Elder Enrollment Strategy

It looks La Salle was successful with their all in approach toward St. Ignatius. They appear to have narrowly edged out St Xavier for the most boys from the state’s largest Catholic grade school. Elder took a step back compared to last year but is still in double digits.

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EHS 2001 said:
It looks La Salle was successful with their all in approach toward St. Ignatius. They appear to have narrowly edged out St Xavier for the most boys from the state’s largest Catholic grade school. Elder took a step back compared to last year but is still in double digits.

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I think this is always going to be about where dear old dad went for the most part.
 
New poster here, just wanted to update from a St. X standpoint.

St. X alumni e-letter says Class of 2028 enrollment is at 375. Class of 2027 was at 370 in August, so with the inevitable few drops over the summer, essentially the same number. With the controversy of board member Vivek Ramaswamy in the national spotlight, it would be interesting to see if there was mildly increased applications from somewhat conservative-leaning traditional parishes and mildly decreased applications from those of non-traditional backgrounds. Overall similar enrollment to late '90s and maybe early '00s but definitely down from late '00s and all of '10s.


Their current strategies seem to be:

-Greatly expanded 4-year partial scholarships in addition to financial aid and EdChoice. Called "Xcellence Scholarships" which anyone can apply for but is seemingly intended for those scoring higher on the HSPT, high grades, etc. Includes having to interview at the school before any decision. Their National Merit numbers are down from decades past -- last time they had 22 or more Finalists was in 2010 -- so they want to turn it around. The current senior class has only 13. To be fair these kids had to deal with learning loss from COVID restriction, but it was already decreasing before. When I was at St. X in the late '00s, pure merit scholarships were non-existent except for the top few HSPT scorers getting a small scholarship

-"St. Xavier 200" fundraiser to bring in an additional $200mm to their endowment before their bicentennial in 2031. Kicked off by $50mm from Harry Fath but continued by the likes of Ramaswamy, who apparently gave around $10mm this past schoolyear alone. The school's endowment is $116mm according to their latest financial report. Ramaswamy's net worth is about $1 billion according to Forbes. They still have plenty of small-dollar fundraisers whether in person or over the phone.

-Creation of Xavier Jesuit Academy in Bond Hill, in partnership with XU. XJA's president also serves on St. X's board. Same thing St. Ignatius is doing in Cleveland to try to increase non-traditional enrollment

-Expanded summer camps for grade-schoolers, and grade school events on St. X campus during the fall. And a second event for the admitted students in January upon admission decisions sent, after their usual Open House in November

-Not only expanded alumni events at the school itself, but also "gift officers" who travel around the country to visit major donors who live out of state and hold alumni events out of state

-Partnership with XU to offer guaranteed college admission to any St. X graduate and a (very minimal) scholarship. XU is gladly marketing this as their male enrollment is declining

-endowment of individual programs to self-fund long-term, most notably their football and theater programs. President of RDI Corporation in Blue Ash is a St. X alum who donated $1mm to the football endowment in exchange for the stadium's naming rights

-Some major campus renovations either already done or planned
 
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pantherland said:
So will Elder be D2 in sports starting next yr? I have heard so many different things it's hard to tell what is exactly true?
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I too. I’ve heard D1 for football. D2 for others. Depends on some vote at OHSAA in May that would allow schools the option to choose D1 if wanted.
 
1965 Panther said:
I too. I’ve heard D1 for football. D2 for others. Depends on some vote at OHSAA in May that would allow schools the option to choose D1 if wanted.
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Part of the proposed change to Bylaw 2-2-1
"Schools may request an alternative divisional assignment to participate in the highest division of a
respective sport on a sport-by-sport basis. Such a request must be submitted to the Executive Director’s Office no later
than two weeks after the start of the sport’s season, as set forth in the sport specific regulations. Requests to
participate in any division other than the highest division shall NOT be considered."
NOTE 1: Should a team utilize the aforementioned exception to change their divisional assignment to the highest
division, there shall be no adjustments to any other school assignments within that or any other divisions.
NOTE 2: Any requests for reassignment in the sports of boys and girls bowling, boys and girls cross country, boys and
girls golf, gymnastics, boys and girls swimming and diving, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls track and field and
boys and girls wrestling (i.e. individual sports) shall result in the entire team moving up to the highest division, not just
individual athletes.

