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RISING STAR RELIGIOUS HIGH SCHOOL

Harlem’s Historic High School
At Rice, brotherhood, community and an all-star basketball team

As the only Catholic high school in Harlem, Rice High School has been a community symbol and an emblem of faith since its founding in 1928.

“Faith doesn’t set us apart, but it is the core principle of what we’re all about,” said Brother John Walderman, head of school. “The premise that we’re all created in the image and likeness of a loving God—that’s a key ingredient of what makes us who we are.”

Rice is home to 300 young men in grades 9 to 12 who hail from all five boroughs. The student body is 85 percent African-American and 15 percent Latino, which is unusual among religious schools.

“In the Archdiocese of New York, I believe we are the only Catholic high school that is predominantly African American,”Walderman said.

Still, roughly 75 percent of Rice’s students are not Catholic.

“Rice is predominantly non- Catholic, but it has a serious Catholic identity,” explained Mark Paige, campus minister and a religion teacher. “It’s a challenge to combine our culture and our religious beliefs.”

That challenge is faced every day, through the core discipline of religious studies. Rice’s religious studies program is a four-year requirement, but the curriculum is designed to accommodate all students, regardless of religious background, in a comfortable, non-intrusive environment.

“Many students come from public schools, so they may have a limited background in religion,” Walderman said. “The foundation starts from the very beginning and builds on that, so no one is at an academic disadvantage.”

Ninth grade students get an introduction to religion, which includes a survey of the major religions of the world and a study of the Old Testament and Hebrew scriptures. Sophomore year focuses on the New Testament, with special emphasis on the gospels, acts and letters of Paul. Junior year turns to questions of morality and a history of the church, and senior year brings a study of social justice issues and religious lifestyles.

In addition to academic coursework, prayer takes place both in individual classes and as a school, and each class attends an off-campus retreat that encourages students to use their religious studies to give back to the community.

“We expect Rice men to make a difference,” Walderman said. “They have to do 100 hours of Christian service over the course of four years as a requirement for graduation. They train the head with the academic area; the heart with the prayer area and their relationship with God, however they perceive God; and the hand in service and reaching out to help others.”

Many students complete their service hours within the Harlem community, volunteering at hospitals, pre-schools and nursing homes.

“We try to help the young men to recognize that giving back to the community will help them to develop their lives,” Paige said.

Six vowed members of the congregation of Christian Brothers are on the faculty at Rice, while the rest of the teachers are laypeople, some of whom are not Catholic. Whatever their religious persuasion, “all are committed to the religious foundation and religious beliefs of the school,”Walderman said.

Academically, Rice is a rigorous institution. In the class of 2006, 84 of the 87 seniors received college acceptance letters, ranging from Ivy League universities to local city colleges, and the first student in the history of the school graduated from Yale in the spring of 2006.

Outside the classroom, Rice is perhaps best known for its championship basketball team, reigning Catholic City Champions and Catholic State Champions six times in the past 10 years. Rice also offers track, baseball and bowling, along with non-athletic extra-curricular activities like studio art, African drum corps and an investment club, which meets with a stockbroker once a week.

Over the past 80 years, Harlem has seen innumerable changes, and Rice High School has adapted accordingly. But the school’s philosophy of brotherhood and community has remained intact.

“Harlem is a storied and historical place, and it has had its ups and downs,” Walderman said. “But Rice High School never left Harlem.”

-- Carolyn Braff