St. Mary's College High School

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Saint Mary's College High School
Established 1863
Type Private Catholic High School
President Brother Edmond Larouche, FSC
Principal Mr. Peter Imperial
Faculty 42
Students 630
Grades 9–12
Location 1294 Albina Avenue,
Berkeley, California, USA 94706
Oversight Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Campus Urban
Colors Red and White
Mascot The Panthers
Website stmchs.org

Saint Mary's College High School came into being as part of St. Mary's College of California, founded in 1863 by the Catholic Church, and put under the auspices of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in 1868. Saint Mary's is a coeducational Catholic school located in Albany, California, although its street address is in Berkeley, California as the main entrance road crosses the city limits at Codornices Creek, with its main gate on the Berkeley side. Currently, 630 students are enrolled.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1853, Joseph Sadoc Alemany was named Archbishop of San Francisco and immediately began to work to strengthen the fledgling system of Catholic education that existed at the time. Among his goals was the establishment of an educational institution for young men with an eye to fostering a home-grown clergy he felt was necessary for the survival of the Church in California. On July 9, 1863, Alemany dedicated the new Saint Mary’s College at the end of Old Mission Road in San Francisco near the Mission Dolores.

[edit] Early years (1868-1884)

The college was founded to educate young men at the grammar school, high school, and college levels. It was unsuccessful in its first five years, and by 1868 its closure was being seriously considered. On August 10, 1868, eight Christian Brothers, led by Brother Justin McMahon, arrived in San Francisco after a month of travel from New York City by steamship, train, and wagon to take over management of Saint Mary’s. Their first year in California was discouraging for the pioneer Brothers: difficult financial and teaching conditions, enrollment of only thirty students, a major earthquake, and a city-wide outbreak of smallpox. Still, their efforts that year tripled enrollment, which grew to 240 by 1875. The college soon became the state’s largest institution of higher learning, larger than the University of California at Berkeley, founded in 1868, and Santa Clara University, founded in 1851 by the Jesuit Fathers.

Most students boarded at the college, given its four-mile (6 km) distance from the heart of the city. Board and tuition cost $250 per year; day students paid $60. In 1870, to allow for expansion of the high school and college departments, the Brothers relocated the grammar school from Mission Road to their new St. Joseph’s Academy in Oakland.

[edit] Move to the East Bay (1885-1903)

In 1885, an acre of land along Broadway in Oakland was purchased, a cornerstone was laid in 1887, and in August 1889, the new facility – “The Brickpile” – was dedicated, replacing the San Francisco campus for both the college and high school departments. At the turn of the century, board and tuition totaled about $400. Disastrous fires in 1894 and 1918 severely damaged the school and reconstruction followed in both instances.

With a growing college population, the high school’s move from the Oakland campus was imminent, resulting in the physical separation of the college and high school for the first time since 1863. The college moved to Moraga in 1928, a year after the high school’s move to its new campus at Peralta Park in Berkeley. The high school was dedicated on August 28, 1927 as Saint Mary’s College High School, retaining the word “College” to signify its historical origins. The Brothers had already been at Peralta Park for twenty-four years, having relocated their St. Joseph’s Academy grammar school for boys from Oakland to Berkeley’s magnificent Peralta Park Hotel in 1903.

Peralta Park had once been part of the inheritance of Jose Domingo Peralta from the Spanish governments’ 48,000-acre (194 km²) land grant to his father in 1820 and included most of present-day Berkeley and Emeryville. A plaque at 1302 Albina Avenue describes Peralta’s 1841 adobe on the banks of Codornices Creek. The adobe was destroyed in the great 1868 earthquake on the Hayward Fault.

In 1888, renowned stage actor Maurice Strellinger built the six-story Peralta Park Hotel at the end of Albina Avenue. Its sixty bedrooms and twenty baths rivaled the mansions of Nob Hill. Strellinger hosted his actor friends at the grand hotel and hoped to create an actors’ retirement home there; adjacent neighborhoods boasted exclusive residences. Defense for a murder trial, in which he was cleared, property taxes, and hotel costs ultimately left Strellinger with little financial means. He died a pauper in the Los Angeles County Hospital in 1920. His Peralta Park legacy includes Posen Street, named for his famous stage character, “Sam’l of Posen,” and Albina Avenue, named for “Albina de Mer,” the stage name of Strellinger’s actress wife. Before its purchase by the Christian Brothers in 1903, the Peralta Park Hotel housed a number of enterprises, including a nightclub, headquarters of a candy company, Sprague’s Seminary for Young Ladies, and Dunn’s School for Boys.

[edit] Campus growth (1927-2006)

When school began in August 1927, newly-constructed 51,000-square-foot (4,700 m²) De La Salle Hall housed classrooms, dorm rooms, a chapel, offices, and the school cafeteria, and could accommodate 500 students, including 250 boarders.

In 1946, a spectacular fire claimed the top two floors of the massive Academy and in 1959 the entire building was razed. Grammar school boarders moved into De La Salle Hall and attended classes in the new Cronin Hall. Older resident students made a home in St. Joseph’s Hall (1956), which also housed the school library. Enrollment in 1966 saw 180 Academy students and 611 in the high school. The Academy ultimately moved to Mont La Salle in Napa in 1969 and closed completely in the early 1980’s. The last high school boarder graduated from Saint Mary’s in 1971. That year, the student population numbered 507.

