| Salpointe Catholic High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 1545 East Copper Street Tucson, Arizona, Pima County, 85719 United States |
|
| Information | |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic, Carmelite |
| Established | 1950 |
| Head of school | Fr. Frederick Tillotson, O.Carm |
| Faculty | ~139 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | ~1,275 (2008) |
| Color(s) | Maroon and Gold |
| Sports | Arizona Interscholastic Association |
| Team name | Lancers |
| Rival | Sunnyside High School |
| Accreditation(s) | North Central Association of Colleges and Schools [1] |
| Publication | Reflections (Literary Magazine) |
| Newspaper | 'The Crusader' |
| Yearbook | 'Horizons' |
| Athletic Director | Phil Gruensfelder |
| Website | http://www.salpointe.org |
Salpointe Catholic High School is a co-ed Catholic high school in Tucson, Arizona, run by the Carmelite Order. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.
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Salpointe was founded in 1950 as a school for 100 pupils, and is named for Arizona's first Bishop, Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, who worked as a missionary in the Arizona Territory from 1866 to 1885. Much of Salpointe's early development was headed by Helena S. Corcoran, who donated $8–$10 million for construction of the Salpointe infrastructure ($10M in 1963 would currently equal roughly $61,080,225 due to inflation ). Under her sponsorship, the school grew from 400 to 1,000 pupils, and the physical infrastructure that forms today's campus was established.
In the late 1940s, Tucson's parochial grammar schools had nine grades. The desire to build a Catholic high school for these graduates prompted the Diocese of Tucson to purchase the 40-acre (160,000 m2) Florence Addition. Salpointe Catholic High School began in 1950 as a modest school consisting of what is now the Farr Patio and cafeteria. On the first day of school Salpointe opened its doors to 100 students. At this time Tucson High School and Amphitheater High School were the only other high schools in Tucson.) There were nine classrooms, a library and administrative offices. A back room in the cafeteria housed a locker room and showers for students taking physical education. The first principal was Rev. Victor Stoner. He was followed by Rev. Edward Carscallen and Rev. George Dyke.
Admissions decisions are made on the basis of information provided on several application forms, recommendations, transcripts, and an optional personal interview.[2]
The admissions process starts quite early in the semester, before a student intends to enroll at Salpointe. During the Christmas vacation, several important admissions-related events are held at Salpointe.
Following a 5-year experiment with a "president-principal" model of school administration, the Salpointe board opted to implement a more hierarchical administrative structure on an experimental basis. Under the new plan, the office of the school President was elevated to "Head of School," whereby the occupant would be explicitly and directly involved with the day-to-day operations of the school, while ultimately responsible for accomplishing the school's overarching development initiatives.[3]
The current administrative structure consists of a "leadership team." The power held by members of this team falls into two classes. The first class, occupied by the Chief Executive Officer and Head of School, Fr. Frederick Tillotson, O.Carm. retains supervening authority over all matters of the school administration. The second administrative class is occupied by 7 "leadership team members", heading departments of the school, and reporting directly to the Head of School.
Salpointe's ultimate governance falls to its Board of Directors, which constitute the leadership of the Salpointe Catholic High School corporation. The Head of School is responsible to this group. The Board of Directors crafts long-term strategy for the School, and - along with the Carmelites - retains ultimate authority over its direction. Members of the Board are selected from the Salpointe community.
Salpointe has maintained high academic standards throughout its history, despite its mission to serve the entire Tucson community. In spite of the lure of specializing as a purely college preparatory institution, Salpointe has also worked hard to offer a meaningful educational experience to those students who require assistance with learning difficulties. Also, consistent with Salpointe's Carmelite identity, Salpointe seeks to attract students of all economic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds.
