Cornelia Connelly High School

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Cornelia Connelly High School, established in 1961 by the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, is Orange County's only independent, college preparatory Catholic high school for girls. As one of ten Holy Child Schools in the United States, Connelly is part of a national network of schools that offer an education with a distinctive spirit. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. ^[1]
Connelly's student body consists of approximately 300 students who represent a multitude of religious and cultural traditions from Orange, Los Angeles Riverside and San Bernadino Counties. Connelly strives to create, through its small school environment and Christian tradition, an atmosphere conducive to the full development of young women capable of contributing to a changing world. The goal of the administration and faculty is to maintain an atmosphere that promotes academic excellence, educates to social responsibility, and helps students grow strong in faith and self-esteem. Connelly is a celebration of over 40 years of excellence in education!

Connelly has a sister school, Rosary High School in Fullerton, and a brother school Servite High School in Anaheim, both Catholic single-sex educational institutions.

1 Academics
2 Athletics
3 Choir
4 Biography of Cornelia Connelly
5 Trivia
6 External links
7 Notes and references

[edit] Academics

With an average class size of 15-18, Connelly offers a highly personal approach to education which encourages independent thinking and responsible decision making. Connelly's caring and committed faculty strives to engage each student's intellectual curiosity, and to challenge each student to test her abilities. As a result, the school's Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores are among the highest in Southern California.

[edit] Athletics

Connelly's athletic program seeks to develop each student's full athletic and leadership potential through teamwork. Connelly, a member of the San Joaquin League in the small school division fields competitive teams in many sports including:

Tennis
Volleyball
Cross Country
Golf
Basketball
Soccer
Softball
Track & Field
Swimming

Cheer leading and song-leading are also available athletic extra-curricular activities. These teams not only promote in-school spirit but also, together with Rosary High School, cheer at Servite football games.

The Varsity Volleyball team has won 1st place in the CIF Division V-A Championship tournament in 2006.

[edit] Choir

Besides athletics, Connelly is also known for is the Advanced Women's Ensemble Choir. The choir has been under the direction of Mr. Brian Dehn for about 4 years.

Many of the choir achievements are:

Traveled and toured through Italy 2006
Sung for the Pope at the Vatican City
Traveled and sang at the other Holy Child schools in New York 2007
Competed in The Festival of Gold in New York and has placed 8th in the Nation overall in 2007
In San Francisco 2008, the Advanced Women's Ensemble has competed again in the Festival of Gold and won 1st place in the "Women choir" category and 2nd place overall.
The choir is planning to tour China in 2008 to sing for the athletes in the Olympic village.

[edit] Biography of Cornelia Connelly

Cornelia Peacock was born in Philadelphia on January 15, 1809. She was an attractive, well-educated woman with a lively personality. At twenty-two, she married an Episcopalian minister, Pierce Connelly, and four years later, the young couple and their two children became Roman Catholics.

In early 1840, still grieving the death of a baby daughter, Cornelia made her first retreat of three days. God touched her deeply, and her interior life was profoundly changed. She gave herself in a new way to God, desiring to do God's Will as it was made known to her through her duties and the events of daily life. Her growing attachment to God was tested that very year. In February, her beloved John Henry, two years old, was scalded in a tragic accident and died in Cornelia's arms. From this anguish Cornelia's lifelong devotion to Mary as Mother of Sorrows was born. In October of that same year another heartbreak came: Pierce told her he felt called to the priesthood. Cornelia was pregnant with their fifth child and urged her husband to consider his proposal yet again, but added characteristically that if God asked it of her, she would make the sacrifice - and with all her heart.

Gradually Cornelia discovered her own vocation to be a Religious. In 1845 Pierce was ordained in Rome. Cornelia, hoping to join the Society of the Sacred Heart, went with two of her children to stay with the sisters in Rome, but finding no peace there, she prayed to know God's desires for her. These were made clear in a request from Pope Gregory XVI that she go to England.

In 1846, the new Foundress, with her two youngest children and three companions, arrived in Derby. The Society of the Holy Child Jesus had begun. Its beginning was small and there were many deprivations, but a spirit of joy and peace prevailed; Cornelia was able to inspire in her sisters something of her own serenity in adversity. Soon they were running schools for the poor and needy, and holding day, night, and Sunday classes to accommodate the young factory workers.

As her Society grew and her work in education flourished, great personal suffering came again to Cornelia through Pierce. He renounced both his priesthood and his Catholic faith, removed their three children from the schools they were attending and denied Cornelia all contact with them, hoping thus to force her to return to him as his wife. He even pressed a lawsuit against her that gained notoriety in England, but he eventually lost the case.

In this suffering, Cornelia clung steadfastly to God, her strength. She wrote in her notebook, "I belong all to God," and this total belonging freed her to give herself to others. Her love for God grew and she sought joyfully to live her life as one continuous act of love.

In the mystery of the Incarnation, God became one of us- this is where Cornelia found her inspiration. It was to this Child, in Whom God is both hidden and manifest, that she dedicated her Society. The mystery of God embracing all that is human was the foundation of her charisma. Today, there are Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus in fourteen countries, striving to live the apostolic life as Cornelia did, seeking still to meet the wants of the age through works of spiritual mercy. They are engaged in education and related spiritual and pastoral ministries.

In 1992, the Catholic Church proclaimed Cornelia as Venerable.

(Reprint of text courtesy of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.)

[edit] Trivia

The first two female valedictorians from Harvard University were Cornelia Connelly School Graduates.

The school also has many traditions compared to the other Holy Child schools. They are the only Holy Child school that does class plays, which allows each class to compete against each other and win many awards. The whole point of class plays is to allow girls the chance to act in different roles.