Portsmouth Abbey School
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| Portsmouth Abbey School |
|
| Motto: Veritas | |
| Established | 1926 |
| Type | Private coeducational secondary, boarding-day |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Headmaster | Dr. James DeVecchi |
| Students | 353 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | Portsmouth, Rhode Island USA |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Mascot | Raven |
| Website | www.portsmouthabbey.org |
Portsmouth Abbey School is a private, coeducational high school located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Founded by a group of Benedictine monks in 1926, the school, then known as the Portsmouth Priory 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 always been grounded in the classics, and has recently grown to include a humanities curriculum as part of a student's fourth form, or sophomore, year. In 1969, the Portsmouth Priory gained new status as the Portsmouth Abbey, denoting the increased size of its monastic community.
Today, the Portsmouth Abbey School remains true to the spirit of its founding and committed to education. Its beautiful campus is located on over 500 acres on the shores of Narragansett Bay. Supplemented with world-renowned modern architecture designed by Pietro Belluschi, the Portsmouth Abbey School has created a setting unlike other New England prep schools. In 2006, the School installed a large wind turbine, the first such project in Rhode Island, to provide more than half of the school's electricity. In 2000, the adjacent Carnegie Abbey Club was opened, built on a portion of the school's lands leased for a 99-year term. The club includes a golf course designed by Donald Steele.
In addition to the golf course, available for use by the faculty and by the golf team, the school's athletic facilities include eight squash courts and a state-of-the-art fitness center, a six-lane, all-weather track, nine tennis courts, an indoor ice hockey rink, two gymnasiums, and multiple outdoor playing fields. The school also nurtures a wide range of visual and performing art programs, with its spacious fine arts center, state-of-the-art still photography lab, art gallery (which alternatively showcases traveling exhibits and selected student work), drama program, annual musical, and private music lessons.
The school's mission encompasses the importance of reverence for God and the human person, respect for learning and order, and responsibility for the shared experience of community life. In keeping with the Benedictine tradition of the pursuit of knowledge, the school also provides one full four-year academic merit scholarship, named for the school's founder, Father John Diman, for students with test scores in the 90th percentile or above, and annual Abbey scholarships for students with test scores in the 80th percentile or above.
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, Student Council, and more.
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[edit] History
The Portsmouth Abbey School is located on Aquidneck Island. It was originally 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 St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island and Diman Regional, a vocational technical high 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 Benedict, Diman was again moved to found a school.
[edit] Current affairs
Today, the Portsmouth Abbey School represents 17 nations and a number of states. Its enrollment totals over 350 students, living at home and in six residential houses. The school's endowment as of fiscal year 2005 was approximately $30,000,000. Tuition for boarding students was $36,300; day student tuition was $25,300.
The Abbey competes athletically in the SENE (Southeastern New England) with occasional contests against ISL (Independent School League) rivals. The Abbey's principal rival is St. George's School. It boasts, among other things, a nationally-ranked sailing team, and the world-class, eighteen-hole Scottish links golf course, Carnegie Abbey. The Abbey's Track & Field teams are often among the top in New England, their Lacrosse teams both won the SENE division championships and the girls went undefeated, and the Boys Football team recently competed for the New England Championship.
The Portsmouth Abbey is often referred to as "The Abbey." One of the Abbey's most prominent means of community interaction is the school's radio station, WJHD at 90.7 FM. Broadcasting to much of Aquidneck Island and the surrounding communities, WJHD presents twenty-four hours of commercial free radio. Student shows fill primetime slots with a predilection for alternative rock. Recently, WJHD (named for John Hugh Diman, school founder) played host to The Squizzles, one of Providence, RI's most popular rock groups.
[edit] Traditions
The School is known to embrace a number of traditions, such as a six-day week with classes on Saturday. In the center of the school campus is a large quadrangle used exclusively for commencement excersises which students and faculty are not allowed to walk on. 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. The Holy Lawn tradition has manifested itself in various student productions and lore. In 2000, a student film series known as 'The Blue Potato' produced a clip of a student running across the lawn from the perspective of a monastery security camera. The Abbot Mark Serna (elected head of the monastic community) made a cameo appearance in which he pushed a button that sent a bolt of lighting from the sky, electrocuting the student. This short clip celebrated the mythology of the Holy Lawn one of the school's most revered traditions.
"George's Monday," the celebrated day of athletic competition with St. George's School forms a cornerstone of school spirit. Each year between the Abbey and St. George's, the school with a higher margin of success in varsity sports takes the Diman Cup. The trophy is named for John Hugh Diman, founder of both schools. This has contributed to the rivalry between the schools. Father Diman is buried on the grounds of Portsmouth Abbey.
In keeping with the school's commitment to classical education, another school tradition is one required year of Latin.
[edit] Notable Alumni
- Robert F. Kennedy, (1925-1968). U.S. Senator from New York, 65th U.S. Attorney General, brother of President John F. Kennedy. Attended - did not graduate.
- U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), serving since 1962. Younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Attended - did not graduate.
- U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), 1999-2005. (Did not seek reelection in 2004, seat succeeded by Barack Obama).
- U.S. Representative Phil English (R-PA) 3rd District, 1995~. Serves the House Ways & Means Committee.
- John E. Pepper, Jr., Yale Class of 1960, Fmr. Chairman of The Procter & Gamble Company, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company effective January 1, 2007.
- John Gregory Dunne, (1932-2003). Novelist, screenwriter, and literary critic. Husband of Joan Didion.
- William A. Dembski, controversial American mathematician, philosopher, and theologian; proponent of embattled concept of intelligent design. Left the Abbey before graduating to attend the University of Chicago in 1977; was awarded his honorary diploma upon delivery of the 1988 Dom Luke Childs lecture at Portsmouth Abbey.
- Benedict Fitzgerald, American screenwriter. Son of Latin and Greek translator Robert Fitzgerald. Co-wrote the Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin screenplay for The Passion of the Christ (2004) with Mel Gibson. Also Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1996) and Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1979).
- Christopher Buckley, American political satirist, son of William F. Buckley Jr.. Graduated Yale, Skull and Bones member. Once managing editor of Esquire magazine, later chief speechwriter to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Author of Thank You For Smoking (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006), The White House Mess, and Florence of Arabia.
- Samuel G. White, architect. Clients include the New York Public Library, the Battery Park City Authority, Tishman Speyer, and Chanel Inc. Also, Columbia University, Fordham University, Marymount Manhattan College, and the Portsmouth Abbey School.
- Various members of the Bacardi family.
- Angelo Spizzirri, actor, The Rookie (2002), The Pleasure Drivers (2005), Pretty Persuasion (2005).
- Charlie Day, actor, known for the role of Charlie Kelly on FX's network It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, for which he is also a writer and executive producer.
