, motto_translation = One heart and one mind , address = 2429 Bristol Pike , location = , region = , town = Bensalem , county =

Bucks County Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...

, state =

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, zipcode = 19020-5298 , country = USA , country1 = , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , other_name = , former_name = Holy Ghost Apostolic College , schooltype = , fundingtype = , type =

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

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 ...

, religious_affiliation =

Catholic Church 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 ...

, denomination =

Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png , size = 175px , caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity. , abbreviation ...

, patron = , established = , founder =

John Tuohill Murphy John Baptist Tuohill Murphy, C.S.Sp. (24 June 1854 – 16 April 1926) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, who served from 1886 to 1899 as the president of the Pittsburgh Catholic College, which was later re ...

, status = Currently operational , closed = , locale = , sister_school = , school_board = , district = , us_nces_district_id = , local_authority = , educational_authority = , category = , oversight = , trust = , authorizer = , superintendent = , trustee = , specialist = , session = , school_number = , school_code = , ceeb = 390870 , us_nces_school_id = , president = Gregory J. Geruson , chair = , chairman = , chairperson = , dean = , administrator = , rector = , director = , principal = Kevin Burke , campus_director = , headmistress = , headmaster = , head_of_school = , head_teacher = , executive_headteacher = , acting_headteacher = , head = , r_head = , officer_in_charge = , chaplain = Daniel Sormani , staff = 35.6 , faculty = , teaching_staff = , employees = , key_people = , grades = 9– 12 , years = , years_taught = , gender = All-male , age_range = , lower_age = , upper_age = , enrollment = 444 , enrollment_as_of = 2019–2020 , capacity = , sixth_form_students = , grade_preK = , gradeK = , grade1 = , grade2 = , grade3 = , grade4 = , grade5 = , grade6 = , grade7 = , grade8 = , grade9 = 106 , grade10 = 103 , grade11 = 125 , grade12 = 110 , grade13 = , other = , other_grade_label_1 = , other_grade_enrollment_1 = , other_grade_label_2 = , other_grade_enrollment_2 = , international_students = , classes = , average_class_size = 18 , ratio = 12.5:1 , system = , classes_offered = , language = , schedule_type = , schedule = , hours_in_day = 6.5 , classrooms = , campuses = , campus = , campus_size = , area = , campus_type = Suburban , houses = , student_union = , colors =

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

Royal Blue Royal blue is a deep and vivid shade of blue. It is said to have been created by clothiers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of whom won a competition to make a dress for Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III. Brightness The ''Oxford E ...

, &

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, slogan = , song = , fight_song = , athletics = , athletics_conference = , sports = , mascot = , nickname = Firebirds , teams = , team_name = , rivals = , accreditation = MSA , USNWR_ranking = , national_ranking = , test_name = SAT , test_average = 1280 , bar_pass_rate = , decile = , publication = Embers , newspaper = The Flame , yearbook = , products = , endowment = , budget = , fees = , tuition = , annual_tuition = $24,100 , revenue = , communities = , feeder_schools = , feeder_to = , graduates = , graduates_year = , affiliation = , alumni = , alumni_name = , nobel_laureates = , information = , website = , footnotes = , picture = , picture_caption = , picture2 = , picture_caption2 = Holy Ghost Preparatory School (often shortened to Holy Ghost Prep, Ghost, or HGP) is a Catholic college-preparatory high school for young men in

Bensalem, Pennsylvania Bensalem Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The township borders the northeastern section of Philadelphia and includes the communities of Andalusia, Bensalem, Bridgewater, Cornwells Heights, Eddington, Flushing, Oakford, S ...

, United States.

missionaries founded the school in 1897.

History

Father

founded Holy Ghost Prep in 1897 as Holy Ghost Apostolic College, a preparatory school and junior-college seminary for young men studying to become Congregation of the Holy Spirit members. In the 1950s, the school started to move its college-level program to

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Gh ...

