, a campus jewel that will include a performing arts center, a multi-purpose gymnasium, music instruction rooms, and special training areas for baseball, track and field, golf, lacrosse, and rowing. The Holt Center serves Holy Ghost students but also will be available to community groups.

Student body

Holy Ghost consists of nearly 500 students. Located adjacent to the busy I-95 corridor in metropolitan Philadelphia, the school attracts students from more than 100 elementary schools from Bucks County, other metropolitan Philadelphia counties, and New Jersey.

Recognized as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, Holy Ghost Prep is fully accredited by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

Graduation requires coursework in English, mathematics, social studies, science, foreign language, fine arts, and theology with many electives, including computer science, cinematography, and portfolio art. As a school for the college-bound, HGP offers an extensive honors and Advanced Placement program, preparing students to take AP tests for college credit in 23 areas of study prescribed by the College Board. A large number of students are designated as AP and National Merit Scholars, earn merit-based college scholarships, and perform well on the SAT. AP Calculus AB teacher Jerry Colapinto was awarded the 2007 Siemens AP Teacher of the Year award for Pennsylvania.

Each year, 100 percent of its graduates go on to attend four-year colleges, with acceptance rates consistently higher than national averages. Over the past few years, students have been accepted to the following reputable schools: Brown University, Cabrini University, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Drexel University, Duke University, Fordham University, Georgetown University, The George Washington University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, Rice University, Swarthmore College, Temple University, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, Villanova University, Wake Forest University, Washington and Lee University, West Point Military Academy, Williams College, and Yale University.

Niche ranking

Holy Ghost Prep was recently named the No. 3 “Best Catholic High School in Pennsylvania” and received an overall grade of A+ from Niche, an organization that reviews and ranks schools nationwide. These 2018-19 Niche rankings include all of the private and diocesan schools in the state.

Holy Ghost Prep received A+ grades in academics, college prep, clubs and activities, and sports.

In addition to being ranked third among the 74 Catholic high schools in the state in Niche’s 2019 rankings, HGP was rated the 88^th best Catholic high school out of the 1,155 schools profiled in the United States.

The main school building

Athletics

HGP has many interscholastic and intramural sports teams. Major sports include basketball, baseball, ultimate frisbee, bowling, soccer, swimming, lacrosse, hockey, tennis, cross country, golf, and track and field. Athletic facilities on campus include seven fields for various sports, a fieldhouse holding an auditorium and gymnasium, and an all-weather track. Holy Ghost Prep is a member of the Bicentennial Athletic League. The Firebirds have a tradition of excellence in all sports. There have been seven Pennsylvania state champions in school history: the 1972 and 1974 basketball teams, the 1992 soccer team, and, most recently, the 2011 tennis team. In 2013 and 2014, the soccer team won the PIAA state championship. In 2015, the hockey team won its first state championship. J.R. McIlwain ('93) won the 400m in 1992 PIAA state track championships and followed that with the 800m title in 1993. Holy Ghost Preparatory School also added a rowing team in the Fall of 2015.

Extracurricular programs

More than seventy-five percent of Holy Ghost students compete in interscholastic athletics and all HGP students are involved in extracurricular activities.

Christian service program

Freshmen and sophomores are required to participate in 10 hours of service, annually, while juniors and seniors are required to participate in 20 hours of service. Students may participate in some of the following school sponsored service opportunities: Blood Drives, Habitat for Humanity, Hand-in-Hand, Operation Santa Claus, St. Francis Inn (a soup kitchen), Spring Fling, Taste of Mission trips to Harlem, New York and Appalachia, and West Virginia, and AARP.

Forensics

Forensics is consistently the strongest activity of the school. Longtime coach Tony Figliola was inducted into the National Forensics League Hall of Fame in 2007.

Entrance sign to the school campus

Journalism

HGP's newspaper, The Flame, is published four times yearly. It solicits writing, art, and photography from the entire student body, discussing news, opinions, sports, and features. In addition, outstanding writers produce literary works, essays, and poems that are showcased in the school's annual literary magazine, Embers.

National Honor Society

Members of the National Honor Society are students selected based on criteria focusing on academic achievement, character, leadership, and service. They assist the community through tutoring, concession and book sales, and fundraising activities for scholarships given to rising sophomores.

Student government

Student government at HGP consists of an executive board composed of the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and spirit chair as well as of eight senators from each grade level. Elected student government members are directly responsible for the concerns of the student body and their appropriate presentation to administration to effect change. They work as a whole to promote healthy and spirited participation for attendance at sports and other school events and to conduct various dances throughout the year, including Junior-Senior prom.

Notable alumni

• Kevin Collins (1986), actor and voice-over artist who appeared in TV shows, such as Law & Order, Guiding Light, and All My Children, Steven Spielberg's film Munich and starred in Jamil Dehlavi's Infinite Justice.
• Brandon Davidrow (2003), sports anchor on WCCB in Charlotte, formerly of KXXV in Waco, Texas, WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky, and FiOS1 in New York
• Ryan Gunderson (2003), professional ice hockey player for Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League, and former player for the Columbia Inferno of the ECHL and of the Lowell Devils and Houston Aeros of the AHL
• Shaun Hegerty (1999), investigate reporter on WTVG in Toledo, Ohio, formerly of WUPW in Toledo, and KRIS in Corpus Christi, Texas
• Joe Iuliano, Jr. (2002), director for ESPN
• Nolan Jones (2016), professional baseball player for Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball.
• Pat Leonard (2002), sports reporter for New York Daily News
• Frank Seravalli (2006), senior hockey reporter for Canadian all-sports network TSN
• Brett Manney (2004), professional lacrosse player for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League
• Paul McCrane (1978), actor who guest-starred on 24 and played Dr. Robert Romano in TV series ER from 1997-2003.
• Timothy J. Savage (1964), U.S. federal judge

See also

• Holy Ghost Seminary