ONEIDA CASTLE, NY ( January 21, 2010) – For the second consecutive year, Holy Cross Academy will cancel classes next Monday and Tuesday as the majority of its student body travels to Washington, D.C. to attend the 2011 March for Life. They will join an estimated 300,000 people from across the country on Monday, January 24. The March for Life Rally begins at the National Mall at noon, followed by the march from the Capitol to the Supreme Court building.

The March for Life started in 1974, following the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion on demand. Many HCA students will be returning to the March for Life for the third, fourth, even fifth time.

“The students see this event as a day to witness with thousands of Americans that all human life is precious,” said Principal Teri Maciag. “The laws of our nation must reflect that.”

Holy Cross Academy will not be the only high school represented in Washington D.C. In recent years, there has been a marked increase in high school and college groups traveling to the March for Life from across the country.

“It’s a lot of fun to be with friends and stand together to support this cause,” said senior Christopher Abbe.

Eleventh grader Amy Collins, who is making her fifth trip to the March, also gave her reason for attending.

“Often people who are ‘pro-choice’ aren’t thinking about the real choice they’re actually making,” she said. “We need to show them that a human life – a baby’s life – is at stake.”

Senior Michelle Stadelmaier encouraged her peers to make the trip to the nation’s Capitol.

“I think anyone who can go the March should go,” she said. “Once you see how many young people stand up for the sacredness of human life, you want to return year after year.”

In previous years, students presented signed petitions to their representatives in Congress the morning of the March.

Students will also attend Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and visit the area's many monuments and museums of historical significance, including the Smithsonian Museums, the Holocaust Museum, and the Lincoln Memorial.

Holy Cross Academy is an independent Catholic School located at 4020 Barrington Road in Oneida Castle. For more information visit www.holycrossacademy.com.