St. Thomas Aquinas High School (New Hampshire)

Last updated
St. Thomas Aquinas High School
St Thomas Aquinas Dover NH.jpg
Address
St. Thomas Aquinas High School (New Hampshire)
197 Dover Point Road

03820

United States
Coordinates 43°9′5″N70°50′28″W / 43.15139°N 70.84111°W / 43.15139; -70.84111
Information
Type Private, coeducational
MottoLux In Tenebris
(Light in Darkness)
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic
Patron saint(s)Thomas Aquinas
Established1960
FounderSchool Sisters of Notre Dame
Oversight Diocese of Manchester
PresidentPaul C. Marquis
PrincipalMichael Orlando
ChaplainAndrew Nelson
Staff19
Faculty33
Grades 912
Enrollment355 (2023-2024)
Average class size15
Student to teacher ratio12:1
CampusSuburban
Color(s)   Navy blue & white
SloganSaints Pride
Athletics conferenceNHIAA Division II (ice hockey- Division II, football- Division II)
MascotBernie Saint Bernard
Team nameSaints
Accreditation New England Association of Schools and Colleges [1]
PublicationReflections Magazine
Tuition$18,644
Feeder schoolsSt. Mary Academy, St. Patrick Academy, Sacred Heart School, Seton Academy
Alumni6,800
Website www.stalux.org

St. Thomas Aquinas High School is a coeducational Catholic high school in Dover, New Hampshire, United States, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester. It has a student population of approximately 355 and a faculty of 30.

Contents

History

In August 1959, Matthew F. Brady, Bishop of Manchester, opened the fundraising drive for St. Thomas Aquinas High School. When Bishop Brady suddenly died, Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston kept his last project alive. Cardinal Cushing greeted the new bishop, Ernest J. Primeau, with the advice, "Go on with St. Thomas Aquinas."

The diocesan co-educational school opened in 1960 with a freshman class only. Serving seventeen parishes in southeastern New Hampshire, the school was staffed by two diocesan priests, seven School Sisters of Notre Dame and one layman. When STA graduated its class of 219 in 1964, the faculty had grown to six priests, twenty-one sisters (requiring a new convent) and four lay teachers.

By the late 1960s, enrollment topped nine hundred students, making St. Thomas Aquinas a Class L power in athletics. A nationwide trend toward declining enrollments, combined with the higher cost of salaries as the number of teaching sisters fell, brought St. Thomas through a series of challenges throughout the 1970s.

Beginning in the mid-1980s through the 1990s St. Thomas Aquinas showed a steady and dramatic increase in enrollment. During this period the school enhanced and expanded the academic and extracurricular programs available to students. The convent, named Notre Dame Hall, was converted to provide additional classroom space and to house the Guidance Department, which includes offices, a library, and a conference area. Today the school is at its maximum enrollment.

St. Thomas Aquinas High School mascot, Bernie. Dover, NH Bernie Comic.jpg
St. Thomas Aquinas High School mascot, Bernie. Dover, NH

Athletics

The school's sports teams compete as the "Saints". Teams of note include football, soccer, swimming and diving, ice hockey, basketball, lacrosse, tennis, track and field, alpine skiing, cross country, and baseball. The Ice Hockey team competes as one of the four Catholic schools in the state in the NHIAA Division II.

In 2011–12, STA was state champion in football (Div IV), girls' swimming, baseball (Div II), and girls' tennis (Div II). The school was a finalist in girls' volleyball and boys' lacrosse. Tennis player Julia Keenan became the first high school athlete in New Hampshire to win four straight individual titles in any sport.

In 2012–13, the girls' volleyball team repeated as state finalists and the girls' tennis team repeated as state champions.

Overall, St. Thomas Aquinas has won 30 state team championships in the last 16 years, along with dozens of individual titles.

Notable alumni

Among St. Thomas Aquinas' graduates are Ron Fortier, comic book and pulp writer best known for his work on The Green Hornet , Brendan DuBois, author of numerous novels including Resurrection Day , [2] Olympic runner Rachel Schneider and Baltimore Orioles' baseball player Ryan McKenna. [3]

Related Research Articles

Boston College High School is an all-male, Jesuit, Catholic college-preparatory day school in the Columbia Point neighborhood of Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. It educates approximately 1,400 students in grades 7–12. Founded in 1863 as a constituent part of Boston College, the school separated from the college in 1927.

