Bellarmine Preparatory School is a private,
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
,
coeducational
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 ...
high school run by the USA West Province of the
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...
, United States. It is located in the
Archdiocese of Seattle. Today it serves just over 900 students from the Greater Tacoma area, including Olympia, Gig Harbor, and Puyallup. It was founded in 1928 by the Jesuits.
History
Bellarmine was founded in 1928 as an all-boys school and became the second
coeducational
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 ...
Jesuit school in the nation in 1974 after its merger with the schools Aquinas and St. Leo's. The date of the school's creation is commonly accepted to be 1928. However, Saint Leo's Grammar and High School and Aquinas Academy for girls were founded earlier (1912 and 1893, respectively). Philomathea, the parents club, predates Bellarmine as it was founded at St. Leo's before moving to the school during the merger. The first graduating class of Bellarmine was in 1929, with 19 students graduating.
[1929](_blank)
/ref>
Campus
The school sits on a large campus of 42 acres, at the highest point overlooking the city of Tacoma. Poplar trees were planted as a memorial to Bellarmine Alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
near Memorial Field. Memorial Field remained a grass field up until 2017, when it was replaced by a new turf field over the summer before the 2017-2018 school year. The school quad has the qualities of a Grad at Grad printed in metal letters on the concrete and the letters AMDG printed at the quad's center-most point.
Student life
Co-curricular activities
FIRST Robotics
The school competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...
(FRC) as Team 360, The Revolution. Established in 1999, the team has been recognized for the quality of the robots produced and for their commitment to community service. They are the oldest sustaining team in the Pacific Northwest District at 19 years. They have won multiple awards:
* 2016 FIRST Championship Woodie Flowers (Eric Stokely)
* 2016 PNW District Championships Winner
* 2015 Auburn District Competition Winner
* 2012 Autodesk Oregon Regional Winner
* 2011 Autodesk Oregon Regional Winner
* 2011 Microsoft Seattle Cascade Regional Chairman's Award
* 2009 Microsoft Seattle Regional Chairman's Award
Model UN
In 2013, Bellarmine's Model UN program BellarMUN was created. It attends several conference conferences every year, including PACMUN, CAIMUN, AmeriMUNC and VMUN. BellarMUN also hosts its own middle school conference, BELLARMUN.
Athletics
Over 70% of the student population competes in at least one athletic activity. It has been named All-Sports Champions by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) is the governing body of athletics and activities for secondary education schools in the state of Washington. As of February 2011, the private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization consists ...
the past four years, winning it for the first time in school history in 2004 with the second highest All-Sports score recorded in state history, and the highest score for a 2A, 3A, or 4A school. In 2004, the men's soccer team won its first state title with an undefeated record of 20-0-2. In 2008, the men's soccer team won its second state title.
Boys' sports offered: Cross country, Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
, Wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
, Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
, Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
, Track and Field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
, Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
, Soccer, Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
, Sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...
, and Football.
Girls' sports offered: Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
, Cross country, Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
, Fast pitch, Track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
, Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
, Sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...
, Soccer, Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
, and Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
.
Theater
Bellarmine has a theater program which puts on two shows a year: a fall musical and a spring play, as well as a Dramafest featuring student-written one-act plays. In recent years, the department's musical productions have been nominated for several 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Awards, with one win in 2014 and two in 2015. The students work in six sub-departments of the theater program: acting, set building, costume, hair, and make-up design, sound design, lighting design, and stage management.
Community service
As part of the required curriculum, Juniors must complete a total of thirty hours of community service, as well as helping out at the local L'Arche
L'Arche is an international federation of non-profits working to create networks of community where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together. Founded in 1964 by Jean Vanier, Raphaël Simi, and Philip Seux, L'Ar ...
farm with their Ignatian Formation (homeroom) class during their Freshman year. Several community service clubs are active on campus such as Habitat for Humanity and Key Club, and Bellarmine offers several programs that serve the community, including Nativity House and Operation Keep ‘Em Warm and Fed.
In 1993, Bellarmine started Phoenix Housing, a tradition of housing temporarily homeless families in academic buildings during non-school hours for a small span of the year. Bellarmine provides these people dinner, breakfast, and overnight accommodations through the help of student volunteers.
Religion
Religion is an integral part of the Bellarmine curriculum, with 3.5 credits of religion classes required for graduation.
