For many years, Fr. Robert Welsh, SJ, dreamt of creating a Jesuit middle school for low-income families. That dream will come to fruition this fall with the opening of the Welsh Academy on the Campus of Saint Ignatius High School (SIHS) in Cleveland.  

The academy, named after the late Fr. Welsh, the former SIHS president (1983-2001), who died in August 2018, has begun accepting applications for the sixth grade and will open in August.  

“We’re asking, ‘Who are those folks that are marginalized in Cleveland in 2019 and do they really have access to a school like Saint Ignatius?” said Daniel Dixon, SJ, a Midwest Jesuit regent who conducted the academy’s feasibility study during the 2017-2018 school year. “If not, is this academy one way which we might try to make that possible?” 

The school would welcome 25 boys per grades six through eight, preparing them with a rigorous curriculum and Ignatian experience for the rigors of a college prep high school experience. The academic year would run longer than that of the high school, following a model that has already been established at a few other Jesuit high schools throughout the United States. 

Welsh Academy students will have access to the high school’s campus and facilities and will be invited to partner with current high school students and to work with Saint Ignatius faculty.  

Find out more information at Ignatius.edu/Welsh-Academy