“We’ve had a number of schools ask for permission to do this, but it is currently not allowed per Bylaw 2-1-1,” said OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute. “This referendum proposal is the only way to see if the majority of the membership is in agreement that schools should be able to move up if they would like to that season, for any number of reasons.”
 
pantherland said:
So will Elder be D2 in sports starting next yr? I have heard so many different things it's hard to tell what is exactly true?
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The changes are
Soccer to 5 divisions
Basketball to 7 divisions
Baseball to 7 divisions
Football stays at 7 divisions

For these sports, the largest 64 schools are Division 1 and the next 64 largest are Division 2.

If that had taken effect prior to this basketball season, Elder would have fallen to Division 2 in basketball being the 74th largest and that includes the competitive balance boost.

Elder just needs to fix their competitive balance number to stay D1. For example, Elder only had a competitive balance boost of 11 for basketball where St. Xavier had a 197 boost.

OHSAA need to figure out if they will tighten up how schools report competitive balance. It is clearly misunderstood.
 
Saw an Elder class of 2028 sign in front of home on Edwards Rd in Hyde Park. Elder will always be a predominantly Westside school, but it feels good to see Elder’s reach grow.
 
My boys have a middle school lacrosse game at The Pit on Tuesday evening vs Timberwolves (a west side youth lacrosse organization).

When did Elder start letting The Pit be used by outside organizations except the once or twice a year for GCYL football?

That move alone will definitely get more kids in the door in the future. Good for them!
 
cincifbfan said:
My boys have a middle school lacrosse game at The Pit on Tuesday evening vs Timberwolves (a west side youth lacrosse organization).

When did Elder start letting The Pit be used by outside organizations except the once or twice a year for GCYL football?

That move alone will definitely get more kids in the door in the future. Good for them!
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You answered your question with the last sentence.
 
cincifbfan said:
My boys have a middle school lacrosse game at The Pit on Tuesday evening vs Timberwolves (a west side youth lacrosse organization).

When did Elder start letting The Pit be used by outside organizations except the once or twice a year for GCYL football?

That move alone will definitely get more kids in the door in the future. Good for them!
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Spring football arrives at The Pit later this month—in the form of flag football Seton v St Ursula. 😉
 
MyNameIsDoug? said:
Is this a real thing? I'm assuming it's a club sport for now, but is there a growing movement in flag?
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I hope it’s not used as an impetus to outlaw Football for younger kids. California (big shocker), tried to outlaw Football for kids under 12. Thankfully, it failed, but if Flag Football gets more popular, it could be an issue.
 
Omar said:
I hope it’s not used as an impetus to outlaw Football for younger kids. California (big shocker), tried to outlaw Football for kids under 12. Thankfully, it failed, but if Flag Football gets more popular, it could be an issue.
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Eh, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I don't think it'll be outlawed here in any capacity and don't think it should be because parents should know the risks, so that should be for them and their kid to decide. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing if a kid plays flag to a certain point and then transitions to tackle. I'm sure you have your own opinions, but limiting blows to the head can't be a bad thing for kids.
 
MyNameIsDoug? said:
Eh, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I don't think it'll be outlawed here in any capacity and don't think it should be because parents should know the risks, so that should be for them and their kid to decide. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing if a kid plays flag to a certain point and then transitions to tackle. I'm sure you have your own opinions, but limiting blows to the head can't be a bad thing for kids.
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It’s bad when you have kids learning the fundamentals of football at an age when they’re starting to physically mature at different rates. More kids will get hurt if they start learning tackling at 13 instead of 7 or 8.
 
Omar said:
It’s bad when you have kids learning the fundamentals of football at an age when they’re starting to physically mature at different rates. More kids will get hurt if they start learning tackling at 13 instead of 7 or 8.
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Went to MMD last Friday to watch Seton vs Mercy McCauley. Had low expectations. Was blown away by how much fun and competitive it is. Would recommend you try it. Sagers was a ref. Is there anything that guy won’t get involved in?
 
1965 Panther said:
Went to MMD last Friday to watch Seton vs Mercy McCauley. Had low expectations. Was blown away by how much fun and competitive it is. Would recommend you try it. Sagers was a ref. Is there anything that guy won’t get involved in?
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That’s good for them. However, I don’t want p**sies to use it as justification to eliminate tackle football for kids. I know they will try, but they can’t be allowed to do it.
 
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