Graduating to New Heights: Inside the IMS High School Readiness Program

Graduates from our 14 schools go on to attend some of the Philadelphia area's top archdiocesan, independent, magnet and charter high schools — often on merit based scholarships. One of the high schools where we've developed a strong pipeline? Philadelphia's Cristo Rey, where IMS students accounted for 24% of 2025's incoming ninth grade class — a data point that delights director of admissions and family engagement, Evelin Roman. Key to this high school achievement is our network-wide High School Readiness Program that starts prepping and working with students and their families as early as fifth grade. Each of our 14 schools has a high school readiness coordinator on staff. At St. Veronica, that's Carmen Irizarry. In this episode of Strong Minds Loving Hearts, Evelin and Carmen dig into the transition from elementary school to high school and how IMS is preparing its students and positioning them for success.