In 1987, Salpointe became the first school in southern Arizona and the third school in the state to be accredited "college preparatory" by the North Central Association. Although Salpointe was a relative latecomer to the effort to create Advanced Placement classes, its students have benefited from close relationships with nearby community colleges and universities. Salpointe's early development was guided by the principle that vocational development was crucial, which caused difficulties in the 1970-80s as the vestiges of vocational training restrained the school's development into a college preparatory institution. Today, due to reform efforts in the late 1980s, as well as the efforts of Ruth Jenson and Jeff Mounts, the failure to implement AP courses has been rectified, and Salpointe boasts a high-school-to-college conversion rate of 98%. Many instructors hold advanced degrees, and a recent push to develop infrastructure in the sciences has greatly enriched the college preparatory curriculum.[4]
In recent years, the Humanities program has adapted its courses so that students studying at the highest level will also be prepared for Advanced Placement tests in American History, History of Art, World Literature, and English Literature & Language.[5]
The Salpointe Summer Institute is a recent development at Salpointe. The institute operates separately from the regular Salpointe curriculum, and the institute's head reports directly to the Head of School. The institute offers educational experiences that transcend what one might consider the typical high school experience, particularly since it reaches out to adult learners and those who might be interested summer school or Princeton Review SAT preparation in the Tucson community.[6]
Salpointe offers 23 varsity sports to its students, and many of these have achieved state-wide success. Salpointe athletes have earned more Arizona Interscholastic Association scholar-athlete awards than any other school in Arizona. The Lancers' primary in-town rivals are the Bluedevils from Sunnyside High School. The Lancers' previous rival was the Dorados of Canyon del Oro High School, but they do not currently play them, as the Dorados have moved down to a different division. Salpointe's cross country, soccer, football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, swimming, and golf teams (the men's golf team has produced five college players in the past two years, including Jonathan Khan at Arizona, Alex Johnson at Pacific, Scott Tunnell at Newman, Ryan Sheffer at Notre Dame de Namur, and Robert Perrott at Pacific) are perennially strong; each usually wins top regional honors, and several teams have become State Champions.
Individual State Champions include Tommy McGeorge (Tennis), Whitney Dosty (Track), and Bryce Livingston (Track). Salpointe athletes are frequently recruited to play NCAA athletics. Some well-known recent NCAA athletes of the school include Tommy McGeorge, (University of Iowa, Tennis), Whitney Dosty, (Arizona, Women's Volleyball),Bryce Livingston, (West Point/Army, Track and Cross Country) Tyler Graunke, (Hawaii, Football), Jack Darlington, (Nevada, Football), CJ Kaufman, Jr., (Akron, Soccer), Joshua Williams, (Columbia, Football), Max Fritz (San Diego, Football), Kristofer O'Dowd (USC, Football), Chris Ciarvella (Cornell, Football), Matt Ransom (Princeton, Football), Kevin Grenier (SMU,Football) Moses Roberts (Florida A&M, Football), Charles Blase (San Diego, Soccer), Michael Descisciolo (Arizona, Football), Emma Darlington(Arizona, Women's Swimming).
(Sung to the melody of the Notre Dame Victory March)[7]
Under the guidance of the Carmelites, Salpointe has developed an active campus ministry. Students are encouraged to attend a number of retreats throughout their time at Salpointe, culminating in the Kairos experience during their junior or senior year.[8]
Associate Head of School for Student Services Mr. Mike Urbanski heads Salpointe's counseling services. In addition to routine student counseling and schedule management, Salpointe's counseling department has undertaken a number of novel initiatives in recent years. Urbanski brought the "Community of Concern" program to Salpointe, which requires parents to attend informational forums about substance abuse and to pledge to prevent illegal parties from taking place in their homes.
Salpointe has announced mandatory drug-testing for all students beginning in fall 2007. Hair samples will be taken at random from all enrolled students, which will be sent to Psychemedics Corporation, an external testing company, to test for any drug usage within the prior 90 days.[15] Announcement of the program sparked polemical discussion on the local newspaper's online discussion boards, some of which came from former alumni upset with the announcement. Subsequent on-campus fora were less animated, with Head of School Tillotson arguing, "We don't need, in a private school, to have to go to parents to implement our values and our mission." [16]
In March 2007, high school administrators became aware of a physical relationship between a teacher and a 17-year-old student.[17] The teacher subsequently pled guilty to four offences.[18]