With numbers slowly climbing for the first time in years, Catholic schools – and one mother and son in upstate New York – are looking to spread the word.

Faith Vavra Bergman once walked the halls of Seton Catholic Central, eventually graduating in 1992. She married years later while in graduate school, and then gave birth to her son, Nickolas.

As a military family now living in Oklahoma, Vavra Bergman remembered the importance of her Catholic education, and just like that, Nick had a middle name: Seton, named after her alma mater, the school that meant so much to her.

"They take each person into account and their unique value, and they bring it to the forefront,” said Vavra Bergman, a 1992 alum.

More than 1,000 miles away, her former high school got word and invited her to bring Nick home to be baptized in the school gym. In front of many of her former classmates, it was a celebration she’ll remember forever.

"It was very overwhelming. I can't even explain. Walking into the gym with him in my arms and knowing that, you know, we were kind of coming home,” said Vavra Bergman.

Nick’s Catholic education is something he, too, holds dear.

It comes at a crucial time for Catholic schools in the U.S. Enrollment dropped 6.4% from 2019 to 2021, but that has since turned around.

In 2023, the Associated Press reported nationwide enrollment increased by 62,000 to about 1.68 million students, marking the largest jump in five decades.

"It's really affirming for us and the work that we do here," said Patrick Monachino, principal of Seton Catholic Central. "We really like to focus on faith, family as well as academic excellence. And I think these are just perfect examples of the way that our faith goes through everything that we do.”

“In the bigger schools, it’s sort of impersonal. Your education is impersonal and here, you're an actual individual and everybody knows you," said Nickolas Berman, a senior at Seton Catholic Central.

Catholic school leaders are hope such stories can continue for future generations.

Seton Catholic enrolls students of all religions and has seen a steady increase in international students.