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 ...

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 exte ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

. It has a lower school (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 A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

, and a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, 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 A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

. 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 Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

programs have been recognized as some of the best in the

Florida High School Athletic Association The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high schools in Florida. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Florida uses ...

by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' 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, ''

'' 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

'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 The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, 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 Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderi ...

's head coach. The current Bolles coach is former Olympic swimmer

Jon Sakovich Jonathan Dehe Sakovich ( ; born June 26, 1970) is a former competition swimmer from Saipan who has represented Guam and the United States at international events. At the 1988 Olympics he represented Guam, where he set the Guam records in the 40 ...

. 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 ina ...

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 mean solar tim ...

, including

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

gold medal winners Ryan Murphy and

Joseph Schooling Joseph Isaac Schooling (born 16 June 1995) is a Singaporean professional swimmer who specialises in butterfly, freestyle and medley events. He was the gold medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics, achieving Singapore's first ev ...

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

Activities

The school's

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

program performs a musical every second year and a

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play every third year. Performing groups include Jazz Ensemble, Stage Band, Choir, Choral Music and Dance.

Notable alumni

Linden Ashby Clarence Linden Garnett Ashby III (born May 23, 1960) is an American actor and director. On television, he portrayed Brett Cooper on the final two seasons of the Fox soap opera ''Melrose Place'' (1997–1999) and Sheriff Noah Stilinski on all ...

actor * Ron Clark Ball author *

George Bovell George Richard Lycott Bovell (born 18 July 1983) is an Olympic bronze medalist swimmer and former world record holder from Trinidad and Tobago. Bovell is also a two-time World Championship bronze medalist. Olympic career George Bovell represen ...

Olympic bronze medal swimmer * Dee Brown former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

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 a ...

Olympic silver medal swimmer"Florida's Bolles School claims top spot", ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', 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 NFL player *

Shaun Chapas Shaun Chapas (born May 2, 1988) is a former American football fullback in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. He played college football at the University of Georgia. Early years Chapas attended Bolles School ...

NFL fullback for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

* Santo Condorelli 2016 Olympian for Canada *

Bruce Crump Bruce Hull Crump, Jr. (July 17, 1957 – March 16, 2015) was the drummer with the rock band Molly Hatchet from 1976 to 1982 (including their 1980 hit song " Flirtin' with Disaster" ) and 1984 to 1991. He also played as a member of the Canadian b ...

southern rock musician * Char-ron Dorsey former NFL

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

* Javontee Herndon former NFL player *

Hayden Hurst Hayden Randle Hurst (born August 24, 1993) is an American football tight end for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at South Carolina and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round ...

NFL

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

* Trina Jackson Olympic gold medal swimmer *

Jawan Jamison Jawan Jamison (born November 23, 1991) is a former American football running back. He played college football for Rutgers University. He was selected in the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. He was considered one of ...

former NFL running back. *

Chipper Jones Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones Jr. (born April 24, 1972) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves from 1993 to 2012. The Braves chose Jones with the List of first ov ...

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 (A ...

player and member of the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

Mac Jones Michael McCorkle "Mac" Jones (born September 5, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, where he set the NCAA season records for passer ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

quarterback *

Joseph Kittinger Joseph William Kittinger II (July 27, 1928 – December 9, 2022) served as a United States Air Force (USAF) officer from 1950 to 1978. He was a fighter pilot who earned Command Pilot status and retired as a colonel. He held the world record for ...

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

pilot, performed the record highest and fastest skydive at over 100,000 feet as a key member of

Project Excelsior Project Excelsior was a series of parachute jumps made by Joseph Kittinger of the United States Air Force in 1959 and 1960 from helium balloons in the stratosphere. The purpose was to test the Beaupre multi-stage parachute system intended to be ...

David Larson David Erwin Larson (born June 25, 1959) is an American former competition swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and former world record-holder. Larson is a Georgia native who became an All-American college swimmer for the University of Flori ...

Olympic gold medal swimmer * Amelia Lewis 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 Brian Liesegang (born February 10, 1970) is an American songwriter, producer, composer, guitarist and programmer, and a founding member of the industrial rock band Filter. Biography Liesegang was born in New York City, where his father Dr. Tho ...

Filter, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan, Veruca Salt; songwriter, producer, musician * David López-Zubero Olympic bronze medal swimmer"Sergio Show Moves to Jacksonville"
CollegeSwimming.