Archbishop Ryan High School (often called Archbishop Ryan or simply Ryan) is a Roman Catholic high school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The school is named after Patrick John Ryan, Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1894 to 1911.
Established in 1966, Archbishop Ryan High School is the largest Catholic secondary school in the city of Philadelphia with a current enrollment of 1,325 students. The students come from over 60 catholic, public and charter elementary schools in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery County.
Archbishop Ryan High School consists of extensive technology resources: 84 classrooms, 7 computer labs, 3 music rooms, 2 newly renovated science labs, 2 state-of-the-art sports gymnasiums, 2 art studios, 1, 1 graphic design lab, 1 iMac Music Tech Lab, and 1 new Black Box Theater that was dedicated in the Spring of 2013 and seats 140 people. The entire school is wireless with internet access.
Over 600 of Archbishop Ryan's current students are second generation Ryan students.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
The doors of Archbishop Ryan High Schools opened for the first time in 1966 as a co-institutional facility, i.e., two separate single-sex facilities with separate administration and faculty for each side of the building. Founded under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archbishop Ryan was the twenty-eighth archdiocesan high school to be founded. The process of merging the two schools into one co-educational school began in 1988.
Ryan was the twenty-eighth archdiocesan high school, the sixth begun by Cardinal John Krol, who continued the tradition of furthering Catholic education in the Philadelphia archdiocese. The 35-acre (140,000 m2) tract on Academy Road accommodates a spacious school building, and outdoor athletic fields as well as parking areas. The original design by architects, Dagit Associates, eased the merger. The central shared facilities of auditorium, library media center, and chapel serve the coeducational student body. Ryan draws students from all across the Philadelphia area extending into the surrounding suburban areas.
In the summer of 2014, Archbishop Ryan hired the current president, Denise LePera, as the previous president, Michael McArdle, was appointed to the office of Director of Financial Aid in the Office of Catholic Education within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In June 2017, Denise LePera stepped down as President of Archbishop Ryan. In November 2017, Michael Barnett '90 was appointed the newest President of Archbishop Ryan.
Notable alumni
- Steve Farrell, class of 1978, former bassist in Philadelphia hardcore punk band Kid Dynamite
- Christopher Ferguson, class of 1979, pilot of Atlantis space shuttle for NASA, September 2006
- Tom Filer, class of 1974, Major League Baseball pitcher from 1982-1992 for Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Mets; pitching coach of Altoona Curve, Double-A affiliate of Pittsburgh Pirates
- Jonathan Loughran, actor, personal assistant to Adam Sandler
- Chris McKendry, class of 1986, ESPN Sportscenter anchor
- Chris Mooney, class of 1990, head coach of University of Richmond Spiders men's basketball team
- Patrick Murphy, class of 1991, member of United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, first Iraq War veteran in Congress
- Dennis M. O'Brien, class of 1970, was 137th speaker of Pennsylvania House of Representatives; has represented Pennsylvania's 169th Legislative District in Northeast Philadelphia since 1979
- Christina Perri, class of 2004, singer known for her song Jar of Hearts and A Thousand Years
- Ray Staszak, class of 1980, first Pennsylvanian to play in National Hockey League after Pete Babando, who decades earlier scored game-winning goal in overtime in Game 7 of the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals
- Frank Wycheck, class of 1989, NFL tight end, color commentator on Tennessee Titans radio network; one of only five tight ends to surpass 500 receptions in NFL history
- Joe Zeglinski, class of 2006, professional basketball player
Academics
One of Archbishop Ryan's main attributes is the school's extensive and broad academic program. Offering many fields of study, Ryan offers a variety of studies such as English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Natural and Physical Science Studies, World Languages (Spanish, Italian, and Latin), Business, Technology, Religion, Music, and Fine Art Studies. Coursework is required in the fields of English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Natural and Physical Science Studies, Religion and World Languages.
Archbishop Ryan has a student/teacher ratio of 21:1. Classes at Ryan are tracked. Ryan offers a mandatory writing skills course and 11 AP classes. Ryan offers a 4-year art program, including AP art and a 4-year music instrumental program. Holy Family University offers college level courses at the Ryan campus for seniors during the regular school day.
Archbishop Ryan hosts the archdiocesan program for students with diagnosed learning needs, the Bonaventure Program. The Bonaventure Program is for applicants with an IEP.
Archbishop Ryan carries a traditionally successful Model U.N. team, with the team regularly representing the school in local and state area competitions. Regularly simulating the United Nations General Assembly, Ryan has won the last 5 years of PA State League Competitions.
The Class of 2013 received $18 million in scholarships and financial aid for post-graduate study. Approximately 92% of Ryan's graduates go on to higher education.
Athletics
The competitive boys' sports of Archbishop Ryan include baseball, basketball, football, wrestling, bowling, cross country, ice hockey, golf, indoor/outdoor track and field, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, and tennis. The competitive girls' sports of Archbishop Ryan include basketball, bowling, cross country, field hockey, indoor/outdoor track and field, lacrosse, ragdoll cheerleading, raider cheerleading, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball, and swimming.
Extracurricular activities
With a variety of extracurricular activities, Archbishop Ryan emphasizes and stresses the importance of involvement and participation in the school and community with almost 94% of the student body participating in after school activities and sports. The school boasts well over 74 clubs with everything from Game club to a Fashion Design club.
Archbishop Ryan has a theater program that produces 2 musical productions per year. Ryan is working to complete the construction of a new sound and lighting booth in their auditorium. Set to be completed in 2013, this booth will provide up to date Izod Surround Sound 55:1 settings to hopefully provide an ample opportunity for prospective students to test both sound engineering and leadership capabilities. The aesthetics themselves are planned to harken back to older times (a classic design theme has been growing in popularity in Ryan), although a definite design direction or theme has yet to be decided upon, leaving the renovations to remain blank plywood.
In recent years, Archbishop Ryan's chess club has earned a prestigious reputation, taking first prize in the Philadelphia Secondary School Chess Conference 5 of the past 6 years. Because of the school's excellence in PSSCC competition, members of the school's chess club have received 4 of the City of Philadelphia's 7 past Bobby Fischer Memorial Scholarships, which are $1000 awards to the college of one's choice given to students displaying exceptional finesse and critical thinking skills in intramural competition. Fisher's family established the Memorial Fund after reading through the late chess master's diary and discovering that he had been saved from drowning in the Delaware River after a match by a Philadelphia school teacher driving home from work.
The Ryan Review, Archbishop Ryan's award-winning newspaper, has received recognition year-after-year for journalistic excellence. All of the Review's editors are members of the Quill & Scroll International Honor Society for High School Journalism and the staff writers study closely with the editors. The staff uses Associated Press Formatting and InDesign to produce their paper. The Ryan Review does most of its own photography through the Photo Editor and two photographers through the use of a Nikon D40 camera with a 14-155mm lens. You do not need to be in the Journalism Course to submit written work or photo into the paper. All submissions should be sent to room 217N. This paper also features a unique texting service to allow student interaction with the editors. See the paper for details.
The Yearbook provides a way for students to participate in creating a yearbook which will be handed out to each graduating class as part of their prom fee. Students use InDesign, Photoshop, and Paint to do layout work for the yearbook and take most of their own pictures, using digital cameras and a single Nikon D300. Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors can purchase the yearbook on their own initiative.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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