Rockhurst High School

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Rockhurst High School
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
For the Greater Glory of God
Address
9301 State Line Road
Kansas City, Missouri, (Jackson County), 64114
United States
Coordinates 38°57′37″N 94°36′21″W / 38.960389°N 94.605969°W / 38.960389; -94.605969Coordinates: 38°57′37″N 94°36′21″W / 38.960389°N 94.605969°W / 38.960389; -94.605969
Information
Type Private, All-Male
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic,
Jesuit
Denomination Catholic
Established 1910
CEEB Code 261685
President Fr. Terrence Baum, SJ
Principal Greg Harkness
Asst. Principal Scott Duschen
Faculty 85 total
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 1,085  (2008-2009)
Grade 9 285
Grade 10 272
Grade 11 272
Grade 12 256
Average class size ~240
Student to teacher ratio 12:1
Campus Suburban
Color(s) blue and white         
Fight song Hail Blue and White
Team name Hawklets
Accreditation(s) North Central Association of Colleges and Schools [1]
Average SAT scores Critical Reading: 620
Math: 620
Writing: 613
Average ACT scores 27
Publication The Rock Collection (literary magazine)
Newspaper 'The Prep News'
Yearbook 'The Quarry'
Endowment $4.5 million
Tuition ~$11,550
Affiliation KFC
Dean of Students Matt Darby
Website http://www.rockhursths.edu

Rockhurst High School (typically referred to as Rockhurst) is a private, Roman Catholic, Jesuit, preparatory school for boys located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, on the Missouri-Kansas border along State Line Road.

Rockhurst is accredited by the North Central Education Association, and is a member of the North Central Education Association of Independent College Preparatory Schools, the Jesuit Secondary Education Association and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (and its regional affiliates).

History

In 1908, Rev. Michael P. Dowling, SJ Rockhurst made it known that he had selected a site at 52nd and Troost St. for a Jesuit school that was to be built in Kansas City. The name "Rockhurst" was inspired by Stonyhurst, a Jesuit-owned plot of land in Lancashire, England, it was the resembliance of the large rocks found on the school grounds to Stonyhurst . Rockhurst was established by the Society of Jesus and chartered by the State of Missouri as part of Rockhurst College in August 1910. Classes began in the fall of 1914. In 1917 Luke J Bryne Jr became the first graduate of the school. It changed its name to "Rockhurst High School" in 1923. The high school shared a campus and corporate umbrella with the college until it moved to the Greenlease Campus—named for its principal benefactor, Robert C. Greenlease—in 1962[2]

Athletics

Team Performance at the State Level

Rockhurst is defined as a Class 6A school by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, meaning that it competes against the largest high schools in Missouri during state competition. MSHSAA's classification nomenclature has changed over time and often has varied by sport, so many of the titles listed below were won in divisions known by different names, i.e. Class 3, Class 5A, etc.; however, each title falls under the Class 6A designation either by name or by the criteria outlined by MSHSAA at the time the title was won.

>
Sport[3] First Place Second Place Third Place Total Placings at State
Baseball 2004, 2005 2010 3
Basketball 2013,1989, 1987, 1932 2007, 1986, 1970, 1949 2005, 2000, 1971 11
Cross Country 2011 1
Football 2010, 2007, 2002, 2000, 1987, 1986, 1983, 1981, 1971 1999, 1989, 1982, 1973, 1969 N/A [4] 14
Golf 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1991, 1984, 1976, 1974 2013, 2004, 1997, 1996, 1978 2007, 2003, 2002, 1979, 1977 23
Hockey (MAHSHL) [5] 2013, 2009 2011, 2008, 2007 5
Lacrosse (MSLA) 2011, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2003 2009, 2007, 2001 8
Soccer 2013,2010, 2008, 2007, 1999, 1998 2004, 1989, 1988 2006, 2005, 2003, 2001, 1994, 1991, 1987 16
Swim/Dive 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2006,[6] 2005 10
Tennis 2013, 2009, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1983, 1976, 1975 2012, 2010, 2008, 1986 2011, 1995, 1989, 1982 24
Track and Field 1976, 1975 2
TOTAL 67 30 20 117

Rockhurst won 30 state championships in the last 10 years, and 6 state championships in 2008-2009. Its record for placings in a single year is 2007, with seven. Also, in 1987, Rockhurst became the only institution in the history of Missouri high school athletics to win football and basketball state championship in the same year. In recent years, Rockhurst has been repeatedly named as having a top ten athletic department nationally, according to Sports Illustrated.

Because the institution itself is independent, Rockhurst is not affiliated with any local high school athletic conferences, and because it is not a public school, its student make-up is not geographically restricted. Its biggest rivals in the Kansas City area are Blue Springs High School and Blue Springs South High School.

