Head of School Message

Head of School

Welcome to the Bishop Denis J. O’Connell High School website and more broadly welcome to this remarkable school—a warm, happy, and hospitable place where an overarching sense of inclusion and community as framed by our Catholic identity lies at the heart of what it is about and known for. I encourage you to dive deep into our website and following that to reach out to our dedicated administrators (starting with the admissions office, for prospective families) and talented and caring teachers if interested in learning more about the engaging, fruitful, and joy-filled nature of the O'Connell experience.

Even with three years under my belt as O’Connell’s Head of School, I continue to marvel at all that the school has to offer and all that our graduates take with them into the world of college and beyond from their years as Knights, confidently determined as they are to make a difference for the better in serving the Lord through service to others, and in finding their own unique pathway as contributing members of society as guided and shepherded by Christ’s presence in their lives. Bishop O'Connell is a home away from home both to our current students and to the hundreds of hundreds of alumni–Knights on a mission–who recount their high school years as spiritually, academically, and socially formative and meaningful, essential in the shaping of their world view and themselves.

O'Connell proudly yet humbly places both its Catholic identity—“to provide students with an education rooted in the life of Christ”—and its catholic identity (“catholic” from the Greek for “respect of the whole”) as mutually anchoring elements in what defines this community. A school known for its heartfelt embrace and full orientation toward meeting, supporting, and affirming every student, our mission is “to foster the pursuit of excellence in the whole person.”

I hope, in being on our website, you will take full advantage of learning more about Bishop O’Connell, and I am ultra-confident you’ll very much like what you see.

God’s Peace,

Bill Crittenberger
Head of School