St. John's Jesuit High School and Academy

St. John's Jesuit High School & Academy
Address
5901 Airport Highway
Toledo, Ohio, (Lucas County), 43615
United States
Coordinates 41°36′47″N 83°40′59″W / 41.61306°N 83.68306°WCoordinates: 41°36′47″N 83°40′59″W / 41.61306°N 83.68306°W
Information
Type Private, all-male, college-preparatory high school and middle school
Motto Ad maiorem Dei gloriam
(For the Greater Glory of God)
Patron saint(s) St. John Berchmans
Established 1898 (re-established in 1965)
President Mr. Michael Truesdell
Chairman Mr. Daniel T. Anderson '74
Grades 6–12
Enrollment 000
Color(s) Blue & Vegas Gold[1]          
Athletics conference Three Rivers Athletic Conference
Mascot Titans[1]
Accreditation North Central Association of Colleges and Schools,[2]
Jesuit Secondary Education Association,
Ohio Department of Education
Affiliations Society of Jesus,
Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo
Admissions Director Mr. Rob Taylor
Athletic Director Mr. Robert Ronai[1]
Website http://www.sjjtitans.org

St. John's Jesuit High School & Academy comprises two schools on the same campus: St. John's Jesuit High School (SJJ) and St. John's Jesuit Academy (SJJA). It is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. Both are private, all-male Jesuit schools in Toledo, Ohio.

St. John's Jesuit Academy was started as a pilot program with its first class of 30 seventh and 30 eighth graders during the 2004-2005 school year. A sixth grade was added in the 2011-2012 school year and the Academy currently enrolls 160 students.

Background

History

St. John's was founded as St. John's College by the Jesuits in 1898 in downtown Toledo. It was located at 807 Superior St. Built in 1899 and 1909, it was demolished in 1976 and 1978. It was a liberal arts college with a business administration program and a law school that subsequently became a foundation unit of the current University of Toledo College of Law.

Before the shuttering of the college, the Jesuits had purchased property near what is now Gesu church and school, until recently a Jesuit work, for the relocation of its campus. The land was subsequently used as the campus for St. Francis de Sales High School, sponsored by the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales. When the new St. John's opened its doors in 1965 on Airport Highway in Toledo as a college-prep high school, the school took the Titan as its mascot. The schools now have the most-followed high school rivalry in the greater Toledo area..

Over the years the school has grown (See: Renovations below) to include a new tech wing and athletic facility. The most marked addition to the campus is the new junior high academy. The St. John's Jesuit Academy was added in the 2004-2005 school year, offering 7th and 8th grade college-prep curriculum as well as high school, college-prep, and honors curricula. In 2011, the Academy expanded to a 6-8 middle school.

Christian Service

Society of Jesus

History of the Jesuits
Regimini militantis
Suppression

Jesuit Hierarchy
Superior General
Adolfo Nicolás

Ignatian Spirituality
Spiritual Exercises
Ad majorem Dei gloriam
Magis

Notable Jesuits
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. Francis Xavier
St. Peter Faber
St. Aloysius Gonzaga
St. Robert Bellarmine
St. Peter Canisius
St. Edmund Campion
Pope Francis

One of the goals of a Jesuit education, found in the St. John's Mission Statement is educating "men-for-others" (taken from a 1973 address by the Rev. Pedro Arrupe, former Superior General of the Society of Jesus). As a result, St. John's focuses its education on the "whole person" instilling the values of service on its students. All high school students are required to complete a service project of varying hours in order to pass three of the four compulsory theology courses; Academy students have a similar requirement. The high school also hosts a Christian Service department, run by Phil Skeldon, that sends students into the greater Toledo area to do service work throughout the school day. This program also organizes on-campus events for inner city school children such as the annual Easter and Christmas on campus.

Campus Ministry

SJJ Campus Ministry, run by Barb Bauer and Tom Harms, organizes a Mass every morning in the McDonough chapel and feast-Masses for the community in the Chapel of St. John Berchmans, as well . The department also reads the morning prayer each morning at 8:10am and the Examen prayer, a form of the examination of conscience adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, each afternoon.

