Cathedral High School is a private co-educational, college preparatory Catholic junior high and high school in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is located in the historic South End neighborhood, adjacent to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Cathedral High School serves a diverse and primarily urban student population, most of whom live in the city of Boston. The school offers substantial financial aid and underwriting, funded through benefactors and an endowment. The school boasts a 100% graduation rate with 100% of graduates also earning college admittance for 16 straight years. History Cathedral High School was founded as an archdiocesan high school in 1926 by Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, then-Archbishop of Boston, primarily to educate the sons and daughters of Boston's large immigrant and first-generation American population. Cardinal O'Connell tasked the Sisters of St. Joseph with teaching at the new school. The Archdiocese of Boston centralized its high schools, including Cathedral, in 1950 under the auspices of Archdiocesan Central High Schools, Inc. In 2004, Cathedral separated from the Archdiocese in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal. The school is now staffed by mostly lay leadership and faculty and led by an independent board of trustees. In 2014, the school announced a "Catholic Urban Partnership" with Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission Grammar School in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. In 2015, Cathedral High will take in Mission's 7th and 8th grades while Mission will focus on K-6 education. Curriculum between the two institutions will be aligned and Mission graduates receive guaranteed admission to Cathedral for grade 7. Academics As of the 2014-2015 school year, Cathedral had 280 enrolled students and employed 23 full-time teaching faculty to achieve a student/faculty ratio of 12:1. Curriculum Students participate in a college preparatory curriculum which includes, in addition to standard core subjects, college readiness and academic literacy classes. As a Catholic educational institution, students also take academic courses in religion/theology every year. Electives include art, Spanish language, and physical education. Cathedral High School offers Advanced Placement (AP) courses including in English, calculus, and U.S. history. Seniors are also required to complete 100 hours of volunteer community service and formally reflect on their experience as a graduation requirement. August Institute In 2014, the school inaugurated a summer program called the August Institute for Learning. Students entering grades 7 through 9 are required to attend the three-week program