Located on the shores of Lake Erie, Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School began in July of 1990.  It has a rich past and is celebrating over 150 years of educational excellence in the Diocese of Cleveland.  VASJ resulted from the merging of Villa Angela Academy (1878-1990) with Saint Joseph High School (1950-1990).

Villa Angela Academy was the oldest Catholic institution of learning in the Diocese of Cleveland, founded by the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland in 1850.  The sisters moved to the Lake Shore campus in 1878 and then into a new building in 1972.  For 110 years, Villa Angela was a witness to Christian education with over 6,000 graduates.  In 1987, the school was awarded the United States Department of Education's "Excellence in Education" award in the secondary school recognition program.

St. Joseph High School was opened for classes in temporary quarters in four rooms of the diocesan retreat house in September of 1950.  In November of that year, the school took up its present location.  The Bishop had asked the Society of Mary (Marianists) from Dayton, Ohio to administer the school. In St. Joseph's history, over 10,000 students graduated from its comprehensive college preparatory or technical programs.

In 1988, the Diocese announced plans to merge these two outstanding school traditions into a new co-educational school that would serve the needs of the east side of Cleveland.  With students from diverse ethnic, cultural and racial backgrounds, VASJ offers a unique witness and experience to Christian education.  Faculty, parents and students worked for two years on the merger process in order to guarantee that the new Villa Angela-St. Joseph would blend the best of the past traditions, making sure the new school would meet the demands of education in the 21^st Century.

A school is more than a building.  Students, faculty and staff of VASJ work together to endow their school with a distinctive personality characterized by Christian family spirit, racial and cultural tolerance and harmony, spirit of fair play and a serious pursuit of academic and spiritual excellence.

Service to the community and social justice were seriously pursued by both schools and they are strong traditions carried into the merged school now known as Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School.

The first students of St. Joseph High School selected the school colors of Columbia blue and scarlet.  Because of the school's proximity to the lake, the students chose the Vikings as their school mascot.  In 1989, the students of VASJ selected that same mascot and school colors for their new school.

Now after almost 20 years, VASJ continues to uphold the spirit and traditions of its predecessor institutions.