Saint Joseph's Preparatory School

Last updated
St. Joseph's Preparatory School
SJPrepLogoSmall.PNG
Men For and With Others
Address
1733 West Girard Avenue
Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 19130
United States
Coordinates 39°58′21″N75°9′53″W / 39.97250°N 75.16472°W / 39.97250; -75.16472 Coordinates: 39°58′21″N75°9′53″W / 39.97250°N 75.16472°W / 39.97250; -75.16472
Information
Type Private
MottoAd Majorem Dei Gloriam
((For the greater glory of God))
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic
Established 1851;167 years ago (1851)
Oversight Society of Jesus
President Rev. John Swope, SJ '72
Principal John Petruzelli
Faculty 75
Grades 9-12
Gender Boys
Enrollment 959 (2014)
Student to teacher ratio 14-1
Campus size 6.5 acres (26,000 m2)
Color(s) Crimson and Gray         
Slogan Educating Men of Competence, Conscience & Compassion since 1851
SongSwing on Along With the Crimson
Athletics conference Philadelphia Catholic League
Mascot The Hawk
Team name Hawks
Rival La Salle College High School
Accreditation Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools [1]
Average SAT scores 615 Verbal
623 Math
614 Writing
Average ACT scores 28
Athletic Director Dennis Hart
Director of the Villiger Archives William Conners '80
Website SJPrep
Phila St.JosephPrep02.jpg

St. Joseph's Preparatory School, known as "The Prep", is an urban, private, Catholic, college preparatory school founded in 1851 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It is run by the Jesuits.

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia archdiocese

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well as Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties. The diocese was erected by Pope Pius VII on April 8, 1808, from territories of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Originally the diocese included all of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and seven counties and parts of three counties in New Jersey. The diocese was raised to the dignity of a metropolitan archdiocese on February 12, 1875. The seat of the archbishop is the Cathedral-Basilica of Ss. Peter & Paul.

Contents

History

In 1851, St. Joseph’s College opened in the buildings of St. Joseph’s Parish off Willings Alley in Philadelphia, just a few blocks from Independence Hall. By then, a permanent church had replaced the old Chapel attached to the Jesuit Residence. On September 15, 1851, ninety-five students greeted Rev. Felix Barbelin, the first president of St. Joseph’s College, for their first day of class. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania chartered the school and it was incorporated as "The St. Joseph's College In The City of Philadelphia", on January 29, 1852.

Saint Josephs University private, coeducational Roman Catholic Jesuit university

Saint Joseph's University is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic Jesuit university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh oldest Jesuit university in the United States and one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

Philadelphia Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, sometimes known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city, with a 2017 census-estimated population of 1,580,863. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

In 1866, the land that is now St. Joseph's Prep was open country near the Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park. Around this time, the Jesuits of the Maryland Province were planning to open another parish in a part of the city more conducive to operating a college. The Girard area seemed like a natural location because it was a blossoming suburb with Girard College, Eastern State Penitentiary, a hospital, and a reservoir nearby. Father Barbelin found an undeveloped block between 17th and 18th Streets and bounded on the north and south by Thompson and Stiles Streets. Here the Church of the Gesu and St. Joseph's Prep were built.

Centennial Exposition first official Worlds Fair in the United States, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Officially named the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine, it was held in Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill River on fairgrounds designed by Herman J. Schwarzmann. Nearly 10 million visitors attended the exhibition and thirty-seven countries participated in it.

Fairmount Park largest municipal park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city

Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with the two sections together totalling 2,052 acres (830 ha). Management of Fairmount Park and the entire citywide park system is overseen by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, a city department created in 2010 from the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation.

Girard College

Girard College is an independent college preparatory 5-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the eastern United States.

The Prep's school building, which had housed students for nearly 75 years, was almost completely destroyed by fire on the night of January 30, 1966. After fierce debate over the location and construction of a new school building – which included plans to relocate outside the city limits – the new Prep building, with modern (and fireproof) flourishes, opened in 1968 at the same location.

