The news first reached many Towson Catholic students on July 7, the way most news reaches teenagers -- via text messages and Facebook postings.

Amid the flurry of frantic denial, humorous skepticism and puzzled requests for more information, the students reached out to each other the best way they knew how.

They wondered if what they were hearing was true, that their Catholic high school was really closing.

When the news coverage began, followed by the protests and the lawsuits, they realized it was all too real.

Declining enrollment and a looming budget deficit were offered as the reasons the school had to close, they learned.

The doors would not close for good after the upcoming school year had concluded.

No, the approximately 235 students enrolled in Towson Catholic were shut out right then.

An impromptu open house was organized to host the Archdiocese of Baltimore's other area high schools, and students began searching online and elsewhere for another place to continue a high school career that had hit a stunning dead end.

Towson Catholic was a small school, a family, the students said, and it wouldn't be easy to find a new home.

Freshmen began contacting their second and third choice schools to see if they could still slip into their ranks.

Sophomores and juniors began working family and friends for suggestions and recommendations.

Seniors, facing the most important year of their high school careers, began courting schools that just weren't theirs. They would have to leave many of their friends and redefine in their minds what their senior year would mean.

Class rings would be different, new uniforms were needed, future college applications would have to include explanations, and who knew what prom would be like -- especially considering many students would be transferring from the coed Towson Catholic to one of the Archdiocese's single-gender schools.

It was all a big mess, many students said.

When the dust cleared in August, the Archdiocese polled its high schools and found 91 Towson Catholic students had been accepted by in a dozen different Catholic schools in the Baltimore area, according to an Archdiocese spokesman.

That number would continue to grow through September and the first few weeks of classes.

One month later, Towson Catholic students remain scattered.

They are doing their best to make it work, many said, but it is tough -- especially for the upperclassmen.

Seventeen Towson Catholic students are now at the four area Catholic high schools -- Cardinal Gibbons School, Mount de Sales Academy, Mount Saint Joseph High School and Seton Keough High School.

School administrators try to help the students get comfortable.

As the students tell it, though, that is an on-going process.

Cardinal Gibbons School

When junior Nick Smoot learned about Towson Catholic's closing, he said he knew just where to turn.

Smoot has a brother at Cardinal Gibbons, senior Dylon Cormier, who could show him the ropes and get him acquainted.

"He had friends, and then his friends became my friends," Smoot said.

When Smoot approached Gibbons, the school was more than ready to accept him.

Principal David Brown had pushed the school's doors wide open -- especially since Gibbons was looking to expand its high school enrollment after having just announced it was closing its middle school.

Gibbons could take as many students as met its standards, Brown said.

Today, four former Towson Catholic students attend Gibbons: Smoot, sophomore Denzel Valner, of Baltimore, junior Kanu Aja, of Columbia, and junior Travis Jones, of Baltimore.

All are planning to play sports or are already playing, which helps with meeting friends, they said.

"It's pretty much good now, but the first couple weeks were tough," said Jones, who first approached Gibbons' football coach about attending the school.

Aja said that aside from it being an all-boys school, the biggest difference about Gibbons is its size.

Gibbons has more than 300 students, about 70 more than Towson Catholic.

Valner, who has been practicing with Gibbons' football team since the summer, said he has worried that Gibbons' enrollment will drop low enough that it will close as well, he said.

But according to Brown, the school is "good to go."

Overall, the boys said they are all doing well.

"I'm transitioned," said Smoot, a Baltimore resident. "I'm good."

Mount de Sales Academy

At the open house at Towson Catholic soon after its closure, administrators from Mount de Sales Academy were not present.

According to Claire Cohagan, the school's director of admissions, the school was already over-enrolled.

Cohagan said she felt awful about not showing support, but didn't want to attend the open house just to say there was no room, she said.

The next morning, Cohagan received three phone calls.

The family of a girl who had been accepted the year before, the father of a former student whose niece was looking for a school, and a Mount de Sales family vouching for a family friend were reaching out.

Cohagan said she approached the school's Board of Trustees, and said, "I know we can't do much, but we have these three girls," she said.

The trustees all "wholeheartedly agreed" to admit the three girls, Cohagan said.

"That was the one opportunity that we could take to help the girls of TC," she said.

Today, Angie DiGirolamo, of Reisterstown, Kathleen Ruch, of Owings Mills, and Angela Shipley, of Timonium, are all members of the school's sophomore class -- a reality they are still getting used to, they said.

