St. Louis University High School

St. Louis University High School
Address
4970 Oakland Avenue St. Louis , MO 63110 United States
Information
School type	Private secondary
Motto	Religioni et Bonis Artibus (Latin: Faith and the Fine Arts) Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (Latin: For The Greater Glory of God) Men for Others
Established	1818
President	Mr. David J. Laughlin
Principal	Dr. John J. Moran
Grades	9 to 12
Gender	Male
Enrollment	1070
Color(s)	Blue and White
Mascot	Jr. Billiken
Newspaper	The Prep News
Yearbook	The Dauphin
Affiliation	Catholic, Jesuit
Website	http://www.sluh.org

St. Louis University High School (SLUH), a Jesuit Catholic high school for boys, was founded in 1818. It is the oldest secondary educational institution in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River, and one of the largest private high schools in Missouri. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis.

History

SLUH was founded in 1818 as St. Louis Academy. It quickly grew to include a college division, and the college was granted university status in 1832. The high school retained the identity of St. Louis Academy on the university campus until 1924 when it moved to its own facilities and incorporated separately under the name of St. Louis University High School. The school's new home, on Oakland Avenue, was a gift of Mrs. Anna Backer in memory of her late husband and alumnus George Backer. That facility, also known as Backer Memorial, has grown considerably over the years and remains the school's home. SLUH has been successful in its city location while many other private high schools have followed population moves to the western suburbs.

In 2005 SLUH hired the first lay president, Mr. David J. Laughlin, in its history.

Academics

In the school's class of 2006, ten members attained the top score of 36 on the ACT Assessment, the most widely-accepted college entrance exam in the country. Nationwide, fewer than 300 students per year attain this score (out of over 2 million tests administered). Two students in the class of 2007 have achieved the top score of 36. According to the figures released in SLUH's 2005 annual report, the average ACT score for SLUH students is over 29 and SAT over 1300, while the national average on the ACT was only 20.9 in 2005. SLUH is ranked in the top seven percent of schools in the nation for highest composite ACT score. Virtually all graduates immediately enter colleges and universities.

Students participate in many extracurriculars ranging from a superior theatre department to sports to Missouri's only weekly high school newspaper, The Prep News.

The humanities receive a strong emphasis within SLUH's curriculum, which is particularly evidenced in the language department that has offered four year programs in Russian and Chinese for many years. In keeping with its strong Jesuit Catholic heritage, courses in Latin and Greek are offered, as are the popular choices of French and Spanish.

Facilities

Over the years, SLUH has been forced to expand to meet demands for new facilities and expansions that still keep it in the city. The first major expansion took place in 1956, when a new gym was built to replace the original gym in the main building. The new complex contained the Backer Memorial Gymnasium, locker rooms, and several music facilities. The former gymnasium was then converted for use as an auditorium and multipurpose space. A new library was added in 1970 and dedicated to Dr. James Robinson, a long-time history teacher at the school, who endowed it using his winnings from the Irish Sweepstakes.

In 1978 under the leadership of Fr. Thomas Cummings, S.J., the school began soliciting funds for the "E-3" program (standing for "Education, Endowment, Expansion"), which helped to remodel the interior of the school (which had been largely unchanged from the 1940s and 50s), build up a large endowment and erect an upper field, faculty parking lot and the current football stadium on the Oakland Avenue side of the school.

In 1992, the Jesuit community moved out of the front wing of the school due to the declining number of priests. The Jesuit Wing was then renovated creating new Theology and Fine Arts classrooms as well as new office space for the President, Business Office, and Advancement Department. Today the SLUH Jesuit community resides in several houses in the neighborhood adjacent to the school's campus.

1997 brought about a major refresh of the interior (a new paint scheme, new floors, several new offices and classrooms, and air-conditioning), but most importantly built the Joseph Schulte Theater/performing arts wing of the school, extending west on the Oakland side. It is named for long-time SLUH drama teacher and St. Louis theatre figure Mr. F. Joseph Schulte. The Schulte Theater has 350 permanent seats, and the capacity is expandable to 600 with the addition of bleacher seating in the balcony-like "loge" section. The theater is often rented to outside groups to perform plays and other functions.

A large recreation room was built in the basement of the Backer Memorial in 1945, and in 2001 it was formally named the Fr. Hagan Rec Room to honor Martin Hagan, S.J., a retired priest who spent more than 40 years on the SLUH faculty and was a longtime supervisor of the recreation room and rifle coach. The Fr. Hagan Rec Room includes over 20 billiard tables and also contains foosball, ping pong, bumper pool, and shuffle board. The Fr. Hagan Rec Room is a favorite hang out for students, especially freshmen, before school, during Activity Period, and after school. The SLUH Rifle Range is right next door to the Rec Room, and the Pettit Fitness Center and Weight Room is across the hall.