Church of the Gesu

In the early 1990s the Jesuits permitted the Gesu Parish to be closed, although the former parish school has been maintained as a private Catholic school. The Prep purchased the adjacent Church of the Gesu (named for the Society of Jesus' original church in Rome) from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It now serves as the school's chapel.

Rome Capital city and comune in Italy

Rome is the capital city and a special comune of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region. With 2,872,800 residents in 1,285 km2 (496.1 sq mi), it is also the country's most populated comune. It is the fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4,355,725 residents, thus making it the most populous metropolitan city in Italy. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. The Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states.

Church of the Gesu, built 1879-1888, towers after 1895 Phila ChurchoftheGesu01.jpg
Church of the Gesu, built 1879-1888, towers after 1895

Changes

St. Joseph's was one of many religiously-affiliated secondary institutions in the Delaware Valley marked for changes in the early 1990s. At one point, the administration strongly considered a move from single-sex to co-educational classrooms due to low enrollment; similar changes had been implemented at other Jesuit secondary institutions such as Scranton Preparatory School. However, in subsequent years, both admissions and enrollment have substantially increased, removing the need for gender integration.

Delaware Valley Metropolitan area in the United States

The Delaware Valley is the valley through which the Delaware River flows. By extension, this toponym is commonly used to refer to Greater Philadelphia or Philadelphia metropolitan area, which straddles the Lower Delaware River just north of its estuary. The Delaware Valley Metropolitan Area is located at the southern part of the Northeast megalopolis and as such, the Delaware Valley can be described as either a metropolitan statistical area (MSA), or as a broader combined statistical area (CSA). The Delaware Valley Metropolitan Area is composed of several counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and southwestern New Jersey, one county in northern Delaware, and one county in northeastern Maryland. The MSA has a population of over 6 million, while the CSA has a population of over 7.1 million. Philadelphia, being the region's major commercial, cultural, and industrial center, wields a rather large sphere of influence that affects the counties that immediately surround it.

Scranton Preparatory School

Scranton Preparatory School is a co-educational Jesuit high school located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States.

In the summer, The Prep hosts a pre-7th- and pre-8th-grade program for 5 weeks for girls and boys going into 7th and 8th grades. The program includes a variety of activities, including swimming, table tennis, wiffle ball, basketball, volleyball, and soccer. It also includes classes in computers, drama, math, and literature and language arts.

Table tennis racket sport

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball back and forth across a table using small rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, the rules are generally as follows: players must allow a ball played toward them to bounce one time on their side of the table, and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side at least once. A point is scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. Spinning the ball alters its trajectory and limits an opponent's options, giving the hitter a great advantage.

Wiffle ball

Wiffle ball is a variation of the sport of baseball designed for indoor or outdoor play in confined areas. The game is played using a perforated, light-weight, resilient plastic ball and a long, typically yellow, plastic bat.

Mission

"The mission of St. Joseph’s Prep, as a Catholic, Jesuit, urban, college preparatory school, is to develop the minds, hearts, souls, and characters of young men in their pursuit of becoming men for and with others." [2]

In the summer of 2006, the Prep community began an intensive program of "mission renewal", so as to reaffirm the core tenets of the school's philosophy and thus differentiate it from similar Catholic secondary institutions in the area. This process is ongoing.

Academics

The Prep offers a four-year college preparatory program geared to intellectually talented students. Its faculty has an average of 17 years of service. Of the full-time faculty of approximately 80 men and women, over 91% possess master's degrees.

Graduation Requirements: To graduate, a student must complete 26 academic credits, satisfy the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requirement for physical education and fulfill community service requirements (5 hours for freshman, 10 hours for sophomores, 20 hours for juniors, 40 hours for seniors) through the Ignatian Service Program. Course requirements include: five years of foreign language study (with a minimum of two years of a modern language, and two years of Latin or Greek), English (four years), Fine Arts (one semester), history (three years, including one year of Government), mathematics (four years, or three years of mathematics and one year of computer science), religious studies (four years) and science (three years).

