About the Nonprofit
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Cassata High School is a non-traditional high school in Fort Worth at Hemphill and Magnolia streets. Most students who enroll at Cassata have had difficulty in traditional schools and face serious challenges to graduating from high school. These challenges include poverty; mental/emotional health; academic, neuro-divergence or learning differences; behavioral or physical health issues; bullying; family circumstances, including teenage pregnancy, abuse, caretaking or death of a family member. These are reasons that often force a student to drop out of school.
Cassata is a co-educational Catholic high school with a nurturing staff that provides an accredited curriculum for students who desire a customized environment that prepares them for college and their chosen career path. We strive to enable students of all backgrounds to raise their educational level, complete their secondary education, and become healthy, independent, productive citizens.
Our founders, Sister Mary Bonaventure and Sister Mary Fulbright, inspired by the works of Mother Theresa, recognized the need in our community for a school that helped students who struggled to complete their secondary education due to academic or personal challenges. In existence since 1975, we are happy to have stayed true to the Cassata mission!
Cassata is not a typical Catholic High School. It opens its doors to students of all faiths, ethnicities, and socio-economic levels. Since its founding, hundreds have graduated from Cassata and gone on to become successful, contributing members of society in a variety of industries and professions benefiting our community.
Cassata offers a unique academic model:
individualized, self-paced learning model
Small classrooms - 15:1 student to teacher ratio
Personalized attention
Flexible schedules - morning or afternoon schedules
Access to a Learning Specialist
Access to an on-site School Counselor and individual counseling sessions off-campus
Career and college choice support
Open entry and exit
No age limit
Open and welcoming to students of all faith, ethnic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds
Foundation (22 credits) or Foundation with Endorsement (26 credits) High School diploma
GED certification test preparation classes
At Cassata, we can help students to not only stay on track with their coursework but also make up credits (and return to their assigned public high school if they wish to) as well as graduate early.
Over the years, we have tracked the success we have had with our students. In the last school year, the number of graduates from Cassata in the 2023-2024 academic year was 26 students. The class of 2022-2023 were accepted at the following colleges, universities and trade schools: Abilene Christian University, Forge Now HVAC & Electrical Training, Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M (College Station, Corpus Christi and Galveston), Texas Tech University, University of the Incarnate Word, University of North Texas and the University at Arlington. Based on what our students are facing we consider this to be an amazing achievement.
In order to fulfill our mission and serve our targeted student population, Cassata never wants to turn a student away due to financial circumstances. This, however, requires substantial financial support. While all Cassata students are required to pay some amount of tuition based on family income, 83% last year required tuition assistance, and 57% classified as economically disadvantaged. In addition, in four years there has been an increase of serving students in need of accommodation plans (almost 45%), which due to lack of money, is not diagnosed or addressed, causing more support needs in this specialized school environment. The annual cost for educating a student at Cassata is $8,500, yet most do not come close to covering that cost through their sliding-scale tuition payments. These drops in tuition and contributed income requires additional support from our generous donors, and we have been very lucky throughout the years to maintain relationships with foundations and donors.
Cassata also holds one major fundraising event each year, Noche de Gracias (Night of Thanks). We are very thankful to the Lancarte family of Joe T. Garcias who have sponsored this event for Cassata for over 25 years. The revenue we earn through this auction is directly used to help with tuition assistance and the general operation of the drop out prevention program is what Cassata is (i.e., Cassata is the mission/program).
