Bonner Prendergast Catholic High School

Our Mission:

Archbishop Prendergast, a Catholic high school for young women, combines high quality academic instruction with religious faith and values. We prepare competent, compassionate, confident graduates, empowered to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. Through a supportive, welcoming environment, each student is encouraged to develop and use her individual gifts from God to build a better life for herself and her community. Our History: Established in 1956, Archbishop Prendergast High School for Young Women is located in Drexel Hill, Delaware County. Uniquely situated on a 33 acre campus once owned by the Fallon family and then by the Drexel family, the campus is shared with Monsignor Bonner High School Young Men. The Archbishop Prendergast High School main building originally housed St. Vincent Orphanage from 1920 to 1952. In 1952, the orphanage became Archbishop Prendergast High School for Boys, named for the visionary Archbishop who was known as a master builder and a real estate genius. In 1956, it was decided that Monsignor Bonner High School for Boys would be built to the east of the former boys' high school. The establishment of Archbishop Prendergast High School for Girls in 1956 made it the second all female Archdiocesan Catholic high school in Delaware County. All that remains of the original estate is the gatehouse, a Tudor-style building that houses a Fitness Center used by faculty, students, and staff. Our Philosophy: Archbishop Prendergast High School commits herself to function as an instrument of hope for the people of Delaware County who face a challenging 21st century. Parents, faculty, and students believe that this school must operate as an extension of family, justifying its vitality as a community of believers, eager to respond in service to the proclamation of the Message of Salvation. This philosophy originates in the God-centered Catholic family where belief and hope flourish in love. Hope pulses through the Prendergast experience, creating an environment in which families see their daughters growing in a faith community. Students are challenged to live moral and just lives according to Gospel principles. This challenge is offered to students who face a society and a world threatened by despair and often immobilized by injustice and hate. In such a society, hope is possible only to those who believe in themselves and in the possibilities of the future. Such a confidence is nurtured and extended through the academic and intellectual development of the young women who attend the school. Each is called to recognize her value, to think critically and to make decisions wisely. With the help of a professionally prepared and dedicated faculty, students are encouraged to achieve that level of excellence that reflects their abilities. Such pursuit of learning helps students to use their gifts and the goods of this world responsibly and justly. No such growth, however, occurs in isolation. Students deepen their understanding about themselves and others within the atmosphere of a community that nourishes hope. Concern, compassion, sensitivity toward social justice, respect for life, and the value of each individual are important expressions of this fundamental value of hope. The presence of a strong vibrant community enables students to establish harmonious relationships with themselves, their God, their families, their world. At a time in history when women are called to contribute to the development of others, students are encouraged to use these qualities they have learned in community and confirmed by combined efforts of administration, faculty, staff and family to radiate hope as they strive to live life fully.