OP Stories

For the second time as a Latin student at Oratory, tenth grader, Brendan Milton achieved a perfect score on this year's National Latin Exam. This year, out of the 9,482 students who took the same exam worldwide, only 102 students earned a perfect score. Congratulations, Brendan!

We are so proud to announce that senior Will Heffernan is the winner of the 2021 Seton Hall University Department of Catholic Studies Essay Contest. He will be awarded a $300 gift card and his entry will be published in the scholarly journal Arcadia: A Student Journal for Faith and Culture, which is indexed in the libraries of colleges and universities across the United States. Congrats Will!

Brandon Franks just received a National Silver Medal for his ceramic vase called
“Golden Rays“ from The Scholastic Art and Writing program. Congratulations Brandon!

Thank you, Oratory Prep! After tallying all the gifts, we raised more than $114,000 for Oratory Prep on our Rally for the Rams Day of Giving! Yesterday 364 donors made a gift, with three challenge gifts unlocked! We are celebrating remarkable participation in just one day.

“Rally for the Rams shows just how special – how willing to pay it forward – our OP family is, no matter the circumstances,” said Bob Costello, Head of School. “We can always count on the loyalty and generosity of our alumni, parents, friends, faculty and staff. Thank you to everyone for making this year such a success.”

Your support of excellence at Oratory Prep helps us keep the future in focus for our current students, and for generations to come.

We have hit our third challenge gift goal, unlocking a $10,000 gift graciously donated by the DaSilva Family and the John V. Deitchman Family Foundation! Our Day of Giving continues as we try to meet our goal of maximum participation from the OP Community. Keep the momentum going, Ram Family!

Participate. Share. Give. #RallyfortheRams

We have met our first two challenges…a $10,000 challenge gift, graciously donated by the Mezzomo Family AND a $5,000 challenge gift, graciously donated by the McKenna Family! Plus, the students all received a hand-delivered sweet treat! Thank you to all who made a gift to Oratory Prep this morning. Stay tuned for our 3rd challenge!

Participate. Share. Give. #RallyfortheRams

Rally for the Rams is a day-long giving event dedicated to all things Blue and Gold! OP's inaugural 24-hour Day of Giving will be held on Thursday, March 4th, 2021. It is a day when we celebrate our founding, continued growth, and future at Oratory Prep. On this day we invite our entire community - alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends to show their support for current students by making a gift to the 2021 Rally for the Rams Fund.

Congratulations to two of our students who have won Scholastic Art Awards! Robert Grasso won a Gold Key for his photograph entitled "Covered in Diamonds" and Brandon Franks won several awards for his outstanding pottery: Gold Key awards for both "Golden Rays" and "Black Stroke Red", plus 2 Silver Keys and 2 Honorable Mentions. The Gold key masterpieces will be on virtual display at the Montclair Art Museum starting in February. Scholastic Art and Writing awards have recognized some of America’s most celebrated artists while they were teenagers: Andy Warhol, Zac Posen, Robert Indiana, & Ken Burns. A jury of professional artists and curators reviewed over 3000 works of art and the pieces awarded were at the top amongst their peers.

The Mock Trial team advanced to the Union County Finals last week with a win over Kent Place. The Championship is scheduled for Thursday evening. OP's Defense Team is made up of attorneys Will Sanyour and Logan Drone, and witnesses Steve Rotolo, Chris Rieman and Will Dondero, and the Prosecution team is made up of attorneys Joe Marchese and Aidan Philbrick, as well as witnesses Will Heffernan, Max Terraciano, and Brendan Kleinle.

Congratulations to seniors Lucas Pavlounis and Aidan Philbrick on being awarded the Archdiocese Parish Youth Discipleship Award. The award is presented to outstanding high school teenagers who have responded to the call of discipleship through service or ministry to their parish or school community. Mr. Van Hoven was also awarded, being selected for the Parish Adult Light of the World Recognition Award, which goes to an adult who has demonstrated a commitment to young people and youth ministry in their parish or school. Well done!