Bellarmine College Preparatory

Bellarmine College Preparatory

File:BCP Seal.png © Bellarmine College Preparatory
Mottos: Men for Others; Tradition, Wisdom, Justice; Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
President	Reverend William H. Muller, S.J.
School type	Private
Religious affiliation	Jesuit, Roman Catholic
Founded	1851
Location	San Jose, California
Enrollment	1450
Faculty	145 lay, 20 Jesuits
Campus surroundings	Urban
Campus size	17 acres (0.07 km²)
Mascot	Bellarman
School Colors	Blue and White
Endowment	$40 million
Website	www.bcp.org

Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-male parochial secondary school located in San Jose, California. It is the oldest secondary school in California and one of the oldest private secondary schools in the United States. It is a Roman Catholic school in the tradition of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The school is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of San Jose, and sponsored by the Society of Jesus.

History

Bellarmine has its origin in 1851 when Father John Nobili, S.J. founded Santa Clara College for elementary, secondary, and college age students. This structure continued until 1903 when the elementary grades were discontinued.

In 1912 Santa Clara College became Santa Clara University and the high school division became Santa Clara Prep. For some five years Santa Clara and the College of the Pacific—as it was known then—deliberated over the sale of the Emory and Elm property behind the historic College Park train station (immortalized in Jack Kerouac and Jack London's works) [1]. Finally in November of 1925 the decision was made to purchase the campus for $77,500 and the high school moved from the Santa Clara campus to its new location. The change also saw a change in school colors from the red and white of Santa Clara to blue and white, in order to honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In 1926 the school opened its doors with only 200 registered students, and the name was changed to Bellarmine on the prompting of Archbishop of San Francisco Edward Joseph Hanna. He suggested, while visiting the school in the early days, that the school honor Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit of the sixteenth century, who had recently been canonized a saint and declared a Doctor of the Church. The Jesuits accepted his suggestion and the name Bellarmine became synonymous with the school at Emory and Elm.

For almost twenty years, the number of students remained at 200. The school needed to increase its student population and improve its campus buildings. Fr. Gerald Sugrue, S.J. was given the task and began the process which would lead the school into the post-war era. The old College of the Pacific buildings were replaced by new classroom buildings, the Schott Academic Center, a library, St. Robert's Jesuit Residence Hall, Vincent O'Donnell Residence Hall, Samuel A. Liccardo Center, Wayne Valley Memorial Gymnasium, Carney Science Center, the Leontyne Chapel, and Mathewson Hall. From an enrollment of 200, Bellarmine has grown to over 1400 students from all parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2001, Bellarmine celebrated 150 years of educating young men of "competence, conscience, and compassion" in the Jesuit tradition. The latest addition to Bellarmine's campus is the Emory Fitness Center.

Graduate at Graduation

Known to most as the "Grad at Grad,"[2] this it is based on a comprehensive understanding of the curriculum, which includes every aspect of the Bellarmine experience—religious, social, and psychological, as well as academic. This statement represents the consensus of their faculty regarding what they consider the essential characteristics of the ideal graduate. Though they do not expect any one of their graduates to reflect completely this profile, they do offer this statement as an articulation of the kind of Ignatians they are striving to form: men and women who, in the words of Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J., former Jesuit Superior General, must be "men and women with and for others".

This statement is not carved in stone nor is it meant to be the definitive, unchanging, last word on Jesuit high school education. Just as the school has had to undergo the periodic evaluation and accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in previous years, so must their traditional Jesuit philosophy be re-examined and honed in light of current thought and research. Built into the Jesuit Secondary Education Association's Curriculum Improvement Process is an ongoing re-evaluation of their goals and objectives, which will provide an agenda for program development over the next several years. It will complement the continued efforts of the faculty and administration in ensuring excellence in the classroom, a challenging curriculum for the school, and the faculty dedicated to the academic and moral, growth of each student.

