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Portsmouth Abbey School

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Portsmouth Abbey School
Veritas
Truth
Address
285 Cory's Lane
Portsmouth, Rhode Island, (Newport County), 02871
 United States
Coordinates 41°36′12″N 71°16′19″W / 41.60333°N 71.27194°W / 41.60333; -71.27194Coordinates: 41°36′12″N 71°16′19″W / 41.60333°N 71.27194°W / 41.60333; -71.27194
Information
Type Private, Coeducational
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic,
Benedictines
Established 1926
Headmaster Dr. James De Vecchi
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 353  (2008-2009)
Average class size 13
Campus Suburban
Color(s) Red and Black         
Athletics conference Eastern Independent League
Sports 24 sports
Mascot Raven
Rival St. George's School,
Pomfret School
Accreditation(s) New England Association of Schools and Colleges[1]
Publication The Raven (Literary Magazine)
Scriptorium (Scolarly Journal)
Newspaper 'The Beacon'
Yearbook 'The Gregorian'
Abbot/Chancellor Rev Dom Caedmon Holmes OSB
Assistant Headmaster John Perreira
Associate Headmaster Daniel McDonough
Admissions Director Meghan Fonts
Athletic Director Alfred Brown
Website http://www.portsmouthabbey.org

Portsmouth Abbey School is a private, coeducational boarding and day school for grades 9 through 12, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Founded by the Benedictine monks of Portsmouth Abbey in 1926 as Portsmouth Priory School, the school offered a classical education to boys. Using the British "public" school model, the Priory School employed a form system, and supplemented a student's education with athletics after classes. Portsmouth's education has emphasized the classics. In modern times, it has included a humanities curriculum as part of a student's fourth form, or sophomore, year. The school is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

The school has one full four-year academic merit scholarship, for applicants with test scores in the 90th percentile or above. There have been annual scholarships for students with test scores in the 80th percentile or above.

The school's campus is located on over 500 acres (2.0 km2) on the shores of Narragansett Bay. Buildings were designed by Pietro Belluschi.

In 2000, a parcel of the school's land was leased to a golf club.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

The school and monastery are located on land originally owned by the Freeborn family beginning in the 1650s. The land was later owned by the Anthony family, and in 1778 it was the site of the Battle of Rhode Island during the American Revolution. In 1864 Amos Smith, a Providence financier, built what is now known as the Manor House and created a gentleman's farm on the site with the help of architect Richard Upjohn. After buying the Manor House and surrounding land in 1918, Dom Leonard Sargent of Boston, a convert from the Episcopal Church, founded Portsmouth Priory on October 18, 1918. The priory was founded as, and remains, a house of the English Benedictine Congregation. It is one of only three American houses in the congregation, and maintains a unique connection with sister schools in England, including Ampleforth College and Downside School.

The school was founded by John Hugh Diman, a monk at the Portsmouth Priory, and a former Episcopalian. Portsmouth was not Diman's first school. In 1896, Diman founded Diman's School for Small Boys - later, St. George's School - in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1912, aware that St. George's School catered to the sons of more affluent families and eager to provide educational opportunities to working-class students, Diman founded the Diman Vocational School in Fall River, MA. A conversion experience brought Diman to Catholicism and ultimately to the Benedictines that were just beginning a priory in Portsmouth. After joining the Order of Saint Benedict, Diman was again moved to found a school. In 1926, Diman founded the Portsmouth Priory School, which would be redesignated as Portsmouth Abbey School - indicating the increased size of its monastic community - in 1969.[citation needed]

[edit] Modern times

Today the school, often referred to as "the Abbey," has students from 17 nations and a number of states.[citation needed] Its enrollment totals over 350 students, living at home and in seven residential houses. The school's endowment as of fiscal year 2005 was approximately $30,000,000. Tuition for boarding students was $47,000; day student tuition was $31,000.

Internet access is available in computer labs and all House libraries. The average size for a class is 12 to 14 students. Clubs include Amnesty International, the Appalachia Service Project, The Beacon (the student newspaper), The Raven (the art and literary magazine), Math League, Future Problem Solvers, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Community Service Projects, Debate Club, The Gregorian (yearbook), Model United Nations, Red Key (campus tour guides), Social Committee, and Student Council. The school also has visual and performing art programs, with a fine arts center, a still photography lab, art gallery (which alternatively displays traveling exhibits and selected student work), drama program, annual musical, and private music lessons.

