Jesuit High School (New Orleans)

Jesuit High School
Address
4133 Banks Street New Orleans,  Louisiana, 70119  United States
Coordinates	29°58′23.0″N 90°6′12.5″W / 29.97306°N 90.103472°W / 29.97306; -90.103472Coordinates: 29°58′23.0″N 90°6′12.5″W / 29.97306°N 90.103472°W / 29.97306; -90.103472
Information
Motto	Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (For the Greater Glory of God)
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic, Society of Jesus
Established	1847
Founder	Fr. Jean Baptiste Maisonabe, S.J.
President	Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. '76
Principal	Michael Giambelluca '82
Asst. Principal	Kathy Juhas, academic affairs Peter Kernion '90, student affairs
Chaplain	Fr. Donald Saunders, S.J.
Faculty	115
Grades	8–12
Enrollment	1,355  (2010)
Average class size	24
Student to teacher ratio	13:1
Color(s)	Royal Blue and White
Slogan	Men of Faith and Men for Others.
Song	Jesuit Alma Mater [1]
Fight song	Jesuit Fight Song[2]
Mascot	Jayson the Blue Jay
Team name	Blue Jays
Rival	Holy Cross High School
Accreditation(s)	Southern Association of Colleges and Schools [3]
USNWR ranking	1
Average SAT scores	1877  (Class of 2010)
Average ACT scores (Class of 2010)	26.8
Publication	Calliope (literary magazine)
Newspaper	'The Blue Jay'
Yearbook	'The Annual'
School fees	None
Tuition	$7,000
(Class of 2010) Graduates	259
Alumni	12,800
Disciplinarian	Lary "Top" Abshire
Director of Student Activities	Michael Prados '82
Admissions Director	Jack Truxillo '73
Athletic Director	David Moreau
Website	http://www.jesuitnola.org

Jesuit High School is an all-male Catholic high school in New Orleans, Louisiana. The school was founded in 1847. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Jesuit is a college preparatory school with more than 99% of graduates moving on to attend colleges and universities all across the country. Jesuit ranks among the top private schools in the nation in number of National Merit semifinalists.^[4] The class of 2008 received $17,974,000 in college scholarship offers, an average of $65,838.83 per student.[2]

In 1967, Jesuit became the first high school in the country to have a Marine Corps Junior ROTC program. For several years, this program was mandatory for all students; the combination of Jesuit priests and Marine Corps JROTC instructors made the school's disciplinary system unique among American high schools. Guest speakers such as Jay Thomas, authors Pat Conroy, Tony Hillerman, Sister Helen Prejean, Orson Scott Card, Dana Gioia, Chaim Potok, former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, former New Orleans Mayor and alumnus Marc Morial, actor Jim Caviezel, theologian George Weigel, Jesuit Superior General Peter Hans Kolvenbach, ESPN announcer Mike Tirico, theologian and former U.S. Ambassador Michael Novak, and United States President William Howard Taft have addressed the student body. More recently, David F. Dixon is one of the very few non-alumni guest speakers invited to address students at Assembly.

History

The College of the Immaculate Conception was founded in 1847 but did not open until 1849; it was both a secondary school and a college, and both were located in the Faubourg Ste. Marie of New Orleans (now the New Orleans Central Business District), a block upriver from the French Quarter, at the corner of Baronne and Common Streets. In 1911, the high school and college divisions were split, and the college division relocated to St. Charles Avenue, eventually becoming Loyola University New Orleans. The high school remained on Baronne Street until 1926, when it was moved to its current location at 4133 Banks Street in Mid-City. The Church of the Immaculate Conception ^[5] remains on the original campus and plays an active role in the Jesuit community.

Since 1926, several additions have been made to the campus. In 1953 a wing was added along Palmyra Street; the addition included an auditorium, the Chapel of the North American Martyrs, a cafeteria, a library, several classrooms, and a band room.

The school's current president is Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. (Class of 1976), and its current principal is Michael Giambelluca (Class of 1982).

Mascot

The mascot is a blue jay posed with his fists raised, designed by cartoonist Walt Kelly of Pogo fame. A contest was held to name the mascot, and the name "Jayson," submitted by a student, won. The school's colors are blue and white to honor the Virgin Mary. Student athletes wore a white sweater with a blue letter "J" on it and were referred to as the "Blue J's," hence the mascot. As with most Jesuit schools, the school's motto is Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam ("For the Greater Glory of God").

Alma Mater

Hail Alma Mater Dear!

