Alumni Development

Aquinas High school is dedicated to meeting the needs of inner city students. A Catholic high school in the South Bronx, Aquinas serves young women who are 65% Latino, 32% African American, and 3% Asian and other. Over 50% of Aquinas’ 704 students come from families with poverty level incomes.

Aquinas students are beating overwhelming odds. Over 95% of our grad-uates go on to higher education. The Class of 2008 earned in excess of fifteen and a half million dollars in college scholarships and grants. There are many promising young women who want to come to Aquinas but their families cannot afford the tuition. The following profiles are compiled from recent requests for financial aid received by Sr. Margaret Ryan, President of Aquinas.

Lourdes has had a wonderful Freshman year at Aquinas. Her mother, a single parent who speaks only Spanish, was able to manage the tuition payments with help from an uncle who gave her $150 per month. Now her uncle has been laid off from work. Her mother cannot pay the tuition without substantial assistance. Lourdes' hopes for the future are based in Aquinas, the school that she has come to love as family.

Vanessa is one of three sisters being raised by their grandmother. Their mother died of a heroin overdose when they were pre-school age. The grandmother works for low wages and has devoted the past 12 years to the care of these girls. Their neighborhood is infested with drugs and violence. Aquinas would provide a wholesome and hopeful atmosphere for Vanessa now, and eventually for all three sisters.

Kym’s family left Viet Nam at great risk. She has three brothers in parochial school. Her father's income is barely sufficient to meet the reduced tuition payments required by a poor parish in the South Bronx. High school tuition is completely beyond their means. Kym is an excellent student. An Aquinas education would probably bring her a college scholarship.

The Support-an-Aquinas-Student Program enables you to help a student such as those described above. You will know your sponsored student by name. Donors and recipients will work together and grow together.

As Cathleen Hackett Horne ’53, one of the first SAS sponsors says: “There is a compelling need to make the excellent educational opportunities of Aquinas available to young women of the South Bronx today. I feel privileged to play a part in doing so.”

Please mail your check (Range: $500.00 to $6,000.00) to the Aquinas Development Office as a gift which will make a real difference in one person’s life. You will then be provided with the name and appropriate information about your student, and the recipient will be given the name of her sponsor.