Rosary College Prep in Aurora is holding its very first standalone homecoming celebration this week, a milestone nearly 65 years in the making for the all-girls Catholic school. The week-long event, nicknamed RoCo, runs from Sunday, Oct. 11, through Saturday, Oct. 17, and includes everything from an NFL tailgate party to a powderpuff football game and a grown-ups-only Oktoberfest night.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the celebration marks the first time Rosary has hosted its own homecoming week independent of Marmion Academy, the nearby all-boys school. The two schools also had a joint band.
That arrangement changed when Marmion Academy announced in November 2024 that it would begin admitting female students starting in the 2026-2027 school year, ending more than 90 years as an all-boys institution, as reported by Patch. The shift effectively dissolved the shared homecoming structure Rosary had relied on, prompting the school to build something entirely its own this fall.
A School Rebrand Years in the Making
A College-Preparatory School Rosary College Prep is a Catholic college-preparatory high school.
Rosary College Prep is sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois, and operates as a Catholic college-preparatory high school for young women at 901 N. Edgelawn Drive in Aurora, per the Tribune's reporting. The school was chartered on July 31, 1961, after Bishop Loras T. Lane of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford asked the Dominican Sisters of Springfield to establish a young women's high school in Aurora, according to Rosary College Prep's own historical account.
What's Happening During RoCo Week
The homecoming lineup, as detailed by the Tribune, kicks off Sunday with an all-community Mass at 10:45 a.m. in the Rosary auditorium, followed by an NFL tailgate party beginning at noon in the Rosary gym and cafeteria, featuring the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers on a big screen, carnival games and prizes hosted by Rosary students and clubs, and snacks and activities for teens.
The week builds toward Friday, Oct. 16, when a powderpuff football game will be followed at 6:30 p.m. by an Oktoberfest event hosted by Rosary Sports Boosters and Rosary Royal Parents. That gathering, open to adults 21 and older, includes food, drinks and live music, with tickets priced at $55. Homecoming week also features the crowning of a homecoming court, with full details available at rosaryprep.org/roco, per the Tribune.
Students See a New Kind of School Spirit
Rosary student Lily Helfer said in a school press release, as reported by the Tribune, that hosting the school's first RoCo puts Rosary at the center of its own homecoming week for the first time, calling it new and exciting. She added that the event is a way to build school spirit and reinforce the school's identity as a sisterhood.
With Marmion now admitting girls, Rosary has positioned itself as the only single-sex high school remaining in Chicago's western suburbs, according to the Tribune. The shift also touched Rosary athletics: in August 2026, the Illinois High School Association approved a transfer eligibility waiver allowing female student-athletes moving to Marmion for the 2026-2027 school year to compete in varsity sports immediately, as Hoodline previously reported.
A Regional Draw With Deep Roots
Rosary's reach extends well beyond Aurora. As of the 2024-2025 school year, the school enrolled roughly 215 students who commuted from 32 municipalities across eight northern Illinois counties, including Batavia, St. Charles, Geneva, Oswego and DeKalb, per Shaw Local's reporting. The school maintains 13 sports teams and 22 student clubs, with more than 80 percent of students participating in interscholastic athletics, according to Wikipedia.
Among those athletic programs is the girls swim team, known as The Beads, which won back-to-back IHSA state championships in 2023 and 2024, bringing the program's total state titles to nine, the Daily Herald reported. Rosary's founding principal, Sister Mary Joseph Weigand, OP, led the school from 1962 to 1970 and later returned as assistant principal from 1980 until 2003; she died in August 2015 at age 91, according to the Dominican Sisters of Springfield. Current Head of School Amy McMahon, appointed in January 2020 after serving as assistant principal and dean of students since 2018, has overseen both the 2025 rebrand and this month's launch of RoCo.
