By Claire Heinichen, ’11, Contributor
Summit, Seven Hills, and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (CHCA). No matter how long you’ve been at CCDS, any one of those three names most likely brings only one word to your mind: rivalry. Be it football, basketball, lacrosse, or even golf, as long as it’s the Indians against one of these other local private schools, the crowds will be huge and the players will give it their all. But if you take away the athletic animosity between CCDS and its rivals, what do you have left? What are the real differences between CCDS and Summit, Seven Hills, or CHCA?
From a distance, the answer would appear to be not all that much. All four schools have large, beautiful campuses, reputations for academic excellence, and an abundance of over-achieving students, although I credit CCDS as the only school whose building has the potential to get mixed up with Terminal A at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that each school is unique.
CCDS and Seven Hills are similar because both do not have a religious affiliation, and both put a big emphasis on college counseling. CCDS, however, gives their students an earlier start, beginning their counseling during sophomore year. The schools are similar in size, with CCDS’s total enrollment at 800 students with an 8:1 student to faculty ratio, while Seven Hills has 964 students, but a slightly larger 15:1 ratio. Both schools have difficult curriculums, although according to the students, the work ethic is a little different. “The work at CCDS is always difficult, and the homework load is heavy and constant. It’s hard to stay on top of everything and still sleep a decent amount at night,” says CCDS student Baldur Tangvald, ’11. This differs from the way some Seven Hills students feel. According to Seven Hills Student George Taliaferro, ’11, “The work is time consuming and tedious, but as long as you stay on top of things you’ll be okay. The homework makes it easier to understand what’s going on in class.” Both schools also allow students to have free bells, with senior privileges allowing students to leave campus when they don’t have class. At Seven Hills “you can only leave for a max of two bells and lunch,” says Taliaferro, while at CCDS there is no limit to how many bells you can be gone as long as you do not miss class. Seven Hills has the same class schedule every day, while CCD follows a 12-day rotation, each day with a different arrangement of classes.
Once you move into the section of religious private schools, it is a whole different experience. “We are required to take a religion class each year, and attend mass in the mornings on certain days,” says Summit student Nora Kate Stromberg, ’11. Summit has a student to faculty ratio of 8:1, and they split each grade up into advisements that meet every day. “You really have no choice but to be close to your advisement, but you do fun activities and people bring in food,” says Summit student Kolleen Pascarella, ’11. Summit emphasizes class unity in many way. These include the annual Formation Day, a mix of class bonding and community service done with your advisement, and Kairos, a three-day religious retreat during junior year that, according to Summit junior Sam Baldwin, “is surprisingly really fun.” As a senior you also do community service as a class. Summit is still academically challenging, but according to Pascarella, “having a free bell in the morning means I don’t have to do much at night.” College counseling is also a very different experience at Summit, where students don’t usually begin working with a counselor until senior year.
Similar to Summit, CHCA is very religiously oriented. “The special spiritual environment is definitely my favorite thing about the school,” says CHCA senior Will Tso, “It’s pretty awesome.” The CHCA students still consider their school days challenging. “The schedule is the same every day,” although “I only do about two hours of homework a night” says Tso. Tso also admits that their college counselors do everything for them, and with a 13:1 student to faculty ratio and 1415 students enrolled overall, he says that “classes tend to have around 16 kids.”
Although my bias leads me to believe that CCDS is the best private school in the Greater Cincinnati Area, it appears that all of these schools have one thing in common; students who love their environment. All the schools are unique in their own ways, from religion to schedules to preparing for college, but no matter where you go, you will find a welcoming a community and plenty of people excited to be where they are.