Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati have always been places where students grow closer to God. Recently, there has been an uptick in their non-Catholic students choosing to become Catholic.

One such student is new catechumen Emma Schmeig, a junior at Mount Notre Dame High School, who was raised in a non- denominational Christian home. Her mother enrolled her in Mount Notre Dame after eight years of public school.

As a freshman and early sophomore, Schmeig identified as a pagan, worshipping a variety of gods and goddesses; however, near the end of eighth grade, she felt drawn to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“She has always interested me, and so, just kind of following her has led me here,” Schmeig said. “I had seen videos about her and stuff like that, and it was like this women’s empowerment … that I’d never really seen in Christianity or never thought I’d seen. Seeing it in her was huge.”

Being at a Catholic school facilitated her eventual conversion. Schmeig connected with campus ministry and found direction from multiple teachers and staff: Religion teacher Melanie Brinkman will be Schmeig’s confirmation sponsor, and campus minister Melissa Campbell will be her godmother when she is baptized.

“I think if I had not been a part of a Catholic school … had stayed in my public school, I would’ve never come to this realization,” she said. “It’s definitely a lot of the teachers and especially campus ministry here [that helped me]. If I hadn’t had them, I would’ve never gone to Catholicism. Even if I had gone to Christianity, I probably would’ve become nondenominational.”

At Moeller High School, senior Nicco Ryan is also becoming Catholic. He transferred to Moeller after the second semester of his junior year at Norwood High School. In his case, he was attracted to Moeller because he was already interested in Catholicism.

“Prior to high school, there was pretty much no spiritual life,” he said. “I was raised by a nonpracticing Catholic. I first started to consider Catholicism about a year and a half ago, right before summer going into junior year. I wanted to move forward with becoming Catholic because I was in a dark part of my life, and I knew God would help me out.”

A friend convinced Ryan to attend Mass, and a cousin who attended Moeller spoke to him about the school. Father Thomas Kreidler, chaplain at Moeller, has been instrumental in Ryan’s journey, which included Ryan as a student leader on a November Kairos Retreat, setting a faith-filled example for other students.

“Friends have been supportive every step,” Ryan said. “They love my new Catholic journey.”

Father Jacob Dumont, LC, deputy superintendent of Catholic identity for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, attributes stories like Schmeig’s and Ryan’s to multiple factors.

The recent increase in students pursuing Catholicism “may be a little bit due to [the] EdChoice program expanding … especially in our Catholic elementary schools [with a little] increase of non-Catholic students in our Catholic high schools. … [Also,] we have been focused more on presenting the faith in our high schools in just a very clear and transparent way.”

On a committee that suggested recent revisions to the high school Catholic curriculum, Father Dumont shared, “We’ve made a few big changes. All the freshmen… have an introduction to Catholicism. They learn some of the fundamentals of our Catholic faith and go deeper, especially for students that may [already] have a pretty extensive view. It’s not just intellectual, but also spiritual. They encounter the person of Jesus Christ.”

Father Dumont has worked with the archdiocesan schools’ office for two years and in his current role for about eight months. He noted that other high school evangelizing efforts include more frequent adoration and more access to priest chaplains for students.

“When I started working at the schools’ office here, I was … pleasantly surprised that we have a number of our high schools with a pretty strong Catholic identity,” he said. “There are some great [faculty, staff, teachers] and campus ministers. Actually, each high school has a campus minister, and some will even have [up to] four… It’s really neat to see the investment.”

This Easter, that investment will lead several students to embark on a lifelong journey deeper into the Catholic faith.

This article appeared in the January 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.