When Ruch first found out Towson Catholic was closing, she was "in shock," she said.

"I was sad and extremely annoyed," she said. "It was just so out of the blue. No one saw it coming."

DiGirolamo was going to be Towson Catholic's sophomore class president, and felt at home at the school, she said.

Shipley said the school was "like a family," and all the girls said they really miss their male classmates.

"You could chill with them and feel laid back and relaxed," Ruch said.

All three girls said they are happy with their new school, but will always miss Towson Catholic.

"I still obviously miss TC, and it's hard to realize I don't go there anymore," said DiGirolamo.

"But everyone's been nice and welcoming."

Mount Saint Joseph High School

When junior Eric Brooks, of Randallstown, first saw the drama department at St. Joe, he had mixed feelings.

Back at Towson Catholic, there were generally only about 15 students in drama which meant nearly everyone got a good part in productions. But the stage was in poor condition and there were lots of cost restrictions.

At St. Joe, the stage and facilities were better, but the competition was closer to 70 boys.

"It's more professional like, more realistic, so I know where my acting abilities really are," Brooks said.

"But I'm also not guaranteed to get a part I like."

Mixed feelings are common among the four fomer Towson Catholic students now at the school in Irvington: Brooks, sophomore Xavier Hilliard, of Randallstown, freshman Elijah Tucker, of Pikesville, and freshman Dominic Evans, of Reisterstown.

While the two freshmen never actually attended Towson Catholic, they had developed a sense of belonging there while shadowing at the school and during the summer months thinking about their high school future, they said.

Tucker said he was "mad" when he found out he couldn't go to Towson Catholic, because his only other choice was St. Joe and he "didn't like it being all boys," he said.

It's been OK so far, and "making friends is not a problem," he said.

Hilliard said his cousin, sophomore Rodney Christian, has helped his transition.

Still, "it was a big difference, the size and workload," Hilliard said.

He still misses Towson Catholic "because it was like a family place," he said, but thinks his St. Joe education will better prepare him for college.

Brooks is still dealing with being forced out of Towson Catholic and "being thrown into something else," he said.

For the first few days after Towson Catholic closed, "it just felt dead inside," he said.

"I've been in a small school my whole life, and this came out of nowhere," he said.

"It's sort of overwhelming. I've been getting used to it."

Seton Keough High School

For senior India Davis, this was going to be the year -- her year -- to really call her own at Towson Catholic, she said.

"I was going to run TC," she said. "Now I'm wondering if I am going to walk into prom and hope I have a seat."

Social familiarity is at the top of the list of things Davis said she lost when Towson Catholic closed and she transferred to Seton Keough, she said.

She still feels unfamiliar in Seton Keough, even though the school has a large contingent from Towson Catholic -- of both students and teachers.

Five other students also transferred to Seton Keough: senior Chelsea Dukes, of Randallstown; juniors Cherie Allen, of Baltimore, Alex Jeffries, of Pikesville, and Alex Peterson, of Baltimore; and freshman Brittany Knight, of Halethorpe.

In a unique twist, a handful of Towson Catholic's staff has also transferred into new roles at Seton Keough.

Towson Catholic Principal Clare Pitz is now vice principal of Seton Keough -- where she taught in the 1970s.

Bev McIntyre, Towson Catholic's assistant principal, is now a Seton Keough guidance counselor.

Frank Kimmel, who taught Latin, art history and other art classes at Towson Catholic, teaches English and Latin, as well as yearbook.

Tom Whedbee, a former guidance counselor at Towson Catholic, will be a long-term substitute teacher at Seton Keough.

Aside from those familiar faces, Davis and the other students said they are still trying to get used to Seton Keough, the all-girls atmosphere and the fact that they are no longer surrounded by longtime friends, they said.

"Our school wasn't the best school in the world, but that was still our school," said Peterson.

"I'm trying to make it humorous so I don't cry," said Jeffries, who teared up during an interview.

"TC was an institution that was an inspiring place," she said. "It was this huge family. Everybody knew everybody."

The girls said they are making new friends, but it is hard.

Their transition is far from complete.

They're still not over the fact that they have to transition, they said.

"I think I'm distracted by the fact that I'm a senior and I'm here," said Davis.

Jeffries said she cried at homecoming, and is still emotional about the whole ordeal.

"My class ring is wrong," she said. "It was like a death in the family."

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