Cornelia Connelly School of the Holy Child Jesus (Connelly), was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

college-preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher educatio ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for girls in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

, the only such independent school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. It operated from 1961 to 2020. At the time of its closure, Connelly enrolled 124 girls, and was accredited to the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American S ...

and

Western Catholic Educational Association Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA) is an educational accreditation agency for Roman Catholic schools in part of the United States. It is based in Fullerton, California. See also * History of Catholic education in the United States *W ...

among others.

History

The school was established in 1961 by the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and named after

Cornelia Connelly Cornelia Connelly, SCHJ (née Cornelia Peacock; January 15, 1809 – April 18, 1879) was an American-born educator who was the foundress of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, a Catholic religious institute. In 1846, she founded the first of ma ...

, founder of that Roman Catholic religious institute. It was one of thirteen Holy Child schools in the world, and through the Holy Child Exchange Program, students could spend part of their school year at other Holy Child schools in the U.S., England, Ireland, or Ghana. Connelly's Board of Trustees voted in October 2019 to close the school permanently at the end of the 2019–20 academic year, citing "years of diminishing enrollment, increased debt, and shortfalls in fundraising efforts."

Notable alumnae

* Nancy Barry '67 - Founder and President of Women's World Banking * Gihan Ibrahim '05 - Egyptian citizen journalist and revolutionary socialist * Casey Johnson '08 - Swimmer for the US at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympi ...

, winning the bronze medal in freestyle relay; swimmer for the US at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

* Mary Kay Letourneau - teacher convicted of raping her 12-year-old student.

Notes and references

External links

* Catholic secondary schools in California Girls' schools in California High schools in Anaheim, California Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange Society of the Holy Child Jesus 1961 establishments in California 2020 disestablishments in California Educational institutions established in 1961 Educational institutions disestablished in 2020 {{California-school-stub