Vision 2000

In the late 1990s, a large capital campaign to fund growth and expansion projects began under Fr. Paul Sheridan, S.J. Called VISON 2000 (V2K), the plan included reducing class sizes, better integrating technology into the curriculum and increasing class options. More resources have been poured into academic enhancements than to any other part of the V2K plan, but the most visible aspects of V2K are the construction projects.

The early phases of the program included the addition of new teaching and counseling positions in order to reduce class size and teaching loads and to expand the curriculum. Over a period of eight years, 18 new teaching and counseling positions were added.

The physical improvements began in 2004 when the football stadium was upgraded with the installation of artificial turf to expand its usability. That same year, a new entry boulevard to the west of the campus was constructed jointly with the adjacent St. Louis Science Center. The construction continued with the addition of a soccer/track complex and Sheridan Stadium, a new baseball field. Green space was added to the campus, and a new student parking lot was also constructed jointly with the St. Louis Science Center.

In May, 2008, construction began on the new Danis Field House. This will be a free-standing field house which will contain two gymnasium spaces, offices and meeting space for the athletic staff, and some locker facilities. An additional portion of the field house will be a space that will serve as the wrestling gym during the winter season, but will be a test-taking center and study area during the fall and spring seasons.

The summer of 2008 brought the renovation and expansion of the Campus Ministry office into space formerly occupied by the Student Council office as well as the Student Commons. A new Student Commons was built adjacent to the Backer Memorial Gymnasium in space formerly occupied by the locker room. The location of the new Student Commons near the Newbold Drop-Off/Pick-Up Circle has created a convenient place for students to congregate and work on homework while they wait for their rides.

Upon completion of the Danis Field House (scheduled for the fall of 2009), the existing gymnasium and surrounding spaces in the current building will be renovated into a new Multi-Purpose Commons. This area will serve as a new student cafeteria. It will also be a convocation space for all-school Masses and student assemblies. Plans call for the ability to sub-divide the space to provide banquet facilities of varying sizes for alumni reunions, meetings, and other gatherings.

Once the Multi-Purpose Commons are completed, the existing cafeteria and kitchen area will be renovated. A portion of the existing cafeteria will become the new “main office” of the school. Other portions will be renovated for academic purposes. Then, the existing “main office” in the center corridor will become a new “Student Life Center”, with offices for STUCO, Prep News, The Dauphin Yearbook, as well as other student clubs and activities. This location at the center of the school will be ideal for creating this new hub of student activities.

Activities

Some of the most popular student organizations are: Community Service Program (CSP), which sends students to sites across the area to work with the poor, disabled and aged; the Sisyphus literary magazine, offered twice a year in February and April; Student Council, which chairs the seniors-only "Blue Crew" cheering section at games; and Intramurals, which runs all year and includes events such as Music Trivia, Guitar Hero, basketball, and "bashball", a sport popular among students at SLUH that is best described as a mix of rugby, ice hockey, water polo, team handball and American football.

Many students at SLUH participate in the fine arts, including chorus, dance, band, drawing, painting and ceramics. The theatre program (called the Dauphin Players), puts on four productions each year.

The school is also noted for the Senior Service Project (or Senior Project). Seniors are given three weeks away from their studies at the start of the Spring semester and work full time on a service project with a not-for-profit agency. Most projects serve in and around the St. Louis area, but also offered are projects in Honduras and other places across the globe. SLUH is one of the few schools that provides time away from studies for this type of activity, which the school sees as critical to its Jesuit mission of educating "men for others". SLUH was among the first Jesuit schools to introduce this program, doing so in 1970.

Sports and Rivalries

SLUH's athletic teams are known as the Junior Billikens, or Jr. Bills. They are very competitive in the Metro Catholic Conference and are the current holders of the All Sports Trophy for that conference.

Missouri state titles

• American football (1970)
• Cross Country (three times, most recently 2007)
• Soccer (1971, 1991 and 2004)
• Basketball (4 times, most notably beating Bill Bradley and his Crystal City, Missouri, team in 1960)
• Tennis (1970 and 2006, as well as a 2007 singles state title)
• Track and field (2006)
• Water polo (13 times, most recently 2008)
• Swimming (twice as a team, most recently 2003, with numerous individual champions)
• Volleyball (five times, most recently 2008).

They have also won the national racquetball title three times, most recently in 2004. Before the inauguration of a state-wide Missouri football title in the late 1960s, the Jr. Bills football squad won ten city championships, retiring the St. Louis Globe Democrat City/County trophy, which sits proudly in one of the trophy cases by the school's switchboard.

In the modern era, SLUH's biggest rivals in athletics include other all-male Catholic schools, e.g. Chaminade College Preparatory School (Missouri), De Smet Jesuit High School, and Christian Brothers College High School (CBC). The De Smet and Chaminade rivalries are a relatively recent development, since De Smet has only been open since 1967, and Chaminade formerly had a smaller enrollment. The fact that both SLUH and DeSmet are operated by the Jesuits, however, brings a special fervor to their competitions.