. It opened its doors to non-seminarians in 1959 for the first time. In 1967, the school discontinued the seminary program. Holy Ghost Preparatory School was formed as a non-profit institution a year later. In the 1990s, the school began a long-range planning process, which resulted in significant structural enhancements to the campus. Today, its enrollment consists entirely of non-resident, college-bound students. In 2015, Gregory J. Geruson became the school's first lay president. The school's "Vision 2020" Strategic Plan has resulted in the building a new STEM Tower. Step One of the STEM Tower, the Brennan Innovation Center, opened in August 2017. The rest of the STEM Tower was completed in time for the 2018–19 school year. In early 2018, the school also opened the Holt Center, including a performing arts center, a multi-purpose gymnasium, music instruction rooms, and training areas for baseball, track and field, golf, lacrosse, and rowing. The Holt Center serves Holy Ghost students and will be available to community groups.

Admissions

Holy Ghost Prep consists of 444 students. Located near the

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

corridor in metropolitan

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, the school attracts students from more than 100 feeder schools from

, other metropolitan Philadelphia counties, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Demographics

Curriculum

Graduation requires coursework in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, mathematics, social studies,

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

s, and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

with many electives, including computer science, cinematography, and portfolio art. As a school for the college-bound, HGP offers an extensive honors and Advanced Placement program, preparing students to take AP tests for college credit in 23 areas of study prescribed by the College Board. AP Calculus AB teacher Jerry Colapinto was awarded the 2007 Siemens AP Teacher of the Year award for Pennsylvania. Holy Ghost Prep has been recognized by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Holy Ghost Prep has many interscholastic and intramural sports teams. Major sports include

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

ultimate Frisbee Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

, soccer,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, cross country,

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

, and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. Athletic facilities on campus include seven fields for various sports, a fieldhouse holding an auditorium and gymnasium, an all-weather track, as well as a new facility, the Holt Center, containing a performing arts theater, music studios, gym, batting cages, as well as a room for the rowing team. Holy Ghost Prep is a member of the Bicentennial Athletic League. The Firebirds have a tradition of excellence in all sports. There have been seven Pennsylvania state champions in school history: the 1972 and 1974 basketball teams, the 1992 soccer team, and, most recently, the 2011 tennis team. In 2013 and 2014, the soccer team won the PIAA state championship. In 2015, the hockey team won its first state championship. Harold “Jr.” McIlwain ('93) won the 400m in 1992 PIAA state track championships and followed that with the 800m title in 1993. Holy Ghost Preparatory School also added a rowing team in Fall 2015. In the fall of 2020, Holy Ghost Prep left the Bicentennial Athletic League. It began to compete as an independent program while maintaining its membership with the PIAA and District One.

Notable alumni

* Kevin Collins (1986), actor and voice-over artist who appeared in TV shows, such as '' Law & Order'', '' Guiding Light'', and '' All My Children'', Steven Spielberg's film ''

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

'' and starred in Jamil Dehlavi's '' Infinite Justice''. * Ryan Gunderson (2003), professional ice hockey player for

Brynäs IF Brynäs IF is a Swedish ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden. The club has played in the top-tier league since 1960, longer than any other team. History B ...

of the Swedish Hockey League, and former player for the Columbia Inferno of the ECHL and of the Lowell Devils and Houston Aeros of the AHL * Nolan Jones (2016), professional baseball player for

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. * Frank Seravalli (2006), senior hockey reporter for Canadian all-sports network TSN *

Paul McCrane Paul David McCrane (born January 19, 1961) is an American film, television and theatre actor, as well as a television director and singer. He is known for his portrayal of Montgomery MacNeil in the 1980 film '' Fame'', Frank Berry in the 1984 fil ...

(1978), actor who guest-starred on ''24'' and played Dr. Robert Romano in TV series ''ER'' from 1997 to 2003. * Timothy J. Savage (1964), U.S. federal judge *Rand Geiger (2002), producer of ''Stranger Things''"A Holy Ghost Prep grad is a producer on the spooky Netflix hit 'Stranger Things'" Philadelphia Inquirer
/ref>

Notes and references

{{authority control Catholic secondary schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1897 Boys' schools in the United States Schools in Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1897 establishments in Pennsylvania Spiritan schools