Our Lady of Lourdes High School

A Catholic, private high school located Poughkeepsie, NY. It technically lies in the town, however, is only a short drive from the heart of the city. While this in itself would be enough to create a diverse student body, the school also attracts students from the sticks of Dover and Hyde Park, the ghetto of Newburgh, and the privileged suburbias of Spackenkill and Arlington, along with other surrounding towns. Nevertheless, this diversity in hometowns does not affect the makeup of the student body. About 90% of the population is caucasion, and the difference in hometown, only creates difference in the "type" of white kid one is. (i.e. rich kid, country kid, city kid, goth kid etc.) Each year, over 95% of graduating seniors go onto a four-year of two-year college, making Lourdes very attractive to parents who can afford tuition. AP and college-level courses are offered, but are not yet as widely available to students as the administration would have you believe.

The teachers and administration of Lourdes are as diverse as the student body. As many students will attest to, the teachers range in everything from appearance, to nationality, to sexual orientation, to teaching skill. This is not to say, however, in any way, that the teachers and administration are not satisfactory, they are, in fact, top-notch teachers and, more importantly, people. In the spring of 2005, some of the administration were involved in a "racism" scandal that captured the attention of the Hudson Valley and even network news channels such as CBS. The fallout from this was felt when many of the top adminstrative postions were changed, including the Principal, although it is still undetermined whether his job was lost because of this scandal. Stricter policies regarding dress code and other infractions have been put into place since this changing of the guard. While, in the past, the administration were lenient with dress code trivialities such as shoes, belts, skirt length, etc., this administration has actually outlawed the skirt and checks clothes and shoes more frequently and with more focus.

Our Lady of Lourdes has 23 interscholastic sports. Many of these sports are competetive, with the exception of the football team. The baseball team has been extremely competitive over the past few years, including a state championship in 2005, with an great influx of talent being brought into the program. Both soccer teams, boys and girls, are regularly competetive, as is the boys basketball team. The most decorated team, however, is the girls basketball team which has accumulated six sectional titles, four state championships, and two federation titles in the past six years. The promise of a winning football team comes about every season, but this promise is never fulfilled. Even with some of the most talented skill position players in the region, Lourdes can never compete with its larger competition.

The actual building that houses Lourdes is a former IBM plant. A staple-shaped building, it does not compare in size to the public high schools around the area. The gymnasium, however, is state-of-the-art and the promise of a new auditorium fueled this year's walkathon. The library is satisfactory, though seldom used. There is also a small computer lab that is also seldom used. For the money spent on tuition by parents, their children should be rewarded with better techonology-equipped classrooms. Lourdes, on the whole, however, is a great education for the money spent, with a high-emphasis put on pushing students into colleges and universities.

P1: "Hey. What school do you go to?"
P2: "I go to Our Lady of Lourdes High School."
P1: "Oh, that's too bad."
P2: "Yeah. It's not that bad though. A lot of what people say about it is hyperbole."
P1: (looks perplexed)
P2: "Oh, you don't know what hyperbole means?"

P3: "Hey, have you been looking at colleges and stuff? I got accepted to my top four choices with the help of my great counseller at Our Lady of Lourdes High School."
P4: "I don't really know about the whole applicatoin process. I think I'm just gonna register for some classes at Dutchess."
P3: "Oh, cool, Harvard on the Hudson."

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