Bishop McDevitt High School was a private, comprehensive, co-educational

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

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 ...

in the Wyncote community in

Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania Cheltenham Township is a home rule township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Cheltenham's population density ranges from over 10,000 per square mile (25,900 per square kilometer) in rowhouses and high-rise apartments along Chel ...

, United States. It was located in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well as ...

Background

The school served grades nine through twelve with a diverse mix of students with an academic program grounded in the teachings and formations of the Catholic faith. It was accredited by the

Pennsylvania Department of Education The Pennsylvania Department of Education is the executive department of the state charged with publicly funded preschool, K-12 and adult educational budgeting, management and guidelines. As the state education agency, its activities are directed ...

, the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The faculty consisted of lay and religious men and women, the majority of whom held advanced degrees in their area of specialization.

History

Bishop McDevitt High School was dedicated on December 8, 1958, and opened to students the following day. The school celebrated its first graduating class in June 1961. The school added vocational and technical education in 1965; won

Philadelphia Catholic League The Philadelphia Catholic League is a high school sports league composed (as of the 2012-13 year) of 18 Catholic High Schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding Pennsylvania suburbs. The league itself was founded in the summer of 1920 on the steps ...

marching band title in 1965; won its first boys'

title in 1966; became co-educational shortly after it first opened Ed; won its first girls' Philadelphia Catholic League title in 1979; welcomed its first lay principal in 1985; opened its first computer lab in 1987; achieved its

Middle States The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atla ...

accreditation in 1988; started a Development Office and Alumni Association in 1989; and moved into open enrollment and a restructured president and principal model of administration in 1993. The school was closed in 2020, effective at the end of the school year in 2021.

Notable alumni

* Frank Rizzo Jr. - member of Philadelphia City Council * Paul F. Tompkins '86 - American comedian, actor and writer * Chris Conlin - All-American football player at the Pennsylvania State University, NFL player with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

* Cindy Griffin '87 - women's head basketball coach at St. Joseph's University * Jim Curtin '97 - is a retired American soccer player and currently the head coach for the Philadelphia Union

Notes and references

External links

School website
{{authority control Catholic secondary schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1958 Schools in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania 1958 establishments in Pennsylvania Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania