Brother Martin High School

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Brother Martin High School
Motto Ametur Cor Jesu

(Love be the heart of Jesus)
Established 1869
Type Roman Catholic, all-male secondary school
Affiliation Roman Catholic Church (specifically the Brothers of the Sacred Heart)
President Mr. John Devlin
Principal Mr. Gregory M. Rando, '77
Founder Archbishop Jean Marie Odin C.M.
Students 1600+
Grades 8-12
Location 4401 Elysian Fields Avenue
New Orleans, Louisiana U.S.A.
Colors Crimson and Gold
Mascot Crusader

Brother Martin High School is an all-male, Roman Catholic, secondary school located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States operated by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. It was established in 1869 by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart establishing the school under the name of St. Aloysius College. The school's colors are crimson and gold and the mascot is the Crusader.

Contents

[edit] History

Brother Martin was created by combining the two schools, St. Aloysius High School and Cor Jesu. In 1869 New Orleans Archbishop Jean Marie Odin invited the Brothers of the Sacred Heart to open a school in New Orleans, St. Aloysius opened on September 26, 1869 with six students. In 1892 the school was moved to a larger campus on the corner of Esplanade and Rampart avenues, in 1969 for the second time in the school's history it moved again under the newly changed name of Brother Martin High School. The combination came about after the Brothers of the Sacred Heart decided that expansion and cost saving would be better achieved with one school on the larger Cor Jesu campus. In 1969, after celebrating the school's 100th anniversary, the school was renamed after Brother Martin Hernandez, a brother of the Sacred Heart who was principal of St. Aloysius from 1934 to 1949, and was treasurer of the Brothers from 1969 to 1991. Brother Martin Hernandez was also a noted athlete, having been named to the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

[edit] Mascot and School colors

The history of the school mascot and colors began in 1921 when the school fielded its first football team. The school's mascot was a panther and the colors purple and gold, this combination of the mascot and colors were changed under the insistence of Bro. Martin Hernandez, the school's principal, to to crimson and white and the mascot as a crusader. When the school was consolidated the school kept the crusader as the mascot and crimson but changed the white for gold.

[edit] Campus

Brother Martin High School is located on Elysian Fields Avenue in Gentilly, an established residential neighborhood in New Orleans. The sprawling school campus features Cor Jesu Hall, the oldest building on the current campus; built in 1954, the Conlin Gymnasium, the largest high school gym in the city, the Ridgely Center, a building that houses the Athletic and Fine Arts departments, the state of the art Math and Science Building constructed in 2007, and Farley Field, used for general athletics. Also to be constructed through the capital campaign are the new Chapel and a new library building.

[edit] Admissions

The considerations used in admitting prospective students include student priority of choice in selecting Brother Martin, overall elementary school record, recommendation of elementary school principals, and an interview with each applicant.

Brother Martin High School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and financial aid programs, athletics and other school-administered programs.

[edit] Students

The current enrollment of Brother Martin, as of 2006, is 1,263. In 2001, Brother Martin had the largest enrollment of any Catholic school in the state, with students numbering 1600 Brother Martin has a uniform code and a required Christian service project for each grade. In addition each student must abide by the Behavior Policy and attend a class level retreat each year.

As of 2006, the cost of attending Brother Martin is around $6,000. Financial aid is administered by emergency grants, which are provided to a student should the death of a parent should jeopardize a student's attendance, or Work Study Program, which is awarded to a limited number of students. This program involves simple manual labor and pays a minimum wage salary (in addition to any aid grants the student might receive).

[edit] Academics

Brother Martin High School is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Brother Martin offers classes to young men in grades 8-12. It provides a college preparatory curriculum designed to develop skills and create options for higher education. There is a program specially designed for eighth grade. Eighth grade students are required to carry a minimum of six courses including Religion 8, English 8 or English 1 honors, Introduction to Algebra, Algebra 1 or Algebra 1 honors, physical science or physical science honors or computer applications, world geography, and health/PE.

To graduate, students must earn a minimum of 24 credits. Each course is equal to one credit. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors are required to carry and successfully complete all required courses and a minimum of six credits each year, seniors must carry and complete all required courses and a minimum of five credits.

Students enrolled in all four honor courses during their sophomore year are invited into the Honors Program. A student that is participating in the Honors Program will be required to continue taking honors or advanced placement courses in English, math, science and social studies. In addition, a student must also complete three consecutive credits of the same foreign language. The successful participation of a student in the Honors Program earns him a honors diploma at graduation.

At the end of the first quarter, the first semester, the third quarter, and the second semester, students earning a grade point average of 4.0 or above are placed on the Principal's Honor Roll. Students earning a grade point average of 3.50 to 3.99 are placed on the Alpha Honor Roll. Students earning a grade point average of 3.0 to 3.49 are placed on the Beta Honor Roll.

Starting in 2008, seniors will be able to choose a variety of new electives such as Anatomy and Physiology, Publications, Law Studies, Marine Biology, Creative writing, Engineering, and Forensic Science. Also included will be an Animations and Digital Graphics course, the first ever course offered in the state.

[edit] School Organization and Administration

The official governing body of Brother Martin High School is the school's Board of Directors, which is responsible for setting school policy and regulations and hiring the school prsident and principal, the administration of Brother Martin is a President, which runs the school as a representative of the Board, the Principal, in charge of day-to-day operations of the school, a vice-principal in charge of discipline, an academic assistant principal in charge of the academic programs, an assistant principal for admissions and an assistant principal for student formation, in charge of the honors and curriculum programs. In addition, each academic department has a department chairperson reprsenting that particular department.

[edit] Athletics

Brother Martin athletics started back in 1921 when the school started its first football team, now from that original football team, Brother Martin has more than 10 varsity athletics for students to chose from. Brother Martin is a member of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and participates in District 10-5A.

The school has teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and wrestling. All teams except tennis, swim, golf and bowling consist of four levels of competition: eighth grade, ninth grade, junior varsity and varsity. Teams are selected through a tryout process.

Some athletic championships won by the school over the years include winning the State Championship in 1984 and 1996 in baseball, state championships in 1970, 1971, 1974, 2004, 2005 and the national champioship in 1970 in basketball, State in Cross Country in 1971, 1980, 1981, 1993, 1998, and 2002, State in fooball in 1971, and numerous district championships, state champions in soccer in 2000 and 2001 and Wrestling, widely regarded as the the best wrestling team in the city, with state championships in 1979, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1999, 2000-2003 and 2007.

[edit] Extracurriculars

Some extracurricular activities offered include: NJROTC, The Academic Games team, Marching, Concert and Symphonic Bands, a jazz ensemble, cheer leading, chess club, chorus, close-up, drama club, Excalibur National Honor Society, inline hockey team, intramural athletics, key club, a literary magazine(The pen and the sword), magic club, Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, newspaper(The Crusader), quiz bowl team, rugby team, speech and debate club, student ministers, student recruiting team, welcoming diversity team, student council and yearbook(Yesterday). Also, Brother Martin has a lacrosse team, started as an official student activity in 2007, it is one of only two high school lacrosse teams the New Orleans area, the other team from Brother Martin's rival, Jesuit High School, also in New Orleans.

[edit] Campus Ministry

Campus ministry is an important part of the curriculum. Working closely with the school administration and the religion department, the goal of campus ministry is "to complement the family in its primary role in religious education, to support the parish as a center of Catholic life, and to extend the religion lessons of the classroom to lived faith experiences." The school strives to "recognize the many gifts of the 'Spirit' within our students and staff and call forth those gifts for service and ministry to the school community and to the church."

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] See Also

Other secondary schools operated by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart

The Catholic League (Other all-male, catholic high schools in New Orleans)

[edit] References

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