Student Body

Most of Bellarmine's 1450 students come from the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, with many students commuting for hours each day to attend the school in the South Bay. Although the racial composition of classes varies year to year, the student population usually is approximately 55% Caucasian, 20% Asian/Pacific Islander, 15% Hispanic, 5% African American, 2% Middle Eastern, 2% South Asian, and 1% Native American. In terms of religious affiliation, 85% of the students are Christian (70% Catholic, 15% Protestant). Approximately 1 in 5 students receive a partial or full scholarship. Additionally, 1 in 5 students have a parent or sibling who attended Bellarmine.

Academics

Graduation requirements require coursework in English, mathematics, social studies, science, foreign language, fine arts, physical education, and theology with additional courses in computer science available. With its emphasis on college preparation, Bellarmine also provides an honors and Advanced Placement program, preparing students to take over 15 AP tests with an 85% of test scores qualifying for college credit. Virtually all graduates attend college with 95%-100% attending four-year institutions ranging from the University of California system and the Ivy League.

Athletics

Bellarmine fields 34 teams in 13 sports over three seasons in the West Catholic Athletic League, one of the most intense athletic leagues in the California. Sports include football, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, water polo, swimming, lacrosse, tennis, cross country, golf, wrestling and track and field. Athletic facilities on campus include an outdoor swimming pool, all weather track, soccer field, baseball diamond, football field, and a gymnasium. Since 1981, Bellarmine has won approximately 100 Central Coast Section (CCS) Division 1 titles.

Swimming, Baseball, and water polo are three of Bellarmine's most notable sports. Under the direction of Coach Larry Rogers, the swim team has won every CCS championship since 1985 and the water polo team has won fourteen of the last fifteen CCS championships. The swim team title streak caught the eye of The San Francisco Chronicle’s Mitch Stevens who wrote, “That put [Bellarmine Coach Larry] Rogers...and the Bells...above such storied high school programs as Poway of San Diego wrestling, Mission Viejo swimming and yes, even De La Salle football.”

Spirituality and Service

Central to Bellarmine's mission is its Campus Ministry and Christian Service Program. Campus Ministry, in the tradition of Jesuit spirituality, offers the Freshmen Retreat, one day Sophomore Breakaways, three day Junior Search, and the 4 day Senior Kairos, the capstone of the Bellarmine retreat experience (the school decided to repeal the overnight Freshman Retreat). Other retreats also include weekend Mother/Son and Father/Son retreats, the Silent Retreat, and the 4th Day Retreat. Campus Ministry also provides personal counseling, assists in student sponsored monthly liturgies, guides the Student Campus Ministry Team, leads Christian Life Communities, sets up daily Mass and morning prayer, and fosters spirituality among Bellarmine's staff and faculty. Campus Ministry's partner, The Christian Service Program (CSP) which provides each student opportunities to engage directly with groups that are often marginalized including youth, the physically and mentally disabled, and the socio-economically disadvantaged. Students are required to complete 75 hours of service before graduation including an extensive senior service project. CSP also oversees service learning in the school curriculum, administers service projects for alumni and faculty and staff, and guides the student run CSP Corps. Emphasizing direct experience and compassionate human interactions, Bellarmine sponsors Immersion trips to Guaymas, Tijuana, Uruguay, downtown San Jose, rural Salinas, and El Salvador in order to directly experience the lives of the poor.

Co-curricular Program

Bellarmine's co-curricular program offers nearly 90 different student groups and clubs emphasizing the arts, athletics, hobbies, diversity, leadership, service, scholastics and student government. Bellarmine also features an intramural athletic program that features touch football, dodgeball, basketball, and softball.

Speech and Debate

This program is one of the more popular and successful programs at Bellarmine with over 150 participants and capturing both state and national championships via the National Forensic League. In 2005, the Speech and Debate program took 2nd place in California and received an honorary award as one of the top 2 teams in the nation. Bellarmine participates locally in the Coast Forensic Leagues against schools such as St. Francis High School, Westmont High School, and Presentation High School.

