St. Katharine Drexel Preparatory boasts of a rich and unique history.  The school was founded by St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1915 under the name Xavier University Preparatory School.  The school gave African-American teenagers in the New Orleans metro area an opportunity to receive a quality Catholic education that would prepare them for life’s challenges at a time when segregation was still in effect.  Co-ed until 1971, the school then became a single sex school that served a diverse group of young ladies in grades nine through twelve from various religious, intellectual, social, and economic backgrounds.  In 2003 the school added an 8^th grade followed by the addition of a 7^th grade in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina forced the two Archdiocesan middle schools to close. The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament worked tirelessly to meet the financial challenges facing the Prep; but after reviewing the financial projections for the 2013-2014 school year, they concluded that Prep no longer had a financially sustainable future.  In mid-February, 2013, the Sisters announced that they were going to close the school at the end of the 2012-2013 academic year.  This announcement was the catalyst that triggered unprecedented action by the Xavier Prep Alumni Association.  In April, 2013, two months after the dismal announcement of the school’s impending closure, another more optimistic release was sent to the media proclaiming that six of the Xavier Prep Alumni had formed a corporation and that they were in negotiations with the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to purchase the school in order that the legacy of quality Catholic education might continue.  One of the major stipulations mandated by the Sisters, however, was that the school could not keep the name “Xavier University Preparatory” even though the school’s mission and vision, student body, and staff would remain virtually the same.  Since for 98 years the students and staff of the school had been steeped in the vision of St. Katharine Drexel, which had been lovingly dubbed the “Drexel Dream,” it seemed logical that the new entity would be called “St. Katharine Drexel Preparatory.”  Now in its 103^rd year of operation, the school embraces this tradition which flows from the religious commitment, personal dedication and professional competencies of religious and lay persons who have devoted themselves to the education of youth.