Erie Cathedral Prep

Cathedral Prep, throughout the years, has been regionally and nationally renowned for its rigorous academics and excellent athletic programs. In the last 20 years, 90%-98% of Prep graduates selected higher education as their post high school goals. Each graduating class, over the last few decades, has accumulated accepted scholarships from colleges in quantities of millions of dollars. In the last 10 years, each Cathedral Prep graduate has accepted $35,000 to $50,000 in college scholarships.

Cathedral Prep is locally and regionally acclaimed for its excellence in athletics. Cathedral Prep sports teams have won dozens of local and state championships in basketball, football, hockey, tennis, cross country, swimming, water polo, and wrestling since the school’s establishment. Their atheltic tradition also extends onto the CYO courts.

Famous alumni of Cathedral Prep include former Pennsylvania governor and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge , football players Mike McCoy , Mark Stepnoski , Bob Sanders , and artist Jim Sabol. In addition to the aforementioned graduates, many Cathedral Prep alumni are successful and influential figures in America. In 2000, the Cathedral Prep football team led by future college stars Ed Hinkel of Iowa and Charles Rush of Penn State won the PIAA class "AAAA" football title. The team ended PA football power Central Buck West's 59 game winning streak. They finished with a 14-0 record and a #3 national ranking by USA Today.

Cathedral Prep has graduated many students who then became scientists, businessmen, doctors, lawyers, politicians, artists, educators, lecturers, priests, military personnel, journalists, and others who take on many diverse professions. Cathedral Prep's staff is among one of the top in the country and spread the curriculum out to a variety of subject matters. Cathedral Prep is also one of the only high schools in the country to have a notebook laptop program for all students coming into the school. All incoming freshmen are presented with a notebook PC which they use over the four years at the school.

Culturally, Cathedral Prep is unique. Alumni support of the school is unparalleled to that of any other high school in the northwestern Pennsylvania area. Many, if not most, alumni share a sense of fraternity and sisterhood, not only with classmates, but also with alumni from earlier graduating classes.

Support of the school’s athletics is intense. A great deal of the student body and alumni attend athletic events frequently. Prep fans are known for their boisterousness and enthusiasm. Prep has repeatedly owned their crosstown rival, The McDowell Trojans, in Football, Soccer, Water Polo, Swimming, Basketball, Baseball, Pole Vaulting, Javelin, and Golf.

Low enrollment figures endangered Cathedral Prep’s existence in the early 1990s and between 2000 and 2003. Although enrollment has been dwindling for years, the number of students were especially low during these periods as a result of a soft job market at those times, which was part of even greater picture: US recessions. Given that Cathedral Prep was tuition-based and a significant portion of Prep’s students are from blue-collar families, enrollment dropped. After the recessionary hurdles have cleared, enrollment has actually risen slightly. In 2003 and 2004, Cathedral Prep also began to enjoy a bit of a rebirth. The school has adopted a wireless network system that school administration and faculty hope will enhance the students’ learning experience. Each student now receives a notebook laptop upon their enrollment in the school. Currently, Cathedral Prep is the most technologically advanced high school in northwestern Pennsylvania. Alumni have also donated money to renovate the school and install a multimedia room that focuses on the future and creating artistic achievement.