Pictured at Holy Cross Preparatory Academy are HCPA Board Member Kathleen Jillions, HCPA Board President Dennis Murawski, MSMU Director of Admissions Eric Danielson and MSMU Admissions Counselor Calleigh Kearns, C'20.
Mount St. Mary’s University signed an agreement with Holy Cross Preparatory Academy, guaranteeing HCPA graduates admission and a four-year renewable scholarship to the university. Holy Cross is the first high school in New Jersey that the Mount has partnered with for guaranteed admissions.
“This partnership recognizes our shared goal to enhance access to high-quality values-based education at the high school and postsecondary levels,” said Mount St. Mary’s President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D. “Both institutions have long histories of enrolling students who are looking to pursue purpose-driven lives.”
Founded in 1808, Mount St. Mary’s, America’s oldest independent Catholic university, “graduates ethical leaders who are inspired by a passion for learning and lead lives of significance in service to God and others.” Holy Cross, established in 1957 in Delran, New Jersey, inspires student to be “thinkers, innovators and leaders” within a faith-based environment.
“With this partnership, both Holy Cross Preparatory Academy and Mount St. Mary’s University are reaffirming their commitments to driven, high-achieving students within Catholic education,” said Alex Pracher, Holy Cross Preparatory Academy’s chief operating officer.
Jacquelyn Yiatrou, a member of Holy Cross’s Class of 2016 and Mount St. Mary’s Class of 2020, noted that she was drawn to the Mount because “after attending a small Catholic high school with the strong sense of community that Holy Cross emulates, it was extremely important to me that the college I attended had a similar feeling.” She believes that the agreement between the two institutions is a positive development for both, and stated that she is “looking forward to seeing the impact the recent partnership between the Mount and Holy Cross [will] have in the coming years.”
Under the agreement, signed by MSMU President Trainor, and HCPA Board Chair Dennis Murawski, Holy Cross students who meet certain standards are guaranteed admission to MSMU. HCPA students who attend MSMU under the agreement will receive, at minimum, a $25,000 four-year award, with a total value of $100,000.
A MSMU admissions representative will visit Holy Cross up to three times a year to share information about the Mount’s academic programs and application, admissions, financial aid, and related processes.
In addition to Holy Cross, Mount St. Mary's has guaranteed admissions partnerships with nine other Catholic high schools, including Saint John's Catholic Prep and St. Maria Goretti High School in Maryland; St. Thomas Aquinas High School in New Hampshire; and Delone Catholic High School, York Catholic High School, Trinity High School, Bishop McDevitt High School, Berks Catholic High School, and Allentown Central High School, all in Pennsylvania.