A Lions Dynasty: St. Ignatius Loyola School Wins Third National Blue Ribbon Award

There are Catholic schools and there are Catholic schools, but say it a third time, there’s a good chance you’re talking about one of Manhattan’s premier parochial schools, three-time National Blue Ribbon Award winner St. Ignatius of Loyola School (SILS).

Founded in 1854, the school has been at its present location at 48 E. 84th St., between Park and Madison, since 1906. Today this building serves as the Upper Campus, for grades 1 through 8 and is part of a complex that includes the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, as well the Loyola School prep and high school.

A Lower Campus, for pre-K and kindergarten kids, is three blocks away at 240 E. 84th St, between Third and Second avenues. Together, their enrollment is around 540 students.

While the school’s history is illustrious, its current reign of glory began in 2011, when SILS, whose mascot is the Lions, won its first National Blue Ribbon Award.

Interestingly, though the Department of Education was established in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, it was President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Education, Terrel H. Bell, who started the Blue Ribbon program. Conceived as a way to highlight both public and private schools for their ability to attain high academic standards as well as to recognize schools that have narrowed “the achievement gap” between its top students and those who have lagged behind, the program remains highly respected across the political spectrum.

In 2024, the state of Mississippi had four National Blue Ribbon Award winners, while the borough of Manhattan had eight of New York City’s 16 winners: 12 public, four private. Though SILS was one of only two parochial institutions to take home a ribbon last year—the other being the A. Fantis School of Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Brooklyn—the Archdiocese of New York is no stranger to Blue Ribbon accolades.

In 2023, three of its parish schools won: the Transfiguration School in Chinatown; the Epiphany School in Gramercy; and St. Stephen of Hungary School on the Upper East Side.

Not content with a single Blue Ribbon, SILS nabbed the coveted award again in 2018 and, while it wasn’t easy, enough time had passed that the Lions wanted to prove themselves once more and did so, bagging their third title when then-U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the year’s 356 (316 public, 40 non-public) winning schools this past September.

For context, the New York Knicks have won only two championships in their 78-year history, their last in 1972-73. The Mets? Just two in 62 years, their last in 1986. If it’s too early to call SILS an educational “dynasty,” the signs—and the Blue Ribbons—are there: GO LIONS!

Given the Jesuits’ strong belief in humility, you won’t catch SILS boasting, but they surely are proud of their achievement.

Said SILS Head of School Mary Larkin: “This recognition does not happen in isolation. It is through the hard work of the faculty and students.”

Added Sister Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York, “This award reflects the commitment of our Catholic mission instilled into our educators and the overall care we provide to the young people entrusted to us.”

More candid insight into what makes SILS such a warm and encouraging place can be gleaned from the school’s active Instagram account. Among its recent highlights: the school’s younger students attending the 6th-grade class science fair; celebrating the feast day of St. Blaise, the patron saint of throat illnesses, by receiving the traditional blessing of the throat; a concert by a rock band called Bash the Trash, who incorporate recycled materials into their music-making; various Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations; and joyous images from the annual SILS Christmas sing-along.

In interscholastic sports, the Lions participate in boys and girls basketball, track, and soccer. Among SILS’ many after-school clubs are groups devoted to art, acting, creative writing, chess, Irish history, yoga, band, 4-H, and myriad book clubs.

As not all children who might attend Catholic school are from Catholic families, it’s useful to recall who St. Ignatius of Loyola was. The son of minor nobility, he was born Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola in 1491 in the town of Azpeitia in what is today the Basque country of Spain. Employed in military and diplomatic matters, Ignatius was wounded in battle, defending the citadel of Pamplona against the French, in 1521. Subsequently, Ignatius had a spiritual awakening, lived as a beggar, took a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, studied theology, was imprisoned for heresy, and eventually, in 1534, co-founded, along with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier, the Society of Jesus—popularly known as the Jesuits. Ignatius died in 1556, was beatified in 1609 and canonized in 1622.

In New York City, besides SILS, the Jesuit legacy is notably alive and well at Xavier High School on East 16th Street, as well as Fordham University in the Bronx. Fordham grad Don DeLillo’s masterpiece, Underworld (1997) might be the great American Jesuit novel, while another Bronx boy, journalist Jim Dwyer—who attended Loyola School—authored one of the great non-fiction books about New York, Subway Lives (1991).

Four centuries after their namesake’s passing, as their three Blue Ribbon awards confirm, SILS similarly excels. How do they do it?

In the words of Head of School Larkin, “By imparting the meaningful values of diligence, integrity, compassion, and an awareness of social justice, our students’ spiritual, intellectual, social, and emotional needs are given the opportunity to flourish.”