La Salle Academy and St. Francis College Partner to “Bridge” the Gap

New York, N.Y., September 8, 2021 – La Salle Academy students now have the opportunity to enroll in up to five courses that will earn them both high school credit from La Salle and college credit from St. Francis College. This unique dual-credit opportunity is made possible through the St. Francis College High School Bridge Program and will allow La Salle students to get a head start on their college education while still in high school.

As partners in the High School Bridge Program, St. Francis College has identified La Salle Academy’s courses as comparable to introductory college courses offered at SFC and has fully vetted La Salle’s faculty who will teach the courses on La Salle’s campus. This guarantees the qualifications and talent of La Salle’s faculty to instruct not only at the high school level, but at the college level as well. The program awards three college credits to students who complete the courses, which can be applied toward a degree at SFC or be transferred to another institution. This certifies that students will arrive at college with some introductory requirements already fulfilled, thus saving them time and money to complete a four-year college degree.

“SFC has long, fruitful relationships with high schools throughout New York City, and our Bridge Program helps ensure those relationships flourish,” said Mr. Gregory Bardzell, SFC Assistant Director of Success Partnerships. “SFC was built on a tradition of educating New York City students, many first in their families to earn college degrees, and we continue to develop opportunities to give a leg up to this city’s students in every way we can. Our Bridge Program is one way we bring that commitment to life.”

In the first two years of the partnership, La Salle offered one SFC Bridge course in Creative Writing. A total of 20 students enrolled and completed the course in those first couple years. This year, La Salle is pleased to offer students the option to enroll in five different SFC Bridge courses including Creative Writing, Government, History, Sociology, and Spanish.

“Our collaboration is about empowering the next generation to do good and to do it well,” said Brother Thomas Casey, FSC, President of La Salle Academy. “The growth of the partnership between St. Francis College and La Salle Academy reflects the commitment of both schools to make a positive difference in young lives and in our society.”

La Salle Academy is a college preparatory Catholic high school that serves a culturally diverse group of students from all five boroughs that celebrates a spirit of brotherhood grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the tradition of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the Patron Saint of Teachers. For more information about La Salle Academy contact Ms. Daria Coney at 212-475-8940 ext. 301, email [email protected] or visit www.LaSalleAcademy.org.

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The mission of La Salle Academy, a rigorous college-preparatory high school, is to educate students of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds with special outreach to those most in need. We provide a nurturing environment, which fosters spiritual, moral, intellectual, emotional and physical growth in the Roman Catholic tradition and the Lasallian spirit, as embodied in Saint John Baptist de La Salle. We create experiences of community within the school and encourage each student to develop his gifts and talents for his own growth, as well as to engage in the caring service of others, through its academic, extra-curricular and spiritual programs.