The Bolles School is an American

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

college preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a

lower school Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educa ...

(including

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jacksonville area, and enrolls about 1,800 students a year. The school was founded in 1933 as an all-boys military academy. It dropped its military focus in 1962 and became

coeducation Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

al in 1971. Its athletics programs have been recognized as some of the best in the Florida High School Athletic Association by '' Sports Illustrated'' magazine.

History

The school was founded as an all-boys' military academy in 1933 by Agnes Cain Painter, a friend of philanthropist Richard J. Bolles. The original campus, now known as the San Jose Campus, was formed from San Jose Hotel, a former hotel on San Jose Boulevard near the east bank of the St. Johns River. Bolles announced that it would drop its military status in 1961 and the graduating class of 1962 ended the military era. It began admitting girls in 1971. Today, male and female students are enrolled in relatively equal numbers. International students have enrolled at Bolles since the late 1930s, and the school maintains separate boys and girls boarding facilities for 90 students from other states and 22 foreign countries. The school also has an active

Student exchange program A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...

with schools in China, Japan, France and Spain. Participants live with the host family while attending school. John E. Trainer, Jr. served as the sixth Bolles President / Headmaster from 2002 until 2012 and oversaw the growth of the Bartram campus, creation of an elementary school in Ponte Vedra Beach, and boosting the school's endowment. He was succeeded by Brian E. M. Johnson for the 2012–2013 school year, who was succeeded by Bradley R. Johnson '79, who was succeeded by David J. Farace who was then succeeded by the previous Assistant Head of School Tyler Hodges the ninth head of school since its founding. The school's campuses include: *Upper School (grades 9–12) - San Jose Campus (Jacksonville) *Middle School (6-8) - Bartram Campus (Jacksonville) *Lower School (pre-kindergarten-5) - Ponte Vedra (Ponte Vedra Beach) & Whitehurst (Jacksonville) Campuses

Academics

Bolles has been a fully accredited Florida high school since 1934. Bolles operates on a two-semester academic year, with each semester split into two quarters. Bolles offers

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

courses.

Athletics

In 2005, '' Sports Illustrated'' named Bolles's athletic program the ninth best in the country, and second best in Florida. Of the top twenty-five schools, Bolles was the only one with an Upper School enrollment of under 1,000 students. Bolles has received the Florida High School Athletic Association's Dodge Sunshine Cup/Floyd E. Lay All-Sports Award (given to the best overall athletic program in each school type/size classification in Florida) for 21 of the past 22 years, including the past eleven consecutive years. During the 2015–2016 school year, Bolles won 7 different Florida state championships, including boys swimming, girls swimming, girls cross country, boys basketball, girls soccer, girls track and field, and baseball, bringing the school's all-time state championship total to 123. The outdoor field where its seven outdoor sports teams practice is called "George H. Hodges Field" and in 2016 it was converted to an artificial turf. The swim team has been coached by Gregg Troy, current head coach at the University of Florida, and 2012 US Olympic men's team head coach. Troy was followed as head coach by Olympic medalist Sergio Lopez until 2014 when Lopez left to become the Singapore national swimming team's head coach. The current Bolles coach is former Olympic swimmer Jon Sakovich. The school's swimming facility has its own offices, weight room (separate from the weight room that the rest of the school uses), and two swimming pools (one Olympic-sized). , the boys swim team has won 29 consecutive Florida state championships and 8 national championships, while the girls team has won 26 consecutive state championships and 9 different national titles. Bolles has had at least one alumnus or student competing in every

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, including

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

gold medal winners Ryan Murphy and Joseph Schooling. The Bolles Sharks, Bolles's club swim team, compete and practice year-round. Since 1989, the school's football team has been coached by Charles "Corky" Rogers, the all-time winningest Florida high school football coach with 465 wins, and has won eleven state championships, ten under Rogers. , Rogers has compiled a record of 324-45 during his tenure at the school, and has led Bolles to the state championship game in 6 of the last 8 years, resulting in 3 championships and 3 runner-up finishes. For the 2009 season, the Bulldogs went 12–1, losing only to

Cocoa High School Cocoa High School is high school located in Cocoa, Florida, and is part of the Brevard Public Schools District. The principal is Ms. Stewart . History Cocoa High was constructed in 1917. It was a two-story reinforced concrete building on Willa ...

, 44–37 in overtime. They defeated Tampa Catholic in the state championship game on December 12, 21–7.

Activities

The school's drama program performs a musical every second year and a Shakespeare play every third year. Performing groups include Jazz Ensemble, Stage Band, Choir, Choral Music and Dance.