Program-specific accomplishments

Football

Main article: Rockhurst Hawklets football

Rockhurst is the only school to win a championship in each major state championship venue: Busch Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, the University of Missouri's Faurot Field, and the Edward Jones Dome. It also won a championship in a "non-championship" venue: its first championship, in 1971, at William Chrisman High School, against St. Louis (MO) Beaumont. Its nine football championships is ranked fourth in Missouri History, behind Jefferson City High School which has 10, Valle Catholic High School, and Webb City High School which both have 12. The team has been to more state championships (14) than any other school, and it is the all-time leader in state playoff appearances and state playoff wins. Five Rockhurst teams have won the state championship with perfect records: 1971, 2000, 2002, 2007, and 2010. The 2000, 2002, 2007, and 2010 teams finished the season nationally-ranked 14th, 6th, 20th and 19th respectively (after finishing 14–0, 13–0, 13–0, and 14–0).[7][7][8] The back-to-back state championship teams of 1986 and 1987 also finished nationally ranked, 14th and 13th respectively (after finishing 11–1 and 12–1).[9]

Additionally, the last three head coaches of Rockhurst's football team, Al Davis, Jr., Jerry Culver, and Tony Severino, are all members of Missouri's High School Coaches Hall of Fame, and all won state championships. Davis was a two-time recipient of the Knute Rockne Award, and Severino was named USA Today's National Coach of the Year in 2000.

Tennis

Ron Geldhof has coached what has become a tennis dynasty at Rockhurst, leading the Hawklets to ten consecutive big class state titles from 1996-2005. After rebuilding in 2006, the Hawklets again won the state championship in 2007 and 2009.

Swimming

Coach Paul Winkeler has coached what has become one of the high school Swim/Dive dynasties of the Kansas City area, and of the state of Missouri. The Hawklets have won the state swimming competition for nine consecutive seasons, 2005-2012. This is the Missouri swim/dive record for consecutive wins (another team won six and tied a seventh). In 2011, Rockhurst broke another record, placing four divers in the Top 8. In 2009, the Swim/Dive team broke the state record for total points, scoring 400.5 points and became the first team to send a full roster or "full house" (four swimmers in each individual event and all three relays) to the state meet. In 2006, Missouri Boys Swimming and Diving switched schedules from the Winter and subsequently became a Fall sport. As a consequence, Rockhurst has the rare distinction of winning 2 State Swim/Dive Championships in a single calendar year.

Chess

The Rockhurst chess team has been one of the school's most successful extracurricular programs in recent years. In 2004, after a nearly perfect season, the team went on to tie for first in the Under 1200 rating division of the High School Chess National Championships in Dallas, Texas. In 2006, after another nearly perfect season, the team won third place in the more competitive Under 1500 division, missing first place by only one win. More recently, the team placed third in the Under 1200 division at the 2009 Supernationals. The chess team has also had success at the state and local level, winning the 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2011 MO state championships as well as the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Kansas City Cups. By far the most significant accomplishment of the team is its 14th-place finish in the extremely competitive Open division of Nationals in 2010 in Columbus, Ohio. The open division is the highest division of the high school Nationals, which means that the 2010 Rockhurst chess team was the fourteenth best in the nation.

Varsity Letters

The school awards varsity letters for both athletic and academic endeavors, including music, choir, band, theater, debate and chess. The letter is a blue "R", with white trim. One letter is awarded per activity per individual, along with its corresponding pin and/or bar for years on varsity. State championship winners receive a special white "R" with blue trim. The symbol representing the activity in which the student earned the "white letter" is sewn onto the top portion of the "R" (i.e. a football for football, a winged shoe for track, etc.). Unlike the "blue letters", there is no limit to the number of "white letters" an individual may receive in a given activity.

Notable alumni

Arts/Entertainment/Media

Athletics

Education

  • Walter Ong, S.J., world-renowned philosopher

Medicine

Politics/Law

Current Logos

See also

References

  1. ↑ NCA-CASI. "NCA-Council on Accreditation and School Improvement". Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
  2. ↑ From the school's official history
  3. ↑ School-managed list of championships
  4. ↑ MSHSAA does not hold a third place game in football
  5. ↑ The MAHSHL replaced the KCMAHSHL beginning in 2009
  6. ↑ Swimming changed from a winter sport to a fall sport in 2006; thus, there were two championships in that calendar year.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/highschool/rankings
  8. ↑ USA TODAY Super 25
  9. ↑ USA TODAY Super 25
  10. ↑ Real Life Halloween Horrors: Mormons
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 http://www.rockhursths.edu/s/538/images/editor_documents/MasterFinal-1-72pg.pdf
  13. ↑ "Kerry Reardon". Nfl.com. Retrieved 2010-03-16. 

External links

Constituent
Members
Associate
Members
Former
The Kansas City Area
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