| Strake Jesuit College Preparatory |
Website Links For Jesuit |
Information AboutStrake Jesuit College Preparatory |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT STRAKE JESUIT COLLEGE PREPARATORY | |
| high schools in harris county, texas | |
| jesuit high schools in the united states | |
| jesuit new orleans province | |
| private schools in houston | |
| boys schools in the united states | |
| roman catholic secondary schools in texas | |
Strake Jesuit College Preparatory is a Jesuit Preparatory School for young men in southwest Houston, Texas , founded on June 21 , 1960 . The school is well-known throughout the Houston area for its academic excellence as well as its strong sense of community. The school is also known for over 100 pieces of art placed around campus. The school is classified as an official art museum with a full-time curator. The school is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Galveston-Houston . It is one of only two private schools that are members of the University Interscholastic League . LOCATION AND HISTORY The land for Strake Jesuit was donated by Frank Sharp , the developer of Sharpstown, when an order of Jesuit priests made their way down to Houston to start the high school. It has operated in the same location for the entirity of its existence. It is still run by the Jesuit Order of priests, with seven or more Jesuit Priest s living on-site at any given time. It also serves as a training ground for Jesuit noviciates. The campus is located at 8900 Bellaire Boulevard, where it intersects Gessner Drive in the Sharpstown neighborhood. The campus is no longer the size it originally started out as, as between the sale of approximately 1/3 of the property to the Dominican Sisters (for the new and permanent location of Saint Agnes Academy ) and a stock market falling-out that involved Jesuit property as collateral, it currently only retains approximately 60% of the land it originally began with. Saint Agnes Academy, the adjacent Catholic high school for girls founded by the Dominican Sisters, is adjacent to Strake Jesuit, separated by nothing more than the Jesuit parking lot. MOTTOS AND PRINCIPLES The school Mottos are:
In keeping with these mottos, students are required before graduation to complete Junior and Senior service projects, the Senior service project requiring 100 hours of community service. The "Grad at Grad", an essay written regarding the status of what a Strake Jesuit Graduate should be at graduation, also defines the Seniors of the school at the Graduation. This is used to show an outline of what is expected from each student, namely that he is intellectually competent, open to growth, physically fit, committed to doing justice, religious, and loving. The patron saints of the school are St. Ignatius Of Loyola , the founder of the Jesuit Order, and St. Stanislaus Kostka , the patron saint of youth. STUDENTS AND ALUMNI Strake Jesuit currently maintains approximately 900 students actively in session. Out of roughly 2000 annual applicants, 250 are accepted to form the freshman class, out of which fewer than 200 graduate. The school currently has thousands of graduates, with an average graduating class of 180 in the past 5 years. The 2004-2005 graduating class consisting of 215 students is the largest graduating class Strake Jesuit has ever had. Many students who have graduated from the high school often return in some capacity to help out. More than 30 former students are currently amongst the active faculty and staff at SJ. Famous Strake Jesuit Alumni include:
STRAKE JESUIT EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION The school uses a closed-circuit television system known as Strake Jesuit Educational Television (SJET). SJET was established in 1970 when an Audio Visual system of that magnitude was unique for an institution like high school; and even yet today still remains a system rare for most high schools. However, throughout the year, like all sytems of the same kind, numerous technical problems and poor quality due to the problematic machines, software, and student participants that enable the presentation of SJET, pop up ocassionally. There is a television or Smart Board in every classroom which SJET is displayed. Daily morning announcements are presented and produced by students under the guidance of a moderator who provides help and knowledge. The Students participating in SJET can take Television Production for class credit. Around 2000 , Strake Jesuit updated its SJET system with the addition of a Smart Board in every classroom. Smart Boards use projectors and touch sensitive technology to produce an interactive way of teaching. The Smart Boards are also connected to the SJET studio, and they play the daily announcements. Through the course of the year, the student body may view new installments of the school's own game show, "Scribbage". Students who actively watch SJET may also observe who the new morning announcers for next year will be. SJET makes it possible, on occasion, for students to take interest in "news strips", "interviews", or "programs" that are intended to be comical. SJET is also joined on occasion by a special guest. HURRICANE KATRINA AND SECOND SESSION In light of the damage and evacuation of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina , hundreds of students from Jesuit High School in New Orleans flocked to Houston. In response, Strake Jesuit lived up to its "Men for Others" motto as it took in over 400 students that had previously attended Jesuit New Orleans. Since it was impossible for a school with 900 students to successfully incorporate 400 more students into its present classes, Strake Jesuit opened up a "Second Session" that ran from Sunday through Thursday evenings. During this "Second Session", teachers from Jesuit New Orleans (approximately 30) used Strake's campus to run the school for the 400+ students using Strake's resources. Upon the conclusion of the 2005 Fall semester, the majority of the New Orleans Students left, closing the Second Session. The students that stayed (due to various circumstances) were incorporated into the normal class schedules. SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|