Renovations

A $3.8 million renovation to the school's Commons and surrounding area, completed in November 2007, added a student union type atmosphere to the Commons and a performing arts wing. The new Carty Fox Commons now includes a student lounge, food court, and a new book and spirit store. The new Sawicki Center performing arts wing includes a band room, chorus room, instrument storage, director offices, practice rooms, a recording studio and the remodelled McQuade Theater. The McQuade Theater has been renovated with new lecture chairs, lighting and sound equipment, and an improved stage. A set-storage room was also added just off the auditorium stage. Access to the wing is off the Carty Fox Commons, from a new exterior entrance between the visitor/technology wing entrance and the main Commons entrance.

St. John's added a technology wing, including a news studio for the St. John's television channel, TV-4, a music technology lab similar to college music composition labs, the Jesuit mural, two computer labs, and the Iott Center, the library on the St. John's campus. Following the addition of the tech wing, St. John's added the Lyden Center weight training facility (the largest in the City League), the auxiliary gym, an athletic trainer's office, and renovations to the main gym, including a new floor. Between these major renovations and additions to the campus, St. John's has also added a Chemistry lecture hall, Physics lecture hall, Physics classroom, computer graphic-design lab, and state of the art Chemistry and Biology labs.

School trademarks

School patron

The School Patron is St. John Berchmans, a Belgian Jesuit who lived in the seventeenth century.[3] . He was chosen as the school patron because his life and beliefs as a Jesuit highlighted a loving practice of fidelity to God in day to day living and a distinctive appreciation of and participation in the ordinary aspects of life.

School seal

The School Seal is a modification of the coat of arms of the Loyola family—the family of the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius Loyola. The name Loyola is derived from the Spanish "lobos y olla," meaning "wolves and pot." In the 15th century, the Loyola knights were identified by a coat of arms consisting of two shields. The first depicts a cauldron suspended by a chain between two wolves. The wolves, plentiful in the Basque hills of Spain, mark the family as Basques. This symbolizes the generosity and hospitality of the Loyola family. Legend has it that during a famine in the Basque country, the Loyolas fed all the hungry in the surrounding countryside, even the wolves. The bands on the opposite shield are taken from the arms of St. Ignatius' maternal family, the Oñaz family—the family of the founder of the Jesuits.[4]

School colors

The School Colors are blue and Vegas gold and are hailed in both school songs: the Alma Mater and the fight song. Symbolically, the blue represents filial piety and the gold stands for integrity.[5]

Schools

St. John's College

St. John's College was the original school, founded in downtown Toledo. When the school re-opened years after it closed during the great depression it re-opened as St. John's High School.

St. John's Jesuit High School

St. John's Jesuit High School
SJJ
Location
Toledo, Ohio
Information
Established 1965
Principal Mr. Brad Bonham
Asst. Principal Mrs. Cherie Bischoff
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 800
Athletics Three Rivers Athletic Conference,
Division I
Yearbook Promethean
Assoc Principal Mr. Spencer Root
Television Station SJTV4 (Titan 4 News)

The high school opened in 1965. It is an all male, college-prep high school with an enrollment of about 800. SJJ is one of two all-boys Catholic high schools in the Toledo area, and one of six Catholic high schools.

Academics

To be enrolled in St. John's Jesuit, a student must pass an entrance and placement exam. St. John's runs on a four point (4.0) GPA scale. In order to graduate from St. John's, each student must complete eight full semesters of study, along with a four year service requirement and successful completion of the senior project, a three week internship. Theology and English are compulsory for all four years of study, Math and Science, three. St. John's is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the Jesuit Secondary Education Association, and the Ohio Department of Education. St. John's offers a large number of Honors classes which receive a 0.5 weight to their GPA. St. John's also offers many Advanced Placement (AP) courses which receive a 1.0 weight and possible college credit.

In 2007, the St. John's Jesuit Quiz Bowl team won 1st place in the Toledo City League and the Northwest Ohio Regional Tournament.

The Chess Team won back to back titles in the Greater Toledo Area High School Chess League in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons. In addition, Evan Aubry '12, won an individual national championship at the 2011 National High School Chess Championship.

House system

In the 2008-2009 year a new system was introduced to the high school at St. John's. The "House" system features eight houses; each student is put into a house and the eight houses compete. There are "House days" where competitions in things varying from basketball, to video games, to tug of war, etc. Points are rewarded to the houses for many things they do, some include: overall GPA, overall behavior, performance in sport and fun activities, school spirit, and many others. At the end of the year a winner is announced.

