St. Anselm's Abbey School

This article is about school in Washington D.C.. For other uses, see St Anselm's School.

St. Anselm's Abbey School
File:Stalogo.png
Address
4501 South Dakota Avenue, NE Washington , D.C. 20017 United States
Coordinates	38°56′46″N 76°59′11″W
Information
Type	Private, All-Male
Motto	Pax in Sapientia ("Peace in understanding")
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1942
President	Fr. Peter Weigand, OSB, MTS
Headmaster	Louis Silvano
Chairman of the Board of Trustees	William Fennell, '66
Faculty	60 (approx)
Grades	Forms A - VI (grades 6–12)
Enrollment	242 (in 2007-08)
Mascot	Panthers
Accreditation	Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Newspaper	The Priory Press'
Yearbook	The Priory Perspective'
Affiliations	Benedictine
Head of Middle School	William Lippe
Head of Upper School	Alex Morse
Headmaster Emeritus	Fr. Michael Hall OSB, Ph.D, '56
Dean of Students	Michael McCarthy
Director of Admissions	E.V. Downey
Website	http://www.saintanselms.org

St. Anselm's Abbey School is an all boys preparatory school for grades six through twelve in Washington D.C.. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. The school sits on a 40-acre (160,000 m²) wooded campus in the Michigan Park neighborhood of the city's Northeast quadrant and is run by the Benedictine monks of Saint Anselm's Abbey.

History

The school was founded in 1942 as the Priory School by Fr. Thomas Verner Moore, OSB, the superior of what was then St. Anselm's Priory. The Priory School opened on September 15, 1942 with just 18 students. Although the school began as a high school, the 7th and 8th grades (known as Form I and Form II, respectively) were added in 1955.

The school was renamed St. Anselm's Abbey School in 1961, when the monastery was elevated to the status of an abbey. A 6th grade, known as Form A, was added in 1990 following a major expansion of the school's academic building. In 2003, the school completed a $9 million athletic and performing arts complex. This included the construction of a state-of-the-art athletic facility and gymnasium, as well as the conversion of the old 1945 gym into the Devine Performing Arts Center, containing classroom space, faculty offices and a theater with seating for 500.

Academics

The school requires an entrance exam and attempts to create an academically challenging environment with a curriculum that offers classes in a wide range of subjects, including 22 AP level courses. In 2004, roughly two-thirds of the graduating class achieved commendation or higher honors from the National Merit Scholar program, and the average combined SAT I score was over 1400. In 2003, roughly half of the senior class achieved the AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, or National AP Scholar level as defined by the Advanced Placement Program.

Each student who has graduated from St. Anselm's Abbey School since its founding has been accepted to and attended an accredited four-year college or university. For the five-year period from 2002-2006, the five most popular destinations for St. Anselm's graduates were Georgetown University, Columbia University, the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Chicago, and the College of William & Mary.

The school's curriculum emphasizes classics and is somewhat idiosyncratic. Grades are called "forms," in accordance with the British school system. In addition to six years of science and five years of a spoken language, three years of Latin are required. Ancient Greek is also offered as an elective for students in the Upper School, as is Arabic for students in fifth and sixth forms. As in many other religious schools, theology is also a required course each year.

The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools.

In a December 2006 online discussion, Challenge Index creator Jay Mathews said, "Saint Anselm's Abbey in NE D.C. has one of the highest ratings in the country, far above most private schools I know."

The Baltimore Sun has called St. Anselm's "one of the country's premier college preparatory schools."

Class sizes are small, 15-20 per class, and the school's student-to-faculty ratio is approximately 5:1. Classes are smallest in the Upper Division (Forms V and VI), and graduating classes are typically made up of 35 or fewer students.

Athletics

St. Anselm's competes in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference at the middle school and varsity levels in several sports each season. During the ten-year period from 1998 to 2008, the Panthers won 35 conference championships in basketball, soccer, baseball, tennis, cross country, and track and field.

St. Anselm's is home to the longest-running high school basketball tournament in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The St. Anselm's Invitational, founded by former basketball coach Bob Dwyer and former headmaster Fr. Hugh Monmonier, OSB, has been a tradition at the school since 1948.

Another traditional athletic rivalry is the Bishop Ansgar Nelson Memorial Soccer Cup, an annual competition held between the varsity boys' soccer teams of St. Anselm's Abbey School and its sister school, Portsmouth Abbey School of Portsmouth, RI. The competition rotates each year between the two schools.

Student life

The school has clubs and associations, many unique to the school. These include the Cultural Student Organization, Investment Club, Fides Fellowship of St. Benedict, Mythology Club, Latin Club, Greek Club, It's Academic, Chamber Orchestra, Jazz Band, Fencing Club, Biology/Forensics Club, and French Club. In 2008, the school's Model UN team took the honor of "Best School" at Catholic University's annual conference in Washington.

Campus and Facilities

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The Abbey Church, St. Anselm's Abbey

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The St. Anselm's Academic Building

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The Athletic Complex featuring Brian Murphy Basketball Court

The school's campus is approximately forty acres and includes the monastic building of St. Anselm's Abbey, an academic building, and an athletics/performing arts complex. The campus is also home to several tennis courts, athletic fields, batting cages, a cemetery and extensive woodland areas.

The academic building underwent a large renovation in 2008. A large lecture hall with a stage and multimedia capabilities is now complete. An earth science lab was also recently completed, providing more space for experimentation in the science department. With its completion, the number of labs available to students is four, one for each of the major sciences. The largest and most noticeable upgrade is to the school entrance, which now houses a new reception area and office space for student-teacher consultations. The rest of the school also received minor technological upgrades, including the installation of SMART Boards in several classrooms.

Notable alumni

• John T. Elson, '49 - an editor at Time Magazine
• Ambassador James E. Nolan, '50 - First Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, U.S. Department of State
• Brian K. Devine, '59 - current Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Petco
• Morgan E. O'Brien, '62 - co-founder, former Chairman of the Board, and current Vice Chairman of Nextel
• Xavier Suarez, '67 - First Cuban-born mayor of Miami

Notable faculty

• Fr. John Main, OSB, Fifth Headmaster, 1970-1974 - leader in the field of Christian meditation
• William May, former Theology teacher - moral theologian
• John Montroll, current Calculus and Origami teacher - author of many books on origami

See also

• Saint Anselm
• Saint Anselm's Abbey

External links

• St. Anselm's Abbey School
• St. Anselm's Abbey School Alumni Association
• St. Anselm's Abbey