All across the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Catholic high schools produce graduates who excel in everything from academics to sports and Christian service. The Catholic Review highlights four of them.
Adam King
Before Adam King started at Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington, he attended St. John the Evangelist School in Severna Park. That was where he was first introduced to Catholicism. He began attending the weekly school Mass and learned about the rosary from one of his religion teachers, Mary Rogers.
“She had such a nice personality and so much joy that she brought to the classroom,” said Adam, who is 18 and has a twin brother, Alex, who also attends Mount St. Joseph.
Adam’s Catholic friends influenced him too, talking about the Eucharist and the power of the Mass. He said he found himself realizing, “This is starting to make sense.”
At Mount St. Joseph,, Adam excelled academically, earning a spot at the Naval Academy, where he plans to study mechanical engineering. He played varsity football and participated in XBSS, a servant leadership group through the school’s campus ministry.
By the end of his junior year, Adam knew he was ready to enter the Catholic Church. He told the school’s chaplain, Father Mike Murphy, “I’ve talked to my parents. I’m not going to resist this call any longer.”
They discussed a plan. Then that summer, Father Murphy left for a new assignment and Father John Bilenki – a Mount St. Joe’s grad like Father Murphy – became the chaplain. That might have slowed the process for Adam, but he already knew Father Bilenki, who is associate pastor at Our Lady of the Chesapeake in Lake Shore, where Adam attends Sunday Mass – when he’s not going to St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Pasadena. He started OCIA at St. Jane Frances and came into the Catholic Church this Easter.
Grace Marchetti
Grace Marchetti’s two older siblings went to public high school, so she thought she would, too. Then when she was in eighth grade, she was recruited by The John Carroll School in Bel Air to play basketball. She toured the campus and loved it.
During her time there, Grace has played basketball, soccer and lacrosse, captaining the teams and earning All-Conference and All-County Honors.
Along the way, Grace has also found a career path. In the fall, she’ll head to James Madison University to play lacrosse and study psychology – specifically so she can go into sports psychology.
“My dream has always been to support children who struggle with mental health, especially in sports,” said the 17-year-old Forest Hill resident. “Growing up, I played three sports at very high levels, and it was always hard, and I always had people to talk to. You don’t always see sports psychologists in high school settings, so that caught my eye.”
Grace has excelled academically, maintaining a 4.3 GPA, and she has participated in John Carroll’s campus ministry as a peer minister and a retreat leader.
“The peer ministry at John Carroll kept me involved with everyone at all grade levels,” she said. “It made me spiritually more connected with God, and it helped me connect with my peers.”
A parishioner of St. Ignatius, Hickory, Grace is looking forward to starting at James Madison in the fall.
“I’m most excited for a fresh start and meeting new people,” she said. “Everyone here has been great. But I’m excited to be on my own and see where life takes me.”
Solomon Kirby
Students at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Fells Point are required to complete service hours, and Solomon Kirby knew he had additional hours to finish as a member of the National Honor Society. But he didn’t just want to check a box. He wanted to create an impactful service opportunity.
That’s why Solomon started the Environmental Service Team (EST). The team works to keep the neighborhood around Cristo Rey clean, picking up trash and pulling weeds.
“The environment is above all one of the most pressing issues in our world today. It’s our home, it’s our planet, it’s where we live,” said Solomon, who is 18 and has two older siblings. “I wanted to inspire my peers.”
He has been excited to watch the group grow. Next year Cristo Rey’s campus ministry officers plan to keep it going – and build on what Solomon started.
Solomon was born in Winnipeg, Canada, and moved to Maryland in seventh grade. A negative experience with bullying in a Frederick middle school led his family to start homeschooling him before moving to Baltimore – and then to Cristo Rey. His 4.0 average and his leadership there earned him a full scholarship to Colgate University, where he plans to study political science on a pre-law track.
He’s grateful for the ways he has grown while at Cristo Rey, finding his path toward law school.
Although he isn’t Catholic, he appreciated that aspect of his high school education.
“I experienced a whole new culture, a whole new set of beliefs,” he said. “It’s made me a lot more open, and it’s made me a lot more inquisitive about the world around me.”
Toni Christina Tan
You might need a mathematics degree to add up all the ways Toni Christina Tan is involved at The Catholic High School of Baltimore. She competed with the varsity swim team for four years, helped breathe new life into the school’s literary magazine, led the National Honor Society, was a member of the school’s STEM Biomedical Program and achieved 517 service hours – the highest in the class.
In the fall, Toni will head to the University of Maryland, College Park, where she plans to study applied mathematics and possibly social data science – and where she was accepted into the interdisciplinary honors business program. Toni had always liked math, but she started considering it as a career path during her AB calculus class.
“That class changed my whole mind about math,” she said. “I feel like with calculus, you have to think more – about why it works and how it works.”
This spring, Toni was named Miss Catholic High, one of the highest honors a senior can receive. “I was excited, and I was also shocked and surprised. I just didn’t expect it,” she said.
As part of that honor, Toni crowned a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the school’s May Crowning. Toni, who is also the class valedictorian, credits the sisterhood of Catholic High with helping her thrive.
“It’s been such a wonderful experience,” said Toni, 17, who graduated from Immaculate Conception School in Towson and is a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo in Pikesville. “Catholic High has that smaller community of course, but it’s something that was perfect for me. I feel like I was able to get so many opportunities.”
Read More Schools
Copyright © 2025 Catholic Review Media
