| Bishop Ireton High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 201 Cambridge Road Alexandria, Virginia, 22314 United States |
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| Information | |
| Type | Parochial Secondary |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
| Established | 1964 |
| Oversight | Diocese of Arlington |
| Principal | Mr. Tim Hamer |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | Approx. 800 (2008) |
| Color(s) | Burgundy and Gold |
| Team name | The Cardinals |
| Accreditation(s) | Southern Association of Colleges and Schools [1] |
| Newspaper | The BI Word |
| Yearbook | 'Flight' |
| Website | http://www.bishopireton.org |
Bishop Ireton High School is a Roman Catholic High School located in Alexandria, Virginia. The school was founded in 1964 by the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, an order of Catholic priests sometimes called Salesians, and originally admitted only male students. Bishop Ireton, more commonly known as "BI" or simply "Ireton", became coeducational in 1990 after the closing of sister school, St. Mary's Academy. In 2008, the Oblates withdrew their presence from Ireton[2] and the school is now solely managed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington. Ireton made national news in April 2009 when it won a Verizon Wireless contest and was awarded a free concert featuring Taylor Swift, after sending over 19,000 text messages.
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The school is run by the principal. There are two Vice Presidents, one for Student Services, and one for Academic Concerns. The Vice President for Student Services moderates the Office of Student Government (OSG). There is also a Dean and an Assistant Dean.
Student Government is organized in the following manner: Executive Board: Five Members that can consist of Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors. Usually it is mostly Seniors in the E-Board. They run the OSG. There is one President and four Vice Presidents. The class officers are organized as follows:
The OSG meets once and week and plans important events, such as Homecoming Week, Adopt a Family, Dress Out Day Fundraisers, the Winter Ball, and the Sadie Hawkins Dance. They also have a role in graduation, having the privilege of going first and carrying flags.
The House of Delegates consists of one member from each Advisory (BI's equivalent to homeroom). The Executive Board leads the House meetings. The House members then report announcements to their homerooms. The students in Advisory can report concerns to the Delegates, where they can voice their opinions at the House meetings. The House meets every other month.
Each Department offers courses including: CP (College Preparatory), HN (Honors), and AP (Advanced Placement).
In the 1970s and early 1980s Bishop Ireton experimented with an Education by Appointment model, whereby students worked at their own pace and were encouraged to explore areas of interest in depth. For some students this model of freedom and opportunity encouraged great academic development, however, for some students the lack of structure and weight of responsibility resulted in poor academic achievement.
This experiment ended with a new principal, Father Walsh, who brought Ireton back to a structured and rigorous curriculum. This included an eight period schedule that rotated so that only seven periods met each day. He instituted a school uniform policy instead of the informal dress code previously used and actually required freshman to wear gold and crimson beanies (which proved wildly unpopular and were soon eliminated). In the late 1970s Bishop Ireton was among the first Catholic high schools to introduce computer science classes utilizing a DEC PDP 11/40 mini computer donated to the school by The Catholic University of America when it upgraded.
The Journalism Class publishes the student-run, monthly newspaper, The BI Word. A website for The BI Word came up in the 2006-2007 school year, was discontinued, and then reappeared during the 2008-2009 school year. Most articles are available in the printed edition, but additional articles can be found at The BI Word website. Brief biographies of the editors and reporters can be found there. This website can be found here.
Bishop Ireton competes in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference which is home to schools such as Gonzaga College High School, St. John's College High School and DeMatha Catholic High School although the school plays an independent football schedule. The school has had many student athletes go on to attend college on athletic scholarship. Ireton has several noteworthy rivals, including:
Bishop Ireton High School has teams for the following sports:
Bishop Ireton offers the following clubs:
vegetable and fruits club
There are other clubs not mentioned here.
The Bishop Ireton Music Department features a choir, the Concert Band and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Membership in the Wind Ensemble and concert band is audition based. The program was started by Dr. Garwood Whaley and is currently under the leadership of Dr. Randy Eyles. Each spring, Wind Ensemble goes on tour in Europe, and the Concert Band goes on a stateside tour.
In April 2009, the Bishop Ireton students entered a Text 2 Win Verizon competition and won, receiving a free Taylor Swift concert in their own auditorium.
(An official Sadie Hawkins dance has not occurred in the past 4 years (2012). The 2010-2011 Winter Ball was rumored to be a Sadie Hawkins, but never officially announced by the school.)
Events normally include swimming, laser tag, blackjack, races, obstacle courses, karaoke, and prizes. It is generally not over until 5:30 AM the following morning.
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