The archrivalry with CBC (est. 1850), dates back to the late 19th century. For years the schools were located just two miles apart along Oakland Avenue/Clayton Road. The intensity of the rivalry was showcased for years at an annual football game played in Busch Stadium rather than on either school's home field. That practice ended in 1995 when Busch Stadium was remodelled into a baseball-only facility. The soccer rivalry has heated up in the last decade. In 2003, when both schools had nationally-ranked soccer teams, the district playoff between them was attended by over 6,000 fans. Perhaps the signature event of the rivalry is the Running of the Bills, an annual event during which many members of the student body run to a football game from near by Forest Park clad in blue paint to cheer on the Jr. Bill football team.

SLUH also competitively participates in many academic sports, such as math contests, Math League, Speech Team, Mock Trial and Quizbowl (Academic Team). SLUH has placed as the top scoring high school in the Missouri chapter of Math League for five years running. The Quizbowl team of 2006-07 won the title for SLUH's district, won second place at the state competition, and won the individual second place medal at the state level.

SLUH's Latin Club also competes yearly in Missouri Junior Classical League's Certamen competition in Columbia Missouri. In 2007, both the freshmen and varsity team took first place.

The school is one of very few in the area to have a rifle range and team. The "Riflebills" have won many awards over the years, including national titles, in both .22 calibre smallbore rifle and air rifle competitions. In 2007, the team switched to the exclusive use of air rifles, due to a lack of interscholastic competition available in smallbore rifle.

Notable alumni

Business

• Jack Boehm, former President and CEO of Valvoline Oil Company.
• Kevin P. Mansell, President of Kohl's Department Stores.
• George A. Schaefer, retired CEO of Caterpillar Inc..
• John T. Schuessler, Retired Chairman of the Board and CEO of Wendy's International.

Clergy

• Most Reverend Michael J. Sheridan, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs

Entertainment

• Chris Albers, Emmy Award-winning comedy writer.
• Michael Beugg [8], Academy Award nominated movie producer.
• James Gunn, filmmaker and screenwriter.
• Matt Gunn, writer for HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher.
• Sean Gunn, actor.
• George Hickenlooper, award-winning filmmaker.
• Robert Hyland, radio executive who created the talk radio format.
• Ken Kwapis, film and TV director.
• Timothy J. Sexton, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter.

Government

• Alfonso J. Cervantes, former mayor of St. Louis
• Joseph Darst, former mayor of St. Louis
• Raymond Gruender, federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Mel Price, former U.S. Congressmen from southern Illinois
• William F. Quinn, first governor of the state of Hawaii, and former president of Dole Pineapple.
• Eugene R. Sullivan, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (Armed Forces),counsel on Richard Nixon's defense team during the Watergate hearings, and as governor of Wake Island.
• Raymond Tucker, former mayor of St. Louis

File:SacDollar.jpeg

U.S. Sacagawea dollar coin, showing Charbonneau on his mother's back

Historical

• Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau members of The Corps of Discovery/Lewis and Clark Expedition, pictured as an infant on the U.S. One Dollar Coin.

Humanitarianism/Activism

• Thomas Anthony Dooley III, Humanitarian, anti-communist activist, author and Congressional Gold Medal recipient
• Henry Hampton, Filmmaker, civil rights activist and producer of the documentary Eyes on the Prize.
• E. Michael Harrington, Harvard professor and author.
• Max Starkloff, founder of Paraquad (did not graduate)

Journalism

• Greg Burke, reporter for Fox News Rome bureau.

Medicine/Research

• Michael R. DeBaun, M.D., M.P.H. Pediatrician, Sickle-cell disease expert and 2004 Backer Award Recipient.

Military

• Michael Blassie, former unknown soldier for Vietnam War.

Science

• Keith Schwab [9], quantum physicist and head of Schwab Research Group at Cornell University

Sports

• Nelson Burton Jr., professional bowler
• Jay Delsing, professional golfer.
• Buzz Demling, professional soccer player and former member of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team
• Joe Germanese, professional soccer player for the New England Revolution.
• Henry Jones, former All-Pro defensive back for the Buffalo Bills.
• Bob Kehoe, soccer player and former head coach of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team.
• William "Ty" Keough, sports broadcaster, retired professional soccer player and former member of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team.
• Ed Macauley, professional basketball player and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Pat McBride, professional soccer player and member of the national soccer hall of fame.
• Joe Schultz, professional baseball player and manager
• Frank Simek, defender for English soccer club Sheffield Wednesday F.C. and member of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team.
• Matt Sinclair, professional football player, Washington Redskins
• Taylor Twellman Major League Soccer player for the New England Revolution, named the 2005 MLS Most Valuable Player and member of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team.
• Jack Berger- the second coming of Christ.

See also

• St. Louis University

External links

• Saint Louis University High School
• Prep News