Jesuit High School (New Orleans)

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Jesuit High School
Motto	Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (For the Greater Glory of God)
Established	1847
Type	Roman Catholic, all-male secondary school
Affiliation	Roman Catholic Church (specifically the Society of Jesus)
President	Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J., '66
Founder	Fr. Jean Baptiste Maisonabe, S.J.
Students	1,425 -- 2006-07 (1,458 in 2005-06, pre-Katrina)
Grades	8 - 12
Location	4133 Banks St. New Orleans, Louisiana U.S.A.
Colors	Blue and White
Mascot	Blue Jay
Website	[1]

Jesuit High School is an all-male Catholic high school in New Orleans, Louisiana. The school was founded in 1847.

Over 99 percent of Jesuit graduates have gone on to attend college. Jesuit ranks among the top private schools in the nation in number of National Merit semifinalists.^[1] The class of 2006 received $16,683,228 in college scholarship offers, an average of $64,000 per student.[2]

The mascot is a blue jay posed with his fists raised, designed by cartoonist Walt Kelly. A contest was held to name the mascot, and the name "Jayson," submitted by a student, won. The school's colors are blue and white. As with most Jesuit schools, this school's motto is Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam ("For the greater glory of God"). Jesuit holds various local and state records for its academic and athletic achievements. Since 1933, Jesuit has won 18 state championships in baseball and 2 American Legion World Series. The 1946 athletic year yielded undefeated state champions in baseball, basketball, track and field, and football.^[2]^{[citation needed]} It has been said that Jesuit had "All the Tricks in '46." In the 2004-2005 school year, Jesuit won state championships in baseball, cross country, soccer, tennis, wrestling, rugby, and swimming, and went to the state playoffoffs in football with a undefeated regular season. In 2005, Jesuit became the first 5a school in Louisiana history to win three state championships in a row in the sport of cross country. In 2006, they continued with an unprecedented 4th cross country state championship. Jesuit Swimming holds the LHSAA record for most consecutive state championships in any sport, with 18 straight. The streak was broken in 2005, when the team, still feeling the effects of the hurricane, was only able to field 12 swimmers. In 2006, however, the team was able to recapture the state championship.

Jesuit has been noted for its performance in academics as well as in sports and extracurricular activities. In 1966, Jesuit became the first high school in the country to have a Marine Corps Junior ROTC program. For several years, this program was mandatory for all students; the combination of Jesuit priests and Marine Corps JROTC instructors made the school's disciplinary system unique among American high schools. Guest speakers such as authors Tony Hillerman, Sister Helen Prejean, Orson Scott Card, Dana Gioia, Chaim Potok, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, actor Jim Caviezel, theologian George Weigel, ESPN announcer Mike Tirico, and theologian and former U.S. Ambassador Michael Novak have addressed the student body over the years. It has recently come to the attention of the student body and a certain excited English teacher that novelist Pat Conroy will address the school in the spring of 2008.

1 History
2 Hurricane Katrina
3 Notable alumni
4 References
5 See also
6 External link

[edit] History

The College of the Immaculate Conception was founded in 1847 but did not open until 1849; it was both a secondary school and a college, and both were located in the French Quarter of New Orleans (now the New Orleans Central Business District) at the corner of Baronne and Common Streets. In 1911, the high school and college divisions were split and the college division relocated to St. Charles Avenue eventually becoming Loyola University New Orleans. The high school remained on Baronne Street until 1926, when it was moved to its current location at 4133 Banks Streetin Mid-City. The Church of the Immaculate Conception [3] remains on the original campus and plays an active role in the Jesuit community.

Since 1926, several additions have been made to the campus. In 1953 a wing was added along Palmyra Street; the addition included an auditorium, the Chapel of the North American Martyrs, a cafeteria, a library, several classrooms, and a band room.

The school's current president is Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J. (Class of 1966), and its current principal is Michael Giambelluca (Class of 1982).

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

When the flooding following Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Jesuit High School was inundated, five feet (1.5 m) of water destroying the ground floor. When the school announced that it was closed indefinitely, many students enrolled in schools in cities to which they had evacuated. The largest concentration of students attended a satellite school at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston; at one point, approximately 420 displaced students attended classes at night with their own teachers and classmates. In mid-October, Jesuit opened another satellite school at St. Martin's Episcopal School in Metairie in unincorporated Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which about 500 students attended until Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, Jesuit's students and faculty returned to their own campus, becoming the first flooded school in New Orleans to reopen—albeit with an unusable first floor. The school held its annual Thanksgiving Drive for the poor living in the surrounding neighborhoods. Most of the reconstruction of the first floor is scheduled to be completed by August 2006, in time for the 2006-2007 school year. On 23 January 2006, 1285 of the 1450 students returned to attend Jesuit for the second semester. The neighborhood around the school is still heavily damaged.

[edit] Notable alumni

Harry Connick, Jr. (Class of 1985), musician, actor.
Harry Clark (Class of 1959)
Will Clark (Class of 1983), Major League Baseball player
John Favalora, (Class of 1954), Archbishop of Miami, Florida (1994-present)
Jimmy Fitzmorris, Mayor of New Orleans (1972–1980).
F. Edward Hebert (Class of 1920), U.S. Congressman
Moon Landrieu (Class of 1948), Mayor of New Orleans (1970–1978) and Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development "HUD".
Christian LeBlanc (Class of 1976), actor (Michael Baldwin of "The Young and the Restless")
C. Ellis Henican, journalist (Class of 1976)
Marc Morial (Class of 1976), Mayor of New Orleans (1994–2002).
John Petitbon (Class of 1947), National Football League player.
Pat Screen (Class of 1961), State Champion quarterback 1960, LSU Quarterback, Mayor of Baton Rouge
Rusty Staub (Class of 1961), Major League Baseball player
Jay Thomas (Class of 1966), actor (Eddie LeBec of "Cheers", "Murphy Brown") and radio personality (Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 102)
Donald Wetzel (Class of 1947), inventor of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
Edward Douglass White (Class of 1865), Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
Walter Schindler (Class of 1969), poet (author of The Napoleon House, Voice and Crisis), corporate lawyer, venture capitalist
Dr. John (Class of 1959), a.k.a. Malcom John Rebennack Jr., colourful pianist, singer, and songwriter