St. Joseph Hill Academy

St. Joseph Hill Academy is a private all-girls' school in the Arrochar neighborhood of Staten Island, New York. Located on a scenic fourteen acre campus (which coincidentally stands atop a hill, providing views of the Manhattan skyline), the school serves approximately 400 young women in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades and is accompanied by a coeducational wing for students in pre-K through 8th. Founded and operated by the Daughters of Divine Charity, the school is independent of the Archdiocese of New York. However, a majority of the school population is of the Roman Catholic persuasion.

History

The school began in March 1919, with the purchase of the fourteen-acre estate of Mr. William Knauth by Reverend Mother M. Kostka Bauer. In May of that year, the Daughters of Divine Charity arrived on Staten Island and in the fall inaugurated tutoring classes for a group of twenty-five children who had come to them during the summer. These classes led to the institution of the Academy. During the school's early years, it was also a boarding school

Technology

In 1999, St. Joseph Hill Academy met the challenge of incorporating technology into education by designing and implementing the WITAC (Women Integrating Technology And Curriculum) program. The program requires that all students purchase laptops (from a common laptop service provider) for use in each of the major curriculum areas. Incoming freshwomen (as the youngest Hilltoppers are called) receive their laptops and care instructions at an event called "Out-of-Box Night" in September each year. In September 2002, another of Hill's technology goals was realized - the installation and completion of a videoconferencing and distance learning center. Short-term, the school will use the center to bring guest-speakers, expert lecturers, and field trips to its students. Long-term, the school intends to form partnerships with other high schools as well as colleges and universities to both provide and receive content and instruction that would otherwise be unavailable to either Hill students or those of Hill's distance learning partners.

Uniform

The school uniform has not changed much since its inception. Today, it consists of a postman blue skirt and matching blazer with a white shirt, white stockings, and oxfords or saddle shoes. Black or navy knee-length coats are worn in the winter; and students may only accessorize in white, black, and navy

Awards

St. Joseph Hill Academy High School students also won the 2006 Golden Apple Award sponsored by the New York City Department of Sanitation. They won first prize in the city and the award for the borough of Staten Island. The school's Trashbuster team cleaned up the Staten Island beaches and Clove Lake Park, removed graffiti, and cleared litter in the neighborhood around the school on a regular basis. In addition, the girls planted bulbs and plants throughout the year. The $6,000 prize will be used for beautification and educational purposes.

Trivia

* The school mascot is the koala. Students, however, are more commonly known as Hilltoppers.
* The school motto is Summum Bonum - the highest good.
* A daughter of June Havoc, and thus niece of Gypsy Rose Lee, was a boarder at the school during the mid-20th century.
* The school's award-winning forensics team has been coached by Sister Raimonde Bartus, F.D.C. for nearly five decades. In 2002, she was inducted into the National Forensic League Hall of Fame.
* For the past twenty-five years, St. Joseph Hill , students have co-coordinated the annual Superdance with brother school Monsignor Farrell High School. The Superdance, a 12-hour event held every March for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, is the nation's leading student fundraiser. The 2008 dance alone raised $210,025. Executives of the student committee appear yearly on Jerry Lewis' Labor Day telethon to present the check.
* St. Joseph Hill Academy got that name from the statue of St. Joseph up at the top of the hill.
* The hilltop campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, famous for designing 355 school and university campuses and renown for his landscape designs for Central Park, Prospect Park, and Riverside Park to name a few.