There’s something to be said for schools with a long tradition, and Loyola, with a history extending back to the 1840s, is a good example of that. While it’s very much a modern school—the facilities are crisp, clean, up to the minute—students know that they are taking part in something much larger than themselves. (The school maintains an active archive, most of it digitized and searchable, that students at times use as source material for projects.) The experience of sitting in a place, at least conceptually, that has been occupied by generations, can be galvanizing. It’s part of a global community of Jesuit and Ignatian secondary and pre-secondary schools, which also informs the student experience—this is a place that looks outward as eagerly as it looks inward. The school has grown and adapted throughout its life in order to give students what they need, now, to succeed in their world. Classroom spaces are dynamic, very many with whiteboard walls and digital tools, allowing for a range of learning styles. The school is larger than the average, but not onerously so, allowing for a wide range of co-curriculars and a very successful athletics department. In all, students get the sense of joining an active, involved academic and social community, which, indeed, they are.
Loyola High School
As a young pre-teen moving on to high school, I had no idea what to expect from Loyola. While my father had been Jesuit-educated in Ireland growing up, I did not know whether the school would be similar to my elementary school. But this bred curiosity which led me to fall in love with the school instantly. Every aspect of the school is special: Loyola boasts a highly competitive and successful interscholastic athletics program, hosts several extra-curricular activities ranging from Bands to Robo... View full review