Performing arts

St. John's offers both Instrumental and Vocal music education as well as a theater program. The Vocal program includes two ensembles, The Men's Chorus, a co-curricular ensemble, and the Vocal Ensemble. The Instrumental program has three main co-curricular ensembles, The Marching Titans, The Symphonic Band, and the Wind Ensemble. In addition to these programs, the Instrumental Department has many other extra-curricular groups including, the Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Machine, a basketball pep band, hockey pep band, The Commencement Wind Ensemble and a pit orchestra for St. John's musicals. Each year the high school performs a musical at the Valentine Theater in downtown Toledo. In 2008, the program performed Les Misérables (musical) and was asked to reprise the show as a touring ensemble. In 2011, the program performed "Titanic (musical)". In 2012, the program performed "Anything Goes". In 2013, the program will showcase "Monty Python's Spamalot". A fall play is also performed annually by the Campion Hall Players inside the school's McQuade Theater. Productions have ranged from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and "The Taming of the Shrew" to Miller's "The Crucible" and Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451."

Athletics

Sports at St. John's include basketball, football, soccer, ice hockey, baseball, track and field, cross country, bowling, lacrosse, swimming, golf, tennis, rowing.

The Titans won or shared the Toledo City League All Sports Trophy 29 times in 37 years—more than any other school in the conference, as well as more than all other schools combined. Beginning in 2011, the Titans began competing in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference.

Other athletic accomplishments, including Ohio High School Athletic Association and Regional championships:

[*]Won 1999 state title game 7-0, however later forfeited to Bowling Green High School due to the use of an ineligible player. The players retained their individual gold medals.

St. John's Jesuit Academy

St. John's Jesuit Academy
SJJA
Location
Toledo, Ohio
Information
Type Private, All-Male, middle school
Established 2004
Principal Mike Savona '75
Faculty 15
Grades 6–8
Enrollment 160

The Academy was established in the 2004-2005 school year. The students can use all of the facilities of the college-prep high school but primarily study in their own private wing. Often, students take some of the requisite high-school courses in the Academy before enrollment in the High School. As a result, many Academy students can take many more AP courses at the end of their high-school study. The Academy has a budding sports, music, and art program. The students attend all Masses and Prayer Services with the High School. The students of the Academy are paired with "Big Brothers" in the Senior High and take part in activities with them often. The Academy offers advanced curriculum in Math, Science, English, Social Studies and one foreign language consisting of Spanish, Latin, French, or Chinese.

Academy expansion

The Academy has grown tremendously since its first year. The number of students and activities increased rapidly, and the space the Academy administration offices and rooms occupied was becoming quite crowded. The Jesuits in the building moved out of their wing and their entire space was reconfigured for Academy use. This change happened in the summer of 2009. The extra hallway is adjacent to the original Academy hallway (which also was Jesuit residence, before being converted to the Academy).

Athletics

Athletics at the Academy are extra-curricular. They consist of cross country, golf, basketball, track, lacrosse and tennis. There are many other teams as well including The Lego Robotics Programming team, and the power of the Pen and the Stock Market Team. Most teams participate in the local, Catholic sports programs with other private 7th and 8th grades.

Music

Music at the Academy is compulsory. Students can enroll in the Academy Beginners Band, the Academy Young Men's Chorus, or the standard music education course. Additionally, students can be placed in the Academy Advanced Band.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 OHSAA. "Ohio High School Athletic Association member directory". Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  2. ↑ NCA-CASI. "NCA-Council on Accreditation and School Improvement". Retrieved 2009-06-23.
  3. ↑ St. John's Jesuit High School and Academy Bulletin of Information, The School Patron
  4. ↑ Santuario de Loyola (http://www.santuariodeloyola.com/english/santa_casa1.html)
  5. ↑ St. John's Jesuit High School and Academy Bulletin of Information, The School Colors
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 OHSAA. "Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site". Retrieved 2006-12-31.
  7. ↑ Diver takes sport to new heights: off cliffs - Toledo Blade
  8. ↑ <http://olympicindoor.com/staff_erickiskersky.htm
  9. ↑ Aspen Publishers - Sports Law and Regulation: Cases, Materials, and Problems 2E - Matthew J. Mitten - Timothy Davis - Rodney Smith - Robert C. Berry - About the Author
  10. ↑ "Maumee native Muenzer makes Channel crossing dream come true". The Toledo Blade.
  11. ↑ "Parsons, Scott". United States Olympic Committee.
  12. ↑ <http://minnesota.dalecarnegie.com/directory/default.aspx?StaffId=415&DepartmentId=-1

External links