O'Connell High School
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Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School
O'Connell High School was founded in 1957 in Arlington, Virginia and was operated by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, but has been under the direction of the Diocese of Arlington since 1974. It is a Catholic college preparatory school and is the only private high school in Arlington County. Although it is located in North Arlington, the students enrolled come from all over the Washington DC Metro area, including Maryland, Washington DC, and students in Virginia from over six cities and counties. Currently, around 1400 students are enrolled. The Immaculate Heart of Mary Order of nuns assist lay teachers in instructing the students.Academics
98% of all graduates of Bishop O'Connell move on to college and 100% of students graduate on average.AP Classes, are offered to students in all major academic departments including: 1) Foreign Languages 2)Mathematics 3)Science 4) Social Studies (History). Honors classes are also offered in a variety of academic areas.The School Administration is divided into two levels. The President of the school is responsible for fundraising, long term campus goals and projects, and non-academic properties of the school. The Principal is responsible for academics and day to day activities. There is a student ratio of 1 faculty member per every 14 students.
Activities
Bishop O'Connell High School participates in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC). In this league, O'Connell participates in all major sports against other Catholic High Schools in the Washington DC Metro area. O'Connell also has over 60 clubs that are student operated. These clubs range from the political field, to charitable groups.Girls Varsity Soccer-The O'Connell Girls Varsity Soccer team held the record of being undefeated and were the National Champions for the high school level.
Marcus Ginyard, a gaurd/forward plays for UNC now.
Superdance
The Bishop Denis J. O'Connell Superdance is an annual 12 hour dance-a-thon held at the school which raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. O’Connell began holding the Superdance in 1976 because students wanted to speed the discovery of a cure for cystic fibrosis (CF), a fatal disease of the lungs which had claimed the life of sophomore Brenda O’Donnell on April 14, 1975. Her sister Maura was a senior in 1976 and also had cystic fibrosis. Their brother, Sean, died of cystic fibrosis that same year.Maura graduated and went on to nursing school at Marymount University, continuing to support the Superdance in hopes that a cure would be found. Her last Superdance was in 1978 when she came out of the hospital just for the event. In a speech delivered to the O’Connell community she said:
“All of you I know have dreams – dreams of college, of success, of love and happiness – dreams of the future. We with cystic fibrosis have dreams too. Your wonderful all-out efforts and work for this dance-a-thon may help make some of our dreams come true.” Two months later, she too died of this disease.
Since 1989, when the CF gene was discovered, scientists have been writing a remarkable medical success story. CF researchers are quickly translating what they learn about the CF gene and CF cells in the laboratory, into promising new treatments. Based on their success, landmark gene therapy studies and clinical trials on new drug treatments are now underway. In the years that O’Connell has held the Superdance, the life expectancy of a CF patient has doubled. Over the past thirty years, O'Connell students have raised over $2,900,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for the disease. By investing in CF research, you are investing in the lives of those with the disease. Working together, we can give the children and young adults with CF the quality of life and the future they deserve.
Bishop Denis J. O'Connell's Superdance is the largest high school fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the nation, and one of the largest high school fundraising events in the country.
The school's athletic rival is Paul VI Catholic Highschool.
External links
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