Maria Regina High School, commonly referred to as Maria, is a private, Catholic all-girls high school located in Hartsdale, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. The college preparatory school was founded in 1957 by the Sisters of the Resurrection

Sisters of the Resurrection

The Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection was founded in Rome in 1891 by a widow, Celine Borzecka, and her daughter, Hedwig Borzecka. The formation of the Congregation was the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church that a religious community of women was founded by a...

.

Mission and Philosophy

Maria Regina High School is a Catholic school, which is dedicated to the education of young women. Its key objective is to develop within each of them a true sense of Christian values using a holistic approach that fosters the integration of each person as an individual within a global community.

Academic excellence is sought within a Catholic environment which reinforces the dignity, the respect and the call to discipleship of all, thus enabling the students to make a generous contribution to the Church, the community and the nation. The entire school program, whether it be the curriculum or the extra-curricular activities, challenges them to develop their intellectual potential and physical/social skills.

Recognizing the diversity of the personal, cultural and intellectual backgrounds present among the students, Maria strives to increase its awareness of their individual and group uniqueness in an effort to respond to the crucial needs of youth in today's society. It is only with an integrated effort on the part of the entire staff, as well as the students and their parents, that the philosophy of Maria Regina can be implemented.

History

Maria Regina High School was founded in 1957 by the late Francis Cardinal Spellman as the First Archdiocesan Catholic High School for girls in Westchester County. The school is located on a historic spot of land where, in July of 1781, the French troops under the Compte de Rochambeau encamped, assisting General Washington to the south and west to threaten the British holdings in New York.

The former Bingham estate was purchased by the Archdiocese in the spring of 1957. Preparations were begun immediately to renovate the entire building to make it suitable for a temporary high school and also a convent for the Sisters of the Resurrection who staff the school. Sister Mary Gertrude, C.R. was appointed the school's first principal.

Admission

Admission into Maria Regina is determined through the student's results on the TACHS

TACHS test

The Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools or TACHS is the admissions test for Catholic high schools in and around New York City. First used in autumn 2004, the test allows schools to compare the academic abilities of students. including how a student performs under pressure...

 examination. Maria Regina also looks at the students academic record for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, and results on standardized examinations for the 6th and 7th grade.

Scholarships

Maria Regina offers several partial scholarships and one full scholarship, all of which are awarded based on the results of the TACHS examination. The highest scorers who put Maria Regina as their first choice receive the scholarships. For this scholarship to be renewed every year, the student must have an overall average greater than 90 at the end of each academic year.

Academics

Maria Regina offers a rigorous college preparatory program. Graduation from Maria Regina requires successful completion of the four year course of study. A total of at least 26 credits is required for graduation. The Maria Regina program includes four years of mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, social studies

Social studies

Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...

, and theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, three years of science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 and a foreign language, and one year of art and music, although many students opt to take four years of science and a foreign language, and more than one year of art. Physical Education and Health are also requirements for graduation. Honors and Regents classes are available in all disciplines, and AP classes are offered in biology, English Literature, American History, and European History. There is also a wide variety of electives to choose from for the juniors and seniors.

Maria Regina also sponsors the College Link Program, in which college courses offered at Iona College

Iona College (New York)

Iona College is located in New Rochelle, New York, 20 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. The college occupies 35 acres on North Ave. The college also operates a Graduate Center in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York....

 and St. Thomas Aquinas College

St. Thomas Aquinas College

St. Thomas Aquinas College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Rockland County, New York that occupies a forty-eight acre campus. Located at 125 Route 340 in Sparkill, New York, the college is named after the medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas...

 can be taken by students at MRHS. Students enrolled in this program have the opportunity to earn college credits that can be transferred to their college of choice.

Maria Regina has two wireless computer labs with a total of fifty computer workstations and a high-speed laser jet printer. In addition to those computers, there are 15 computer workstations in the library and another laser jet printer. There are also 18 SmartBoards in classrooms through the building.

Art Department

• Freshman Foundation In Art
• Intermediate Art
• Advanced Studio Art
• Portfolio Preparation Class

Business Department

• Principles of Accounting I
• Business Law
• Microsoft Office
  Microsoft Office
  Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
  
   Applications

Catholic Formation

Maria Regina has a Campus Minister and Campus Ministry Team that coordinates both liturgical and spiritual activities. The celebration of the Mass

Mass

Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

 is offered for small groups in the school chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 on Friday mornings and for the entire school community every First Friday of the month. A Liturgy Crew composed of seniors, under the direction of a faculty moderator, plans school liturgies and prayer services.