Special Academic Opportunities: Advanced Placement courses are offered in 15 areas of study, including English, history, Latin, mathematics, psychology, science, and computer science. All students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses are required to take the Advanced Placement examinations. [3]

Accreditations: The Prep is fully accredited by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. It is also an active member of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association, the National Catholic Education Association, the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, and the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools. [4]

Community

St. Joseph's Preparatory School, one of 57 Jesuit secondary institutions in the United States, is located just north of Center City Philadelphia. The present student body includes residents of metropolitan Philadelphia (30%), the surrounding suburban communities (50%), and New Jersey (20%).

Athletics

The Prep's athletic teams compete in the Philadelphia Catholic League (16 schools). The Prep joined the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association in the 2007-2008 school year. The Prep offers the following athletic programs:

Fall: cross country, football (varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen), crew (varsity and junior varsity), soccer (varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen), squash (varsity and junior varsity), Ultimate Frisbee (club), and golf.

Winter: basketball (varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen), bowling (varsity and junior varsity), indoor track and field, swimming, wrestling (varsity and junior varsity), and ice hockey (varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen).

Spring: baseball (varsity, junior varsity, and freshman), crew (varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen), volleyball, lacrosse, outdoor track and field, tennis, Ultimate Frisbee (club), and rugby (club). Since 1987, the boys senior eight crew team has won the Edward T. Stotesbury Cup in national competition ten times. [5]

The Prep football team won back-to-back state championships, winning the Class AAAA State Championship in 2013 and 2014. Despite losing to La Salle College High School early in the 2015 playoffs, the St. Joseph's Prep Football team won the first ever AAAAAA PIAA State Championship. The Hawks defeated Pittsburgh Central Catholic by a score of 42-7 at HersheyPark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Notable alumni

Capital campaign

The Prep completed a $30 million capital campaign, which involved transforming the nearby former Jesuit Residence (adjacent to the Gesu Church) into a new academic center and cafeteria: Jesuit Hall and The Sauter Dining Hall. The renovations are meant to ease pressure on the main academic building (which held almost 1,000 students, while designed for a smaller student population), and allow the Prep to provide more need-based scholarships and better implementation of technology. [17]

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Gillin Boat Club is the rowing program for St. Joseph's University Rowing and St. Joseph's Prep Rowing. It is situated at the 1,000-meter mark of the Schuylkill River race course in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gillin Boat Club was admitted to the Schuylkill Navy in 2004, by a unanimous vote of the Navy's members.

References

  1. ↑ MSA-CSS. "MSA-Commission on Secondary Schools". Archived from the original on 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  2. ↑ SJP: Our Mission
  3. ↑ SJP: College Information
  4. ↑ SJP: Academics Archived 2007-03-09 at the Wayback Machine .
  5. ↑ "Winners: Previous Years". Stotesbury Cup Regatta. 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  6. ↑ "BioTime, Inc. Appoints Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. to its Board of Directors". BusinessWire Press Release. November 9, 2011.
  7. ↑ Kilkenny
  8. ↑ Hueber
  9. ↑ Couloumbis, Angela (June 20, 2011). "Hussein capture puts spotlight on local officer Army Maj. Brian J. Reed of Huntingdon Valley was part of the team that caught the Iraqi ex-dictator". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
  10. ↑ Reed
  11. ↑ Waggl
  12. ↑ Evan Amos (April 28, 2011). "Evan Amosinterview with Matt Duke" . Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  13. ↑ Reggie
  14. ↑ https://www.xlr8r.com/mp3/2015/05/wild-free-tropique/
  15. ↑ http://www.spin.com/2015/05/wild-free-tropique-low-pressure-new/
  16. ↑ http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/blogs/entertainment/music_nightlife&id=232847721
  17. ↑ Capital Campaign Overview Archived 2007-08-27 at the Wayback Machine .
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