Beloved De La Salle Hall was razed in 1973 as an earthquake hazard. Brother Norman Cook, who taught at the Academy from 1952 to 1959, returned to Berkeley as Saint Mary’s Principal in 1973. It was a difficult time for the school; enrollment was declining, De La Salle Hall was gone, leaving minimal facilities to accommodate 475 students. The Brothers lived in Vellesian Hall, and Saint Joseph’s Hall began its virtually annual metamorphosis to meet school needs.

In his assignment to Saint Mary’s, Brother Norman had been given a mandate to “close it up or build it up!” The school community chose transformation. “The possible demise of Saint Mary’s and its embodiment of the Lasallian vision,” Brother Norman reflected years later, “was simply an unacceptable option.” Work began on a facilities master plan and a major fundraising campaign. The Shea Student Center was completed in 1977 and the Brothers Residence in 1978. A later campaign funded the 1986 construction of science and math classrooms in Murphy Hall.

Though campus facilities improved, enrollment steadily declined, reaching a low of about 375 in 1993. The closure of Berkeley’s Presentation High for girls added impetus to Saint Mary’s consideration of coeducation. In 1995, the gymnasium extension and new auditorium theater were completed as part of the school’s Sharing the Spirit transition to coeducation. In August 1995, after 132 years as an all-male school, a 55/45 percent mix of young men and women entered the freshman class, and twenty-two sophomore girls joined ninety-eight male classmates. At commencement exercises on May 31, 1998, graduates spoke of the initial anxiety and apprehension that had given way to achievements and friendships which ultimately united them as Saint Mary’s first coed graduating class.

As Saint Mary’s marked its 75th year on the Berkeley campus in 2002, Frates Memorial Hall opened, providing eight new classrooms and an amphitheater, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Frank E. Frates, Jr., Class of 1927, and donors to the school’s successful Creating Futures campaign for the new building and tuition assistance endowment funds.

Graduates from the Peralta Park campus since 1927 number more than 7,200.

[edit] Athletics

For a school with an enrollment of less than 700 students, the recent athletic history of St. Mary’s is rather impressive.

St. Mary’s saw great success in track & field in the 1990’s under the guidance of head coach Jay Lawson. Known for the 1600 meter relay, the 1992 version of the team AKA the 4 Horsemen ran a time of 3:11 and was one of the best teams in the country. The 1998 version of the team was arguably the most rounded team, anchored by a great boy’s 1600 meter relay squad which was ranked 9th in the U.S. and had a best time of 3:13.79. The relay traveled to the famed Penn Relay’s where they finished top 10 in an international field of 500 teams. The boy’s hurdles and jumps were also strong with Jerrod Mack jumping a best of 51 feet in the triple jump, earning him 3rd in the U.S. that year. The deep boy’s squad also had 6 members running sub 50 second 400 meters, led by Jafar Williams who went on to play football at the University of Washington. The boy’s team had continued success through the turn of the century in sprints and jumps helmed by Lawson, and jumps coach and Cal Berkeley jump legend Jeff Rodgers.

Recently the boy’s and girl’s cross country teams have had their own success, and in 2007 both teams were ranked 2nd in the state of California and took second place in the state championship meet.

Over the last 7 years the boy’s basketball team has consistently fielded competitive squads, highlighted by a division IV state championship led by head coach Jose Carballo in 2001. The 2006-07 team lead by current coach Manny Nodar boasted a 29-5 overall record and a 12-0 BSAL (league) record, respectively. Currently St. Mary’s is one of the top ranked teams in the Bay Area and California regardless of division. Nodar is creating a strong program that should be at the pinnacle of the high school boy’s basketball world for years to come.

The girl’s volleyball team has achieved a high standard in their own right. They have 3 straight NCS division IV titles (2005 to 2007), led by star player Tarah Murrey, the Gatorade California Volleyball Player of the Year. She is the first Bay Area native to earn this honor.

[edit] Structure

Saint Mary's is divided into 7 separate buildings, unlike most high schools. The newest building is Frates Memorial Hall with 8 classrooms, built in 2000, named after Dr. James Frates, Jr. Class of 1889. Each classroom is fully equipped with a digital projector and built-in DVD/VHS player. Harold B. Murpy Hall was built in 1984.

[edit] Notable alumni

By Name and Year of Graduation

[edit] Student body and faculty

[edit] Statistics

  • Total Enrollment: 630
  • Male: 48%
  • Female: 52%

Ethnicity / Culture:

  • European-American: 36%
  • African American: 28%
  • Multi-racial/Other: 13%
  • Hispanic/Latino: 12%
  • Filipino American: 6%
  • Asian/Pacific Islander: 5%

[edit] Faculty statistics

  • Total Faculty: 42
  • Male: 55%
  • Female: 45%
  • Student/faculty ratio: 17:1
  • Average class size: 25-28 students
  • 28% of the faculty & staff are graduates.
  • 64% of the faculty & staff graduated from a Lasallian School.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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