St. Mary's Ryken High School

St. Mary's Ryken High School is a Xaverian Brothers sponsored Catholic high school located on Breton Bay in Leonardtown, Maryland. It is accredited by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, the Maryland State Board of Education, and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The school is private and coeducational. St. Mary's Ryken provides education from grades 9-12. The school is the only high school from the Archdiocese of Washington in Southern Maryland, receiving students from Calvert, Charles, St. Mary's and southern Prince George's Counties. The campus is composed of Alumni, Lambert, Paschal, Romuald, Rupert, and Xavier Halls. School sports include basketball, lacrosse, baseball, softball, soccer, field hockey, wrestling, volleyball, sailing, tennis, track, and cross country. St. Mary's Ryken has a 109-acre open-air campus.

History

St. Mary's Academy, an all-girls' school, was founded in 1885 and Ryken High School (for boys) in 1956. These two schools merged in 1981, forming St. Mary's Ryken High School. St. Mary's Academy is now the College of Southern Maryland.

tudent Life

ports

St. Mary's Ryken recently started a football team in the 2006-2007 school year, although the team didn't have any large success the first year they finished the second year stronger and will be starting a Varsity team in the 2008-2009 school year. SMR is best known for its lacrosse team.

In the spring of 2007, two Ryken teams made it to the finals in the WCAC. Women's softball won second place overall, while men's lacrosse took first. This is Ryken's first big WCAC win.

Fall sports: field hockey, soccer, women's volleyball, women's tennis, and cross country.

Winter sports: basketball, wrestling, ice hockey, and cheerleading.

Spring sports: softball, baseball, ballet, track and field, men's tennis, and golf.

Sailing is a year-long sport.

Fine Arts

The fine arts are an important part of Ryken's student body. Concert band, orchestra, jazz band, Shakespearean drama, drama, dance, chorus, photography, art appreciation, pre-architecture, pottery and sculpture, and studio art are the main fine art classes and clubs. Each has at least one concert, rehearsal, or showcase during the school year. A new club, called SOFIA, has been created specifically dedicated to the arts and their publicity. Teens at Ryken involved in the fine arts usually succeed in their studies and are known throughout the school for their accomplishments. New to the 2007-2008 school year is a photography class and a darkroom.

Recent events in the arts include the orchestra competition and the Fine Art's Festival. The orchestra, composed of 14 students, went to Virginia Beach to compete against four other schools. They came away with second place, only two points behind first, and an amazing experience. The Fine Art's Festival began with Shakespearean drama, jazz band, and dance performances. The night continued with a scene from the spring musical, concert band, and orchestra, and concluded with the chorus concert. Throughout the whole evening, student artwork was on display in the lobby.

To hear the concert band, orchestra, or jazz band play, go tohttp://www.smrhs.org/finearts/enelson/index.htm

pirituality

Although St. Mary's Ryken is a Catholic school, about 15% of the students are non-Catholic, including Hindus, Protestants, Sikhs, Jews, Muslims, Pagans, Rastas, and a few other religions. The school holds liturgies and Mass periodically in the gym, and all students are required to take four years of theology classes. These theology classes are purely Catholic and part of a prescribed four-year formula, however, students do have the option to take Global Bridges, a global awareness class, their junior year, and Honors Philosophy senior year. Students also go on spiritual retreats annually by class, with the senior retreat being the only optional retreat program.

Uniform

Boys and girls wear oxford cloth shirts emblazoned with the school logo, or special polo shirts in the summer. The polo shirt colors are navy blue, white, and forest green, and white polos with club or sport logos are also worn. School pants are either blue or dark khaki dress pants, and there are also khaki school shorts available. Girls also wear knee-length pleated kilts in khaki, while senior and some junior girls are allowed to wear gray or a green plaid kilt, and all can wear previously purchased navy skirts. Boys wear special SMR ties. All students should wear dress shoes. The winter uniform now includes a blazer for juniors and seniors as well as a sweater for underclassmen. Seniors are allowed to wear approved sandals but not flip-flops.

The school colors are blue, green, and white, and the official mascot is the knight.

General Information

Full-time faculty : 55

Full-time administrators : 4

Full-time staff : 24

Classes offered : 126

AP Classes offered : 17

Student/faculty ratio : 14/1

Average class size : 21 (though this number is steadily increasing due to increased enrollment)

Education

Students must have completed a certain number of credits in different academic areas by the time they graduate. They are required to pass four social studies courses, four English, four religion (except in the case of transfer students), three math, three science, three of the same foreign language, and one fine art. Fine art classes include band, orchestra, chorus, art, [photography] , pottery, and music appreciation. Other required courses are one semester of physical education and one semester of a technology-related course. In 2008, a total of 50 community service hours (worth 4 credits) are also required to receive a diploma (an average of 6 people a class do not graduate due to this requirement).

External links

* [http://www.smrhs.org Official site]
* [http://www.smrsports.com Athletics]
* [http://www.smrhs.org/arts/index.html Fine Arts]
* [http://www.smrhs.org/contact/index.html Contact]