Bishop Feehan High School is a co-educational Catholic high school in Attleboro, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River. The school was built in 1961 and staffed by the Sisters of Mercy. The school has grown to over 1,000 students. Each class is approximately 250+ students, who are selected from a significantly larger pool of applicants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester</span> Latin Catholic diocese in the United States

The Diocese of Manchester is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church for New Hampshire in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archbishop of Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Ohio)</span> Parochial, coeducational, college prep school in Louisville, Ohio, United States

St. Thomas Aquinas High School (STA) is a private, Catholic co-educational high school located in Louisville, Ohio, United States, run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown. It was founded in 1964 to serve the Catholic families of eastern Stark County and parts of Portage County. When it opened, Aquinas enrolled both male and female students, but was a single-sex educational institution, as boys and girls attended classes within separate wings of the school. STA began practicing its current co-educational format in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Florida)</span> Private school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States

St. Thomas Aquinas High School is a private, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory high school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The school was founded in 1936 as part of St. Anthony School and moved to its current location in southwest Fort Lauderdale in 1952. It is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The school currently enrolls 2,420 students on its 25-acre (100,000 m2) campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coyle & Cassidy High School and Middle School</span> Private high school in Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.

Coyle & Cassidy High School and Middle School was a private, Catholic Diocesan school located in Taunton, Massachusetts, United States. The school had been a co-education middle and high school facility from 2014 until its 2020 closure. Coyle served students living within and beyond the Greater Taunton Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquinas High School (Wisconsin)</span> High school in La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States

Aquinas High School is a Roman Catholic high school located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The school is part of La Crosse Aquinas Catholic Schools and is operated by the Diocese of La Crosse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity High School (Manchester, New Hampshire)</span> Private school in Manchester, , New Hampshire, United States

Trinity High School is a private, Catholic high school located in Manchester, New Hampshire. It is operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

Cardinal McCarrick High School (CMHS), later known as Cardinal McCarrick/St. Mary's High School, was a Catholic secondary school located in South Amboy, New Jersey, that operated under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen. The school closed at the end of the 2014–15 school year, in the wake of an increasing financial deficit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishop England High School</span> School in Charleston, South Carolina, United States

Bishop England High School is a diocesan Roman Catholic four-year high school in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It was located on Calhoun Street in downtown Charleston until it moved to a newly constructed 40-acre campus located on Daniel Island in 1998. With an enrollment of 730, Bishop England is the largest private high school in the state of South Carolina. The school was founded in 1915 and was named after John England, the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Thomas Aquinas High School (New Jersey)</span> Catholic high school in Edison, New Jersey, United States

St. Thomas Aquinas High School, formerly known as Bishop George Ahr High School, is a private four-year college preparatory and coeducational Roman Catholic high school for students from ninth through twelfth grades. It is located on a campus covering 34 acres (14 ha) in the northern section of Edison, in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowell Catholic</span> Private, coeducational school in Lowell, Massachusetts, United States

Lowell Catholic is a private, not-for-profit, college preparatory school in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and is a Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (Oakville)</span> Separate secondary school in Oakville, Ontario, Canada

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School is a high school located in the western part of Old Oakville in Oakville, Ontario. St. Thomas Aquinas is a member of the Halton Catholic District School Board. There are over 1100 students attending the school in grades 9 through 12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheeling Central Catholic High School</span> Catholic independent secondary school in Wheeling, West Virginia, United States

Central Catholic High School is a parochial, Roman Catholic high school in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

Bishop Rosecrans High School is a private, Catholic high school, operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus, located in Zanesville, in the U.S. state of Ohio. The school's athletic teams are known as the Bishops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishop Connolly High School</span> Private, coeducational school in Fall River, , Massachusetts, United States

Bishop Connolly High School was a co-educational Catholic high school in Fall River, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Paul Diocesan Junior-Senior High School</span> Private, co-educational school in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

St. Paul Diocesan Junior-Senior High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, associated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester. It was established on the site of Holy Name Central Catholic Junior Senior High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's High School (Lynn, Massachusetts)</span> School in Lynn, , Massachusetts, United States

St. Mary's High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Lynn, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Notre Dame High School (Easton, Pennsylvania)</span> Private, coeducational school in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States

Notre Dame High School, also known as Notre Dame Green Pond, is a private, Catholic high school in Easton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (London, Ontario)</span> Roman catholic school in London, Ontario, Canada

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (STA) is a Catholic secondary school in London, Ontario, located in the neighbourhood of Oakridge in the west end of the city. It currently serves students in the London District Catholic School Board in the London Areas of Byron, Oakridge, Westmount, Lambeth, as well as some areas outside of the city limits such as Delaware, Komoka and even as far as Mount Brydges.

References

  1. NEASC-CIS. "NEASC-Commission on Independent Schools". Archived from the original on 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  2. "The Official Website of Mystery/Suspense Author Brendan DuBois". www.brendandubois.com. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  3. "MLB Draft: A five-tool find in STA's McKenna - Boston High School Blog". ESPN. June 2, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2018.