Fordham Preparatory School - Ramview Ramview Spring 2019 | Page 4

Message
the incoming Class of 2023 this coming September.
Interest in Fordham Prep’s mission remains strong as
demonstrated by the approximately 270 students who
have told us they intend to begin as freshmen next school
year. While enrollment numbers will undoubtedly
fluctuate prior to the first day of school, we are delighted
with the outcome thus far, which includes a growing
number of Manhattan students together with young men
from the Bronx, Westchester, Southern Connecticut,
Queens and beyond. Socio-economic diversity is always a
priority for our admissions and financial aid staff. This
year we made a special effort to yield more students from
middle income families. I am thrilled that in comparison
to the past ten years, we have doubled the number of
middle income students, who have always been an
important part of the Prep’s history and mission.
Christopher J. Devron, SJ
President
In this issue you will read about exciting plans to expand
the footprint of our building. The East Wing Project will
bring our facilities into a new standard of excellence: a
standard which matches the one which our faculty strive
to reach in their daily practice of classroom teaching and
caring interactions with our students. At our March 2nd
Igniting Our Mission auction, generous bidders, attendee
contributions and night-of commitments brought
approximately $500,000 in new gifts to help us reach our
goal of raising the remaining $2 million in total project
costs for the final two phases. Once completed in the
summer of 2020, our new east wing will allow us to
continue to attract students with outstanding academic
potential to complete their next four years of study here
on the Rose Hill campus.
The East Wing Project will not be our only summer capital
improvement. Thanks to a gift from Bernadette and Jim
Harrison ’69, Fordham Prep will design and build its
first-ever STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
Arts & Mathematics) Lab. Speaking of Jim, please do not
miss him at our annual Wall Street Forum on May 16.
Reflecting on his role as CEO and director of Party City,
Jim will share his insights into executive leadership,
trends in the retail market and US trade with China.
Yahoo Finance journalist Alexis Christoforous P ’22 will
interview Jim for what promises to be a fascinating
conversation.
The new east wing and STEAM facilities are particularly
good news for the newest Rams: those who will join us in
4 | RA MVIE W
Speaking of our mission, its focus on faith, scholarship
and service is of significant value during this challenging
moment in the history of the Church. I wrote to you
recently regarding the ongoing sexual abuse crisis on the
occasion of the USA Northeast Province release of names
of Jesuits who have been credibly accused over the past
50 years. Our mission invites us to learn from those who
have suffered as victim-survivors and to support the
Church in embracing and implementing new and
concrete measures of accountability and transparency to
protect minors in our care. For the past several years,
Fordham Prep’s student protection policies have
incorporated best practices and are shared widely with
students and parents.
On March 10, nearly 150 parents, alumni and friends
came together to reflect with editors and writers from
AMERICA Media for our Forum on Faith. This year’s
forum, entitled “Finding Joy and Hope in a Troubled
Church,” focused on the recent Vatican summit on the
abuse crisis. We discussed also the Church’s teaching on
immigration and abortion—each integral to the seamless
ethic of life at the heart of the moral vision of our faith.
The event raised funds for the Prep’s Christian Service
Immersion Programs in Tennessee and Ecuador, which
this year celebrate their 25th anniversary. I encourage
you to view the entire dialogue which is archived on the
Prep’s YouTube page.
Finally, as we walk with the pilgrim Church through these
sacred seasons of Lent, Holy Week and Easter, please be
assured of my prayers for you and your family: that, in
keeping with the example and spiritual tradition of St.
Ignatius Loyola, you may know Risen Christ more clearly,
follow Him more closely, and therefore love and serve
Him more dearly.