Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2010 / Surge in enrollment at Cabrini
Surge in enrollment at Cabrini enriches educational experience
by Jared Field of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 29, 2010
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Jared Field | The Michigan Catholic
Fr. Joe Mallia, pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Parish, jokes with members of an honors biology class at Cabrini High School, which has a waiting list for incoming freshmen. |
ALLEN PARK — Fr. Joe Mallia, a problem solver if there ever was one, probably never thought he'd come to such a conclusion to deal with his school's enrollment problem.
He's turning students away.
The problem, odd as it sounds, is that Cabrini High School in Allen Park is getting too big for its britches these days, with a waiting list for incoming freshman bursting at the seams with 75 names. Capacity at the school, which sits across the street from St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Allen Park, is 125 for freshmen.
"It's hard; nobody likes to turn kids away," said Fr. Mallia, pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Parish. "Parents are out there and they want to do what's best for their kids. We want to provide them with help, but the building is only so big. I'd love to be able to expand it, but there isn't the money to be able to do that right now."
As Catholics across the country celebrate the annual Catholic Schools week, Cheryl Szczodrowski, Cabrini's principal since 2003, said that the building will be pretty well maxed out in the fall.
"Five hundred is about as much as we can have," she said.
Fr. Mallia said that the recent surge in an enrollment has only served to enrich the educational experience at Cabrini.
"We invest money in the kids and the programs," he said. "We don't have a lot of bells and whistles as far as the building goes, but that's OK. The money needs to be spent where it will do the best, which is on the kids and in the classroom."
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Jared Field | The Michigan Catholic
Students roam the halls between classes at Cabrini High School in Allen Park. The halls will be more crowded next year, with the promise of a freshmen class of at least 125 students. |
When Fr. Mallia arrived at the parish in 2003, there were 189 students in the entire high school; today, there are 461.
"I really think Fr. Joe had a lot to do with (the growth)," Szczodrowski said. "He had unique ideas and a goal in mind. People bought into the goal and ran with it."
In 2003, Fr. Mallia recalled that the conventional wisdom at the time was that the high school would eventually be closed. It, after all, didn't compare favorably to many of the other high schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit that were forced by declining revenue and enrollment to close. But, Fr. Mallia is quick to point out, the community was up to the challenge.
"It was a lot of people believing in one vision; they were willing to do the work that was necessary," said Fr. Mallia of the school's resurgence. "The key was getting people to believe that the school could exist."
And from there, word of mouth began to spread, turning news of defeat into shouts of victory.
"If a school has a good reputation, builds on it and doesn't rest on it, then things can really happen … suddenly people weren't talking about the school closing, but all the improvements and changes that were taking place," he said.
Fr. Mallia also trumpets the advantage of being a parish school, and what that means for a school's viability.
"There was a larger pool to draw from, not just in terms of enrollment but in regard to leadership, ideas and excitement … there was an identity," he said. Tib Jurko, 36, a science teacher at Cabrini for five years, has experienced firsthand the school's growth.
Catholic Schools Week
Catholic Schools Week is an annual celebration across the country of the important role Catholic elementary and secondary schools play in providing an education that emphasizes not only academics, but also spiritual, moral, and social values. This year's theme, "Dividends for Life," reflects the lasting benefits of a Catholic school education.
| "We're very excited. Every year we seem to get more," said Jurko, who teaches four freshman-level science classes.
He credits both parents and the school's administration for Cabrini's success.
"I really admire the parents' dedication to education," he said. "They want a high-quality education and that's exactly what we give them. The parents know that they can depend on us to prepare them for college."
He has also been struck by the desire of the administration to stay on the cutting-edge in the classroom, "advancing the school to adapt to the modern technology demands" being placed on students.
Fr. Mallia said that throughout the past seven years, he's always preached the same thing.
"There has to be one leader with one vision who communicates that vision in such a way that it encourages people others to buy into it," he said. "If people get excited about their school, they will talk about it and promote it. That is far more valuable than any advertising campaign … that's how your school grows."
Along for the ride
One major factor in the school's recent success, said Fr. Mallia, is bus service. Started during the 2003-'04 school year, Cabrini has been busing students in to school from all over metro Detroit.
"That was very important," Fr. Mallia said of the bus routes, which now serve 80 students. "You can't build schools where (students) are all the time. Sometimes you have to bring them to where you are."
He called on the Archdiocese of Detroit for help in finding buses, and it provided the help he was seeking. But the story doesn't end there.
Fr. Mallia knows that, in spite of numerous school closings in the last decade, parents and students still have many options. He said Cabrini is a viable choice for many families because of the school's quality and affordability.
These days, with the Detroit-area's bleeding population, attracting students isn't as simple as it used to be, Fr. Mallia admitted.
"The old model of Catholic schools doesn't work anymore," he said. "We had to envision 'the what' and 'the how' to make Catholic schools desirable again. It's more than just putting up a Catholic school and Catholics send their kids there. That doesn't happen anymore. We have to compete for every kid."
Cabrini's success, for Fr. Mallia, is evidence that a Catholic education is as desirable to as it ever was.
"I really believe in Catholic schools," he said. "There are enough people out there who believe in the essential nature of Catholic schools. There will always be people who choose us because our test scores are higher, but that's a good thing. But I think Catholic schools are essential to the future of the Church. We have to be willing to invest our time, money and resources in their success."
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