Robotics

Another national championship winning program is the FIRST Robotics Team 254. It has captured the Chairman's Award (the highest award in FIRST), second place at the national championships twice, and has won the Silicon Valley Regional every year of the regional's existence, among others (8 years running). No other FIRST team has won a regional for more than 3 years in a row.

Journalism

Bellarmine also has an award winning student run newspaper, The Cardinal, and nationally recognized yearbook, The Carillion. Another publication, the Tabula Rasa solicits articles from the entirety of the student body, and publishes them if they are approved. This is in contrast to The Cardinal, which is run more like a traditional newspaper. The writers of the stories are made up of a staff selected from students who apply at the end of the first semester. As a result, the articles of Tabula Rasa run more towards opinion and editorial pieces, whereas the articles of The Cardinal are written from a more neutral standpoint, where the objective is to inform.

Fine Arts

In addition to course electives in painting, ceramics, art history, sculpture, drawing and graphic design, Bellarmine also supports various student groups including acapella and improvisational humor groups. Music electives include symphonic band, lab band, jazz ensemble, percussion ensemble, wind ensemble, music appreciation, and choir. Student concerts are held often to showcase these groups effort along with that of outside student bands. Over 100 students also participate in the Theater Arts program which produces a fall drama, a winter musical, and spring comedy.

School Fight Song

Fight, fight, fight, fight Bells
Go on to win the victory!
It's our strength and might Bells
To show our foes our bravery, rah rah rah
Blue and white will conquer
Whoever the foe may be
We'll fight to show our power
And we will win the victory!
Go Bells!

Written by: Bing Crosby

Publications

• Connections - A magazine published for the alumni, friends of the school, and parents of current students, replacing the parent magazine called "The Bell News"
• The Family Newsletter - produced by the Bellarmine Mothers' Guild, offers news of interest to the current students and their families
• The Cardinal - The Official Student Newspaper, produced by students
• The Carillon - The Yearbook, produced by students

Notable alumni

• Joe Albanese: MLB (1958)
• Justin Baughman: MLB (1998-2000)
• Wayne Belardi: MLB (1950-1956)
• Pat Burrell: MLB (2000-2004)
• Ming W. Chin: Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California
• Bill Connors: MLB (1966-1968)
• Bob Gallagher: MLB (1972-1975)
• Ed Giovanola: MLB (1995-1999)
• Greg Gohr: MLB (1993-1996)
• Tom McEnery: Former mayor of San Jose
• Kevin McMahon: Olympian (1987-1990)
• Pablo Morales: Olympian (1979-1983)
• Marv Owen: MLB (1931-1940)
• Dan Pastorini: NFL
• Stephen Schott: Former owner of the Oakland Athletics
• Jim Small: MLB (1955-1958)
• John Vasconcellos, California State Senator
• Jim Wilhelm: MLB (1978-1979)

Miscellaneous

Technology on campus is supported by companies such as IBM, Extreme Networks, Network Appliance, and Cisco Systems.

Jack Kerouac would pass by the school everyday when he worked in the trainyards and even referenced the school in a prose piece he wrote entitled "October in the Railroad Earth" as part of the longer book, Lonesome Traveler.

Bellarmine is the 4th oldest Jesuit Institution in the United States and the oldest Jesuit Institution west of the Mississippi River. Bellarmine College Preparatory is the oldest High School in the state of California.

Actress Linda Park (famous for her role as Hoshi Sato on Star Trek: Enterprise) acted regularly in Bellarmine theater productions while she went to one of Bellarmine's sister schools, Notre Dame.

External links

• Bellarmine College Preparatory website
• Bellarmine Online Store
• California Province Society of Jesus
• Past Issues of The Cardinal, Bellarmine's official student newspaper
• Tabula Rasa, Bellarmine's unofficial student newspaper