The school has a radio station, WJHD 90.7 FM.[3]

In 2006, the school installed a Vestas V47-660 kW wind turbine, the first such project in Rhode Island,[4][5][6] to provide more than half of the school's electricity.

[edit] Athletics

In addition to the golf course next door available for use by the faculty and by the golf team, the school's athletic facilities include eight squash courts and a fitness center, a six-lane, all-weather track, nine tennis courts, an indoor ice hockey rink, two gymnasiums, and multiple outdoor playing fields.

Portsmouth Abbey is a member of the Eastern Independent League and has occasional contests against ISL (Independent School League) schools and other non-league boarding and day schools in New England. The Abbey's rivals include St. George's School and Pomfret School. It has a sailing team, and track & field teams, and a football team.

"George's Monday," a day of athletic competition with St. George's School is a major event. The school with a higher margin of success in varsity sports takes the Diman Cup, named for Father John Hugh Diman, founder of both schools, and is buried at Portsmouth Abbey.

Another traditional rival is with the varsity boys' soccer teams of the Abbey's sister school, St. Anselm's Abbey School of Washington, DC.

[edit] Traditions

The school has a number of traditions, such as a six-day week with classes on Saturdays.

In the center of the school campus is a large quadrangle used exclusively for commencement exercises on which students and faculty are not allowed to walk. This "Holy Lawn" is an unwritten school rule that has no confirmed story of origin. Its name likely derives from the lawn's location in front of the Abbey Church of St. Gregory the Great. In 2000, a student film series produced a clip of a student running across the lawn from the perspective of a monastery security camera. The Abbot made a cameo appearance in which he pushed a button that sent a bolt of lighting from the sky, electrocuting the student. The clip celebrated the tongue-in-cheek mythology of the lawn's tradition.[citation needed]

Another school tradition[clarification needed] is one required year of Latin.

[edit] Notable teachers and alumni

[edit] In Popular Culture

The 2008 movie The Clique (film), produced by Alloy Entertainment, was partially filmed at Portsmoth Abbey School

[edit] Footnotes

Portal icon Rhode Island portal
  1. ^ NEASC-CIS. "NEASC-Commission on Independent Schools". http://cis.neasc.org/cis_directory_of_schools. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
  2. ^ Carnegie Abbey Club
  3. ^ "Radio/TV - Radio in Portsmouth:WJHD-FM". Rhode Island Roads Magazine. http://riroads.com/links/listdetail.cgi?Lookup=377470. Retrieved 2009-03-17. 
  4. ^ "U.S. Wind Energy Projects - Rhode Island". American Wind Energy Association. 2008-11-19. http://www.awea.org/projects/Projects.aspx?s=Rhode+Island. Retrieved 2009-01-18. [dead link]
  5. ^ "Wind Powering America: New England Wind Project: Portsmouth Abbey". United States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program. http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/ne_project_detail.asp?id=26. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  6. ^ Opalka, William (08 2006). "Wind Goes To School". North American Windpower. http://www.nawindpower.com/naw/efeature/naw_efeature0608.html. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  7. ^ a b [1]

[edit] External links
Independent Houses
Dependent Houses
Schools
Former Houses
Benedictine High Schools in the United States
Maur Hill - Mount Academy, Atchison, KS · Marmion Academy, Aurora, IL · Linton Hall, Bristow, VA
St. Scholastica, Chicago, IL · Benedictine High School, Cleveland, OH · Saint John's Preparatory School, Collegeville, MN
St. Bernard Preparatory School, Cullman, AL · Delbarton School, Morristown, NJ · Benedictine Academy, Elizabeth, NJ
Mount Michael Benedictine Abbey and High School. Elkhorn, NE · Cistercian Preparatory School, Irving, TX
Benet Academy, Lisle, IL · Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, Newark, NJ · St. Bede Academy, Peru, IL
Portsmouth Abbey School, Portsmouth, RI · Saint Gertrude High School, Richmond, VA
Benedictine Military School, Savannah, GA · Saint Louis Priory School, St. Louis, MO
Subiaco Abbey and Academy, Subiaco, AR · Villa Madonna Academy, Villa Hills, KY
St. Anselm's Abbey School, Washington, DC · Woodside Priory School, Portola Valley, CA ·
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