Retreats
Bellarmine holds a required student body retreat for the freshmen, called "On a Purpose for a Purpose". Freshmen and sophomores are also required to attend Faith in Formation meetings. These generally occur during CP (Community Period), now named Ignatian Formation (homeroom). The sophomore meetings focus more on volunteer work, including participation in a Habitat for Humanity build or work with L'Arche
L'Arche is an international federation of non-profits working to create networks of community where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together. Founded in 1964 by Jean Vanier, Raphaël Simi, and Philip Seux, L'Ar ...
.
An optional overnight retreat, the Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...
Urban Plunge, is offered in the fall and spring for sophomores. The retreat focuses on "street life" in the Tacoma Area.[Street Life](_blank)
/ref>
Four retreats are offered to seniors. Senior Pilgrimage is a weekend hike up a mountain. Montserrat is an Ignatian, directed retreat which is made in complete silence for a 24-hour period, and the Manresa is also a silent retreat over a 48-hour period. The Magis is a three-day overnight retreat.
Bellarmine students may also work on crew or team for the Senior Pilgrimage, Magis retreat, and Junior Encounter.
Mass
All-school Masses are rare, normally on Ash Wednesday, the last day before Christmas break, and the Feast of Saint Robert Bellarmine. The entire school attends, but active participation is optional. There are also occasional House Masses and prayer services, and Mass is offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays prior to the start of school.
Academics
Bellarmine offers 37 Advanced Placement, Honors or Dual Credit courses.
At BPS, a total of 21 credits are specified as department requirements. A total of 26 credits will be required for graduation and a College Preparatory Diploma. The four-year semester program provides opportunities for students to earn 28.5 credits.
Art
Bellarmine is home to an art program which offers activities such as Design, Crafts, Ceramics, Photography, Sculpture, Drawing, Painting, Printmaking and Theater. A senior is required to fulfill 1 Fine Arts credit by graduation— .5 credit in Visual Arts is required in addition to .5 credit in Visual Arts, Music or Stagecraft.
Marine Chemistry
The marine chemistry program is available to students who score sufficiently well on the school entrance examination and opt into doing extra research work to fulfill this requirement. It is a four-year program where students learn the skills needed to do chemical and biological marine research in their first two years, and then apply those skills in their own research projects during their junior and senior years.
Notable alumni
* Avery Bradley, NBA free agent guard, most recently for the Los Angeles Lakers
* Casey Calvary, former professional basketball player, Class of 1997
* Malachi Flynn, NBA guard for the Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...
, Class of 2016
* Abdul Gaddy (born 1992), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
*Patrick Galbraith
Patrick Galbraith (born April 16, 1967) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player.
Career
A doubles specialist, Galbraith reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in 1993. During his career he won 38 top-level doubles titles. He w ...
, former professional tennis player, Class of 1985
* Molly Hightower
*Jon Lester
Jonathan Tyler Lester (born January 7, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals. L ...
, former Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
pitcher, Class of 2002
* Larry Loughlin, MLB pitcher ( Philadelphia Phillies), Class of 1959
*Ron Medved
Ronald George Medved (born May 27, 1944) is a former professional American football player who played defensive back and linebacker for five seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles.
From Tacoma, Washington, Medved graduated from Bellarmine Prep in ...
, NFL defensive back (Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
), Class of 1962
* Louis Renner, S.J., Jesuit, academic and historian of Catholic history in Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
*Kyle Stanley
Kyle Stanley (born November 19, 1987) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.
Amateur career
Stanley was born in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was a 2002 graduate of St. Charles Borromeo elementary and middle school and a 20 ...
, professional golfer, Class of 2006
* Abdul Gaddy, pro basketball player, Class of 2009
*Michael Rector
Michael Rector (born December 16, 1993) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Stanford.
Professional career
Rector signed with the Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football te ...
, Detroit Lions (& Stanford University) wide receiver, Class of 2012
* Sefo Liufau, University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
quarterback, Class of 2013
References
{{authority control
Jesuit high schools in the United States
Catholic secondary schools in Washington (state)
Schools in Tacoma, Washington
Educational institutions established in 1928
High schools in Pierce County, Washington
Schools accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission
High schools within the Archdiocese of Seattle
1928 establishments in Washington (state)