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The Bolles School

Coordinates: 30°14′31″N 81°37′45″W / 30.2419071°N 81.6292596°W / 30.2419071; -81.6292596
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The Bolles School
File:BollesSchoolLogo.PNG
Location
Map
Jacksonville &
Ponte Vedra Beach
,
Florida

USA
Information
TypePrivate, Day, Boarding
Established1933
Head teacherDr. John E. Trainer
Faculty200
GradesPre-K - 12
Enrollment1,800
CampusSuburban
Campus size84 acres (0.34 km2)
Color(s)Blue & Orange   
MascotBulldog
Tuition$32,500 (7-day boarding)
$15,500 (Day Student 9-12)
$15,000 (Day Student 6-8)
$12,000 (4-5)
$9,500 (K-3)
$6,500 (preK)
Websitewww.bolles.org

The Bolles School is a private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jacksonville area, and enrolls about 1,800 students a year.[1] The school was founded in 1933 as an all-boys military academy. It dropped its military focus in 1962 and became coeducational in 1971. Its athletics program has been noted by Sports Illustrated magazine and the Florida High School Athletic Association.

History

The school was founded as an all-boys' military academy in 1933 by Agnes Cain Painter, a friend of philanthropist Richard J. Bolles. The original campus, now known as the San Jose Campus, was founded in a former hotel on San Jose Boulevard near the east bank of the St. Johns River. Bolles announced that it would drop its military status in 1961 and the graduating class of 1962 ended the military era. It began admitting girls in 1971. Today, the ratio of males to females is close to 1:1.

Boarding students come from more than 25 countries, but make up less than ten percent of the total school population. Boarders must be in grade 7 or higher, with male students living on the San Jose campus and female students living at the Bartram campus. Bolles enrolls 1,800 students (approximately 800 in the Upper School) spread across four campuses:

Upper School (grades 9-12) - San Jose Campus (Jacksonville)
Middle School (6-8) - Bartram Campus (Jacksonville)
Lower School (pre-kindergarten-5) - Ponte Vedra (Ponte Vedra Beach) & Whitehurst (Jacksonville) Campuses

Academics

Bolles has been a fully accredited Florida high school since 1934. The Bolles Faculty hold 13 doctorate degrees and 90 master's degrees; almost 50% of the faculty holds an advanced degree.[citation needed] The teacher-student ratio is 1:9.[citation needed] Bolles operates on a two-semester academic year, with each semester split into two quarters.

Bolles offers Advanced Placement courses in:

In 2009, Bolles had 9 National Merit Finalists, the second most in the Jacksonville area.[citation needed]

Art

Bolles offers arts programs in five areas: dance, drama, instrumental music, vocal music, and visual arts.[citation needed]

Athletics

In 2005, Sports Illustrated named Bolles's athletic program the ninth best in the country, and second best in Florida. Of the top twenty-five schools, Bolles was the only one with an Upper School enrollment of under 1,000 students.[2] Bolles has received the Florida High School Athletic Association's Dodge Sunshine Cup/Floyd E. Lay All-Sports Award (given to the best overall athletic program in each school type/size classification in Florida) for eleven consecutive years.[3] The school has recently[when?] won state championships in baseball, cross country, football, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, crew, volleyball and wrestling. [citation needed]

File:Bolles Billboard.jpg
During football season, this billboard in front of the school is used to display the team's next opponent

The swim team, which established prominence under Coach Gregg Troy, who now coaches at the University of Florida, is highly successful. Bolles' boys and girls swim teams have been state champions every year since 1984, usually sweeping most events at state meets.[citation needed] The girls team has won the National Championship nine (9) times, while the boys team has won or been runners-up for the National Championship eleven (11) times.[citation needed] The school's swimming facility has its own offices, weightroom (not separate from the weightroom that the rest of the school uses), and two swimming pools (one Olympic-sized). Bolles has had at least one alumnus or student competing in every summer Olympics since 1972. In recent Olympics, up to two dozen Bolles students and alumni have swum for their respective countries.[citation needed] The Bolles Sharks, Bolles's club swim team, compete and practice year-round.

Bolles's football team is coached by Charles "Corky" Rogers, the all-time winningest Florida high school football coach, and has won ten state championships, nine under Coach Rogers.[citation needed] For the 2009 season, the Bulldogs went 12-1, losing only to Cocoa High School, 44-37 in overtime. They defeated Tampa Catholic in the state championship game on December 12, 21-7.[4]

Activities

Bolles's Superintendent's Academic Challenge won first place in 2005, second in 2006, and second again in 2010.[citation needed] Bolles's team has placed four different individuals on Team Duval, which represents Duval County in the statewide Commissioner's Academic Challenge, Florida's precursor to the national Panasonic Academic Challenge.[citation needed] In 2010, two Bolles students were a part of the six-member Team Duval that advanced to the final round of the Commissioner's Academic Challenge at Walt Disney World.[citation needed]

The Bolles mock trial team won the 2010 Jacksonville Bar Association mock trial competition.[citation needed]

Bolles's drama program performs a musical every second year and a Shakespeare play every third year. There is also an annual night of one act plays, directed by students.[citation needed] Performing groups include Jazz Ensemble, Stage Band, Choir, Choral Music and Dance.[6] Student Publications include: the school newspaper, The Bugle; the literary magazine, Perspective and the yearbook, Turris.[citation needed] Student Government is composed of Honor Council, Student Council and Class Officers.[citation needed]

File:BollesLogo.PNG
Bolles logo

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ Boarding School Review: Directory/Florida/The Bolles School
  2. ^ Sports Illustrated Magazine: May 16, 2005-Best High School Athletic Programs
  3. ^ FHSAA News Release: Jun 11, 2007-St. Thomas Aquinas, Bolles, P.K. Yonge, Port St. Joe, Maclay sweep Dodge Sunshine Cup all-sports awards
  4. ^ Cushnir, Chad: "Bolles Wins Class 2B Football Title" First Coast News, December 12, 2009
  5. ^ Bolles School website: Athletics
  6. ^ The Association of Boarding Schools website: The Bolles School
  7. ^ "Bolles School grad hangs 10 to land 'Melrose Place' role", Nancy McAlister, The Florida Times-Union, July 29, 1997.
  8. ^ "Auburn swimmer adds to proud family tradition", Austin American-Statesman, March 28, 2003.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h "Florida's Bolles School claims top spot", USA Today, November 26, 1996.
  10. ^ "Molly Hatchet biography", Steve Huey, allmusic
  11. ^ "Swimmers Receive Goodwill Invitations", Orlando Sentinel, April 17, 1994.
  12. ^ a b "Sergio Show Moves to Jacksonville", CollegeSwimming.com, May 30, 2007.
  13. ^ "Waycross' forgotten son", J. Taylor Rushing, The Florida Times-Union, July 20, 2005.
  14. ^ "Packers have failure to communicate", Jeff Elliott, The Florida Times-Union, December 15, 2008.
  15. ^ "Tyler Gets Back in Swim of Things", Orlando Sentinel, August 27, 1986.
  16. ^ "Playing with a Passion", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 20, 1998.
  17. ^ Miss America contestant archive
  18. ^ "In Wake of Injury, It's Skinner's Job", Hartford Courant, September 14, 2006.

30°14′31″N 81°37′45″W / 30.2419071°N 81.6292596°W / 30.2419071; -81.6292596

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