LATHAM — The new Catholic Central School, which will offer a K-12 education at the former St. Ambrose campus in September, have decided on new logos and a new tagline.
“We’re thrilled to finally unveil CCS’ new brand,” said Giovanni Virgiglio, superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. “Through extensive research with faculty, administrators, parents, students, alumni and members of our Futures Committee, we learned what was important to each of them about the new school and what they hoped it would become.”
One new logo will represent the school and one the athletic teams. The tagline is “Academic Excellence. Rooted in Christ.” The athletic teams will maintain the CCHS purcple and white colors the team name, The Crusaders, and the mascot, a crusader dressed in a purple and white crusading costume.
In November, 2021, the diocese announced it would close the longstanding Catholic Central High School in the Lansingburgh section of Troy and merge with St. Ambrose, a longstanding grade school on Old Loudon Road in Latham.
Catholic Central School is expected to have about 350 students when the 2022-23 school years begins in September. It will be the first class at the 19-acre campus but full implementation will be phased in over the next few years, the diocese said previously.
“We are so blessed to have so many stakeholders invested in the success of our transition to CCS,” added Lily Spera, the St. Ambrose School principal. “That investment was seen in our re-branding process from stakeholders providing feedback through surveys to our dedicated branding team working diligently to finalize our new brand.”
The diocese explored different brands for the new school for six months of research that included more than 700 survey responses, “I am beyond excited for our partnership with St. Ambrose School,” noted Austin Matteo, athletic director at CCHS. “Together we will be able to provide strong academics and competitive sports — rooted in our Catholic faith — to students of all ages on their educational journey.”
The existing 20,500-square-foot St. Ambrose School building has 18 classrooms, a laboratory and gymnasium. Three distinct age groups — pre-K and kindergarten, grades one through five and grades six through 12 — will be separated and “when needed, allow for purposeful interaction and mentoring opportunities.”
Catholic Central High School was founded in 1923 by Bishop Edmund Gibbons. It had 520 students the first year and doubled to 1,046 the second. It now has about 300 students in grades six through 12 per year. It is not clear what the diocese will do with the school once the transition is complete though reports indicate it will be put on the market and sold.
St. Ambrose Church was founded in 1924 and moved to its current home at 347 Old Loudon Road, near the intersection of Route 7 and Route 9 in 1956. The school was founded a year later by the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It currently has about 200 students in grades K through six.
