The Ursuline Academy was founded in 1727 by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Ursula, in New Orleans. It is the oldest continuously-operating school for girls, and the oldest Catholic school in the United States.[4]
The Academy included the first convent, the first free school, and the first retreat center for ladies. It offered the first classes for female African-American slaves, free women of color, and Native Americans.[4]
Rally began in 1948 as a way for classes to show their school spirit in the areas of volleyball intramurals, through skits, posters, songs, and cheers. Each class was given a name (Skip, Mac, Leprechaun or Sioux (now Phoenix)) to replace existing sororities on campus and carried them until they graduated and passed them on to a little sister class.[5][6]