• Freshman Year - An Overview of Catholicism
• Sophomore Year - Hebrew and Christian Scripture
• Junior Year - Spirituality - Life of Grace - Personal Asceticism - Conscience Formation - Morality - Moral Issues
• Senior Year -The Existence and Nature of God - Christian Life - Discerning a Vocation - Christian Vocation - Social Dimension of the Gospel

Seniors are also required to serve forty hours of community service.

Foreign Language

• Spanish I
• Spanish II
• Spanish III
• Spanish IV (LINK)
• Intensive Intermidate Spanish (3 Credits)
• Cervantes and the Theater of the Golden Age (3 Credits)
• Italian I
• Italian II
• Italian III

English Department

• Introduction to Literature and Composition I
• American Literature and Composition II
• British Literature and Composition III
• Advanced Literature and Composition IV
• AP English Literature and Composition
• College Composition/Advanced Writing (LINK)

Advanced Regents

• Algebra
• Geometry
• Algebra 2/Trigonometry
• Applied Math or Pre-Calculus
• Introduction to Pre-Calculus

Science Department

• Living Environment Regents
• Chemistry Regents
• Earth Science Regents
• Physics Regents
• Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology
• Environmental Science
• AP Biology

Social Studies Department

• Global History and Geography I/Global I H
• Global History and Geography II/Global II H
• American History and Government
• Economics and Participation in Government
• Psychology and Criminal Justice
• AP American History (3-8 credits)
• AP European History (3-8 credits)

Cultural Groups

• African-American Club
• Albanian Club
• Asian-American Club
• Gaelic Society
• Italian Club
• Latin Club
• Polish Circle
• Spanish Club

Honor Societies

• National Art Honor Society
• National Honor Society
• National Italian Honor Society
• National Spanish Honor Society
• New York State Science Honor Society

Leadership, Service, and Spirituality

• Mission Outreach

The purpose of Mission Outreach is
1. to promote awareness of problems such as homelessness

Homelessness

Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

 and poverty

Poverty

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

2. to raise money to donate to organizations that alleviate these problems
Members of this club seek to know, understand and work for solutions to local, national and global social problems. We are grounded in the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and work to alleviate human suffering, promote peace and justice, and stand in solidarity with those who live in poverty.

• Peer Ministry
• Power Squad for Charity
• Respect Life
• Student Council

The purpose of the Student Council is
1. to develop attitudes of good citizenship and good school spirit
2. to further the good name and traditions of the school and to maintain a good student/teacher relationship
3. to form students expressions and to direct student activities
Representatives are elected each year from each grade. Meetings are held every week under the direction of the Student Council officers who are elected in a school-wide election annually. While not a governing body, this organization functions as the main agent of the student body to the administration and seeks to create a greater understanding between these groups.

• Students Against Destructive Decisions

Reading, Writing and Publications

• All's Fair in Love and Books - The Book Club
• Poetry Club
• Queen's Banner
• Writer's Club

Athletics

Maria Regina High School is an active member in the Catholic High School Athletic Association

Catholic High School Athletic Association

The Catholic High School Athletic Association or CHSAA is a high school athletic association made up of Catholic High Schools based in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester...

. Other member high schools include Cardinal Spellman

Cardinal Spellman High School (New York City)

Cardinal Spellman High School is a Catholic diocesan high school located in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is named after Cardinal Francis Spellman, the sixth archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York....

, Mt. St. Ursula

Academy of Mount St. Ursula High School

The Academy of Mount St. Ursula is a girls’ Catholic college preparatory school, established in 1855 in the East Morrisania section of the Bronx, New York. Since 1892, the school has been located at Bedford Park Boulevard and Bainbridge Avenue, two blocks east of the Grand Concourse, in the Bronx,...

, Preston

Preston High School (New York City)

Preston High School is a Roman Catholic high school for girls in the neighborhood of Throggs Neck in the New York City borough of the Bronx. Preston is chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and...

, Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart High School (Yonkers, New York)

Sacred Heart High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Yonkers, New York. It is in the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. It is the only Catholic high school in Yonkers.-History:Sacred Heart was opened in 1923....

, and Victory

Our Lady of Victory Academy

Our Lady of Victory Academy is a private, all-girls, Roman Catholic high school in Dobbs Ferry, New York.-Background:Our Lady of Victory Academy was established in 1961...

. All Maria Regina teams also compete in non-conference tournaments, games, and matches so that the schedules are highly competitive.
Athletes are required to successfully complete and maintain the same course load as other students. Over one-fourth of the student body participates in interscholastic after-school athletics programs.

Fall

• Volleyball - JV and Varsity
• Soccer - Varsity
• Tennis - Varsity
• Cheerleading - JV and Varsity

Winter

• Basketball - Freshman, JV, and Varsity
• Cheerleading - JV and Varsity

Spring

• Softball - JV and Varsity