Rosary High School in Aurora becomes Rosary College Prep, but it's staying all-girls: ‘We're never going to settle'

Chicago Tribune

a day ago

When students and employees of Rosary in Aurora welcome new freshmen to the building, they say, 'Welcome to our square,' referencing the shape of their one-story high school building on Edgelawn Drive just off West Indian Trail in Aurora.
Just down the street from one of the area's other Catholic high schools, Aurora Central Catholic, Rosary's building was constructed in the 1960s, though it has been expanded and renovated in the decades since: from renovating its auditorium and building a new gymnasium to updating its science classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Rosary's goals and its place in the community have remained steadfast, school leadership says. And that's part of why the school is changing its name — to better reflect what the school already provides, and with the hope of amplifying its reach in the area.
As of July 1, Rosary High School is now Rosary College Prep. Along with the name change, the school is getting a new logo, starting a 'house system' that will group the students into six different houses to build school spirit and changing some of its uniform policies, according to Rosary's Head of School Amy McMahon.
McMahon, who's been the leader of Rosary since 2020, said the name change is 'more true to (its) identity.' She described the rigor of the classes and curriculum as the distinctions that make it a college preparatory school.
'A lot of reading- and writing-intensive, trying to get them prepared to do well in that, not only maybe in their … junior and senior year here at Rosary, but also … in college and university life,' she said.
Rosary was founded by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield in the early 1960s, at the request of former Rockford Bishop Loras Thomas Lane, McMahon said. It joined Marmion Academy, the nearby all-boys school founded in 1933, as a single-sex institution in the area.
Rosary has gone through changes and expansion since its founding, but has remained an all-girls, Catholic school sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield.
The name change came out of the school's five-year strategic plan, according to Rosary. The school partnered with Leapfrog Marketing in 2024 to work on the school's brand, with the goals of differentiating Rosary in the education landscape, creating messaging that's clear and concise, increasing awareness of Rosary and improving perception of the school and demonstrating the school's value and assisting with enrollment growth, according to a news release from the school about the name change.
Rosary initially launched the rebranding to the school community in January, McMahon said.
'We want everybody to know about Rosary, and that a Rosary education is something that all girls in this area, in the greater Chicagoland area, should have the chance (to have) if they would like to,' McMahon said.
Student input about the school's future was one part of the rebranding process, McMahon said. The uniform change, for example, was guided by student feedback. Previously, Rosary had two different uniforms for underclassmen and upperclassmen. Now, students will all wear the same kilt, but underclassmen and upperclassmen will wear shirts in different shades of blue.
'The girls really wanted that differentiation,' McMahon said. 'I think it's really important for the girls to have a voice and feel like they're making decisions and helping with the process.'
This change for Rosary is coming at a time of broader change for Catholic education in the area, too. In the fall of 2026, Marmion Academy, the area's all-boys school, will become a coeducational school.
That will leave Rosary the only single-sex school in the area — and the only one in the Rockford Diocese, according to Kim White, the diocese's director of educational services and superintendent of schools.
That's part of the school's 'unique role' in the region, per Rosary's news release, though McMahon noted that Rosary's rebranding plans started before Marmion announced it was going co-ed.
Currently, Rosary is already one of only two independent schools within the diocese, the other being Marmion, White said. This means the schools are funded and governed independently from the diocese, which runs high schools of its own, such as Aurora Central Catholic.
Many of the other areas in the Rockford Diocese — which includes Kane, DeKalb, McHenry, Boone, Carroll, JoDaviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties, per its website — don't have the population to support multiple Catholic high schools, White said, though she considers the single-sex schools to be 'a beautiful tradition.'
The nearby Diocese of Joliet has eight high schools of its own, all co-ed, according to Mercy Robb, the diocese's director of Catholic school marketing and enrollment management.
Marmion Academy made the decision to go co-ed this past November, said Abbot Joel Rippinger of Marmion Abbey. He said the school's facilities can accommodate up to 550 students, but its enrollment has been coming in at around 410.
'Both for material, financial reasons, but especially for a look at our mission and where we want to be, we think the time is now for this to take place,' Rippinger told The Beacon-News.