Notable alumni

* Linden Ashby actor *

Ron Clark Ball Ron Clark Ball (born July 24, 1959) is an American thriller and suspense novelist from McLean, Virginia, and the author of ''Falcon on the Tower'' (2007), . He is also a former officer and Naval Aviator who flew the F-14 Tomcat and served in the ...

author * George Bovell Olympic bronze medal swimmer * Dee Brown former National Basketball Association player *

Greg Burgess Gregory Stewart Burgess (born January 11, 1972) is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic medalist. Burgess was born in Baltimore, Maryland.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes Greg Burgess. Retrieved March 6, 2015. He ...

Olympic silver medal swimmer"Florida's Bolles School claims top spot", '' USA Today'', November 26, 1996. *

Travis Carroll Travis Carroll (born October 26, 1978) is former American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rect ...

former

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player * Shaun Chapas NFL

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

for the

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* Santo Condorelli 2016 Olympian for Canada * Bruce Crump southern rock musician *

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former NFL

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* Javontee Herndon former NFL player * Hayden Hurst NFL tight end for the

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Olympic gold medal swimmer * Jawan Jamison former NFL running back. * Chipper Jones former Major League Baseball player and member of the

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* Mac Jones

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quarterback * Joseph Kittinger United States Air Force pilot, performed the record highest and fastest skydive at over 100,000 feet as a key member of Project Excelsior * David Larson Olympic gold medal swimmer *

Amelia Lewis Amelia Lyn Lewis (born February 23, 1991) is an American professional golfer. In December 2010 at age 19, Lewis became the first Jacksonville, Florida, native to be fully exempt on the LPGA Tour since Colleen Walker in 1982, some 28 years ear ...

LPGA professional golfer. Attended UF in 2009 on a golf scholarship before turning pro. She currently has 57 professional and amateur wins to her name. * Brian Liesegang Filter, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan, Veruca Salt; songwriter, producer, musician *

David López-Zubero David López-Zubero Purcell (born 11 February 1959), also known as David Zubero, is a former competition swimmer who represented Spain at three Summer Olympics and won an Olympic bronze medal in 1980. Zubero was born in the United States, swam ...

Olympic bronze medal swimmer"Sergio Show Moves to Jacksonville"
CollegeSwimming.com, May 30, 2007. * Martin López-Zubero Olympic gold medal swimmer *

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former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation * MacKenzie Miller U.S. Racing Hall of Fame Thoroughbred trainer * Ryan Murphy 2016 Olympic gold medalist and swimmer for the

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. * Anthony Nesty Olympic gold medal swimmer for

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* Gram Parsons country rock musician * Colin Peek All-SEC and Academic All-SEC tight end for the University of Alabama 2010 BCS National Championship team and a free agent in the National Football League *

Will Ropp Will Ropp is an American actor. He first gained attention for his role as Kenny Dawes in '' The Way Back'' (2020). Life and career Will was born in Connecticut. After graduating from The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, he went on to earn ...

– Actor

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* Joseph Schooling Olympic gold medalist for Singapore. * George Scribner Disney Director, Imagineer. Directed Oliver & Company. Professional painter. * Ryan Silverfield Head Football Coach of the Memphis Tigers. *

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All-ACC quarterback for the Wake Forest University Deamon Deacons and NFL

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* Austin Slater MLB player with the San Francisco Giants * Jason Spitz NFL player with the Jacksonville Jaguars *

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– MLB player with the Baltimore Orioles *

John Theus John Bailey Theus (born January 19, 1994) is a former American football offensive tackle. He played college football at the University of Georgia. High school career A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Theus attended Bolles School where he was co ...

former NFL player. * David Treadwell former NFL player * Travis Tygart CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency USADA *

Fred Tyler Frederick Daniel Tyler (born March 15, 1954) is an American competitive swimmer and aquatics coach, winner of several high school and college championships and a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1972 Summer Olympics and aut ...

Olympic gold medal swimmer * Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Olympic swimmer * Dez White former NFL player * Ashley Whitney Olympic gold medal swimmer * Mari Wilensky 2006 Miss Florida * Rick Wilkins former Major League Baseball player * George B. Stallings Jr. Served in the

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from 1959 to 1968

References

External links

bolles.org
the school's official website
The Association of Boarding Schools profile
{{authority control 1933 establishments in Florida Boarding schools in Florida Educational institutions established in 1933 High schools in Jacksonville, Florida Preparatory schools in Florida Private elementary schools in Florida Private middle schools in Florida Private high schools in Florida Southside, Jacksonville