Loyal sons acclaim thee

Thy sacred name revere

For its majesty!

Star of our youthful years,

By thy beams illumined

Souls advance in wisdom's bright careers,

Minds and hearts enlightened.

Friend and guide 'neath standards bright!

Trumpeting valor's cry,

Skyward stream thy blue and white!

Thy gallant fighting sons climb high.

So shall thy banners be guides to heaven's sphere,

Lead, O lead us on to victory, Mother Almer Mater Dear.

The front doors of Jesuit High School, often referred to as the Mary Doors, as seen from Carrollton Ave.

Sports

Since 1933, Jesuit has won many state championships in football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. The 1946 athletic year yielded undefeated state champions in baseball, basketball, track and field, and football all coached by G. Gernon Brown.^{[6][citation needed]} It has been said that Jesuit had "All the Tricks in '46." In the 2004–2005 school year, Jesuit won state championships in baseball, cross country, soccer, tennis, wrestling, rugby, and swimming, and went to the state playoffs in football with an undefeated regular season. In 2005, Jesuit became the first 5A school in Louisiana history to win three state championships in a row in the sport of cross country. In 2006, they continued with an unprecedented 4th cross country state championship. Jesuit Swimming holds the LHSAA record for most consecutive state championships in any sport, with 18 straight. As of November 20, 2010, Jesuit Swimming has captured 36 state championships. The streak was broken in 2005, when the team, still feeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina, was only able to field 12 swimmers, yet still managed to come in second place, only a few points out of first. In 2006, however, the team was able to recapture the state championship.

In football, Jesuit High School vs. Holy Cross High School is the oldest continuous high school rivalry in Louisiana and one of the oldest continuous high school football rivalries in the United States. The first game was played in 1922 (Jesuit won by 52–0) and the two teams have played every year since (twice in 1963: once in regular season and another time for the state crown which Holy Cross won) Blue Jays vs. Tigers.

In February 1965, Jesuit's all-white basketball team played a secret game against St. Augustine, the city's all-male, all-black high school. The Purple Knights won the game, which was the basis for the 1999 motion picture Passing Glory. Jesuit won the 1965 Louisiana High School Athletic Association state championship in Class AAA, which was at the time the state's highest classification, while St. Augustine won the championship of the Louisiana Interscholastic and Literary Organization, the sanctioning body for the state's black schools. In the fall of 1967, St. Augustine joined the LHSAA and became a rival for the Blue Jays in the New Orleans Catholic League through the 2010-11 school year, when the Purple Knights were forced down to Class 4A by the LHSAA.

In the 1998–1999 season, and again in the 2006–2007 season, Jesuit fielded one of the best soccer teams in the nation, winning the Louisiana state title and in both cases posting an incredible 31-0-0 record. This record gave the Jesuit team a #3 (1998–99) and a #2 (2006–2007) rank in the nation. In the 2007–2008 season, the rugby team won the State Championship for the sixth consecutive year with an undefeated season, only allowing 12 points while scoring over 300. Because of a conflict with the senior prom, the team was forced to play in the more difficult mulit-school division at the Southern Regionals in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The team swept regionals and moved on to become 8th in the country in the multi-school division at the USA Rugby Boys High School National Championship.^[7]

A rear view of Jesuit from the corner of Banks and S. Solomon St.

Notable clubs and organizations

As a Catholic preparatory high school, Jesuit contains over fifty clubs and organizations for students to participate in.^[8] Listed below are the clubs which play integral roles in student life:

• Wrestling Team
• Green Club
• The Blue Jay Student Newspaper
• Speech and Debate Team
• Pro-Life Club, (travels to Washington D.C. annually to protest the decision made in Roe v. Wade.)
• Columbian Squires
• Marine JROTC
• Acoustic Guitar Club
• Youth Rebuilding New Orleans, (works with Habitat for Humanity to help reconstruct homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina.)
• Philelectic Society
• Blue Jay Band, (makes biennial trips to Walt Disney World and Bamberg, Germany)
• Rugby Team
• Lacrosse Team
• Herpetology Club
• Foosball Club
• Art Club
• Chess Team/Club

Hurricane Katrina

When the flooding following Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Jesuit High School was inundated, five feet (1.5 m) of water destroying the ground floor. When the school announced that it was closed indefinitely, many students enrolled in schools in cities to which they had evacuated. The largest concentration of students attended a satellite school at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston; at one point, approximately 420 displaced students attended classes at night with their own teachers and classmates. In mid-October, Jesuit opened another satellite school at St. Martin's Episcopal School in Metairie in unincorporated Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which about 500 students attended until Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, Jesuit's students and faculty returned to their own campus, becoming the first flooded school in New Orleans to reopen—albeit with an unusable first floor. The school held its annual Thanksgiving Drive for the poor living in the surrounding neighborhoods. On 23 January 2006, 1285 of the 1450 students returned to attend Jesuit for the second semester.