He said the school is no stranger to changes, having over the years switched its focus from serving as a military academy, and closing its residential program around two decades ago.
'I think, in retrospect, they proved to be the right decisions,' Rippinger said. 'We hope that we are on the same track with the co-ed.'
These changes at area schools are unfolding amid a decline in enrollment in Catholic schools nationwide over the past few decades, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. For example, enrollment in Catholic secondary schools in the United States was at just over one million students around the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to NCES data. For the 2022-23 school year, it was just under half of that.
The number of Catholic schools themselves has also gone down over the years, with the number of Catholic secondary schools in the U.S. in 2022-23 at about half the number it had at its peak, per the National Center for Education Statistics.
Private school enrollment overall increased slightly between 2011 and 2021, though Catholic school enrollment fell slightly across that time period. Public school enrollment, on the other hand, decreased slightly nationwide across a similar time period, per NCES figures.
In Illinois, public school enrollment decreased by 11% from 2012 to 2022, according to NCES data, one of the sharpest drops in the country. But, in 2021, the state's private school enrollment hovered around the national average of 9% of students.
Rosary intends for the name to, in part, 'serve to quell occasional rumors that the school will close or merge with another school,' according to documents about the name change from Rosary provided to the school community.
McMahon noted declining birth rates, for example, as a broader trend affecting educational institutions' enrollment overall. But she said Rosary believes single-sex education continues to offer something unique.
'There's really nothing like it,' she said. 'The girls are the ones that are front and center here. They get all the funds, whether it's fine arts or athletics or academics, the leadership positions.'
And she said they have no plans for changing that focus.
'I feel like it's so important, specifically in this day and age with what's going on in the world, that they have this safe space, this second place that they can call home,' McMahon said.
Those benefits extend beyond Rosary's walls, school leadership has said.
'(Something) I hear from alums all the time is that, when they get to college, they sit up front, they raise their hand, they ask pertinent questions,' said Vicki Danklefsen, Rosary's director of philanthropy and alumnae, saying that being in a smaller community of all girls helps build students' confidence and relieves some of the pressure that a larger school might bring.
Rosary's enrollment sits at about 215 students, McMahon said. But its student population extends beyond the immediate area, Danklefsen noted.
'We are the only single-sex school for miles and miles,' Danklefsen said, noting that students come from west of Aurora, from DeKalb, even Homer Glen. 'They wanted what we offer without going into Chicago.'
McMahon said recruitment is always a goal for Rosary, but that, in addition to reflecting its academic goals, it hopes the new branding will also serve as a recruitment strategy going forward.
'We want to cast a wider net,' McMahon said.
White, too, noted efforts going on in the diocese meant to boost enrollment — for example, adding liberal arts or performing arts tracks at diocesan schools, and raising money for tuition assistance to help children in underserved communities attend Catholic schools.
Rosary's name change was made official on July 1, in time for school to start on Aug. 18 for freshmen and Aug. 19 for all other students. Incoming seniors this year will still receive diplomas that read 'Rosary High School.'
Now, as Rosary gears up for another school year, a few things will look different when students return to classes, like their school's logo and their uniforms.
Some of the impact Marmion's going co-ed will have on Rosary remains to be seen — on enrollment, as well as on the schools' joint band program and relationship between the two institutions for their theater productions. Rippinger said that, after next year, Marmion won't be taking Rosary students for its band, but said the theater program is yet to be decided on.
McMahon said Rosary intends to start its own band in the future. It may open up its theater program to all male students in the area after Marmion switches to co-ed, and is considering expanding to offer both a musical and a play during the school year.
In terms of other changes, Rosary has an engineering program in the works that is set to be offered starting in the fall of 2026, McMahon said, along with a law class.
But the school plans to retain its overall missions and traditions, even as it continues to evolve.
'We're never going to settle,' McMahon said. 'And I think that's important for the girls to also know and understand, like, it's great that you can accomplish your goal, but you should never settle. You should keep pushing yourselves. … Like doing what was right for Rosary, which was committing to our single-sex education, being true to our Catholic, Dominican identity and especially our place in Aurora.'