Notable alumni

In chronological order:

• Edward Douglass White (Class of 1865), former Chief Justice of the United States
• F. Edward Hebert (Class of 1920), U.S. Congressman (1940–1976)
• Jimmy Fitzmorris (Class of 1939), Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana (1972–1980)
• Adrian Duplantier, (Class of 1945), District Court judge (1978–2007), four-term Louisiana State Senator (1960–1974)
• John Petitbon (Class of 1947), Notre Dame & National Football League player
• Donald Wetzel (Class of 1947), inventor of the modern, networked Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
• Moon Landrieu (Class of 1948), former Mayor of New Orleans (1970–1978) and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• John Favalora, (Class of 1954), Archbishop of Miami, Florida (1994–present)
• Richie Petitbon, (Class of 1955) Tulane University and National Football League player, Washington Redskins Head Coach
• Rusty Staub (Class of 1961), Major League Baseball player, 6-time All Star, New York Mets Hall of Fame
• Pat Screen (Class of 1961), State Champion quarterback 1960, LSU Quarterback, Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish (1981–1988)
• Jim Donelon (Class of 1962), Louisiana insurance commissioner
• Jay Thomas (Class of 1966), actor (Eddie LeBec of "Cheers", "Murphy Brown") and radio personality (Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 108 M-TH, Channel 101 F)
• Jay Zainey, (Class of 1969), current Federal District Court judge; appointed by President George W. Bush
• Ellis Henican, (Class of 1976), journalist and voice actor ("Stormy" Waters of Sealab 2021)
• Christian LeBlanc (Class of 1976), actor (Michael Baldwin of "The Young and the Restless")
• Marc Morial (Class of 1976), former Mayor of New Orleans (1994–2002)
• Mitch Landrieu (Class of 1978), current Mayor of New Orleans and son of former Mayor Moon Landrieu (1970–1978) as well as former State Lieutenant Governor
• Fred LeBlanc (Class of 1981), drummer, singer in rock band Cowboy Mouth
• Nicholas Lorusso (Class of 1984), state representative from Orleans Parish
• Will Clark (Class of 1982), Major League Baseball player, 6 time All-Star, Golden Glove Winner
• Fred Weller (Class of 1984), actor in In Plain Sight
• Harry Connick, Jr. (Class of 1985), musician, actor
• Jay Duplass (Class of 1991), filmmaker (Baghead, Cyrus)
• Mark Duplass (Class of 1995), actor/filmmaker (Baghead, Cyrus, The League)
• Michael White (Class of 1995), current head men's basketball coach at Louisiana Tech
• Corey Hilliard (Class of 2003), 6th Round Draft Pick of New England Patriots in the 2007 NFL Draft
• Chris Brown (Class of 2004), Current tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars

Famous students

People who attended Jesuit High School, but did not graduate:

• Dr. John
• Louis Prima (Class of 1930 would-be: kicked out two weeks before graduation for cursing a priest.^[9])
• Al Hirt^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Jesuit High School, disambiguation page

References

1. ^ An MP3 of the song is on the school's website.. None. Retrieved on 2011-05-28.
2. ^ An MP3 of the song is on the school's website.. None. Retrieved on 2011-05-28.
3. ^ SACS-CASI. "SACS-Council on Accreditation and School Improvement". http://www.advanc-ed.org/schools_districts/school_district_listings/?. Retrieved 2009-06-23. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "2005 recruiting brochure" (PDF). Jesuit High School. http://jesuitnola.org/Admissions/2005_recruiting_brochure.pdf. 
5. ^ Immaculate Conception Church, New Orleans, LA. Neworleanschurches.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-28.
6. ^ New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 20, 2003
7. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
8. ^ Clubs Homepage. Jesuitnola.org. Retrieved on 2011-05-28.
9. ^ Jesuit High School – New Orleans, LA. Jesuitnola.org. Retrieved on 2011-05-28.

External links

• Jesuit High School website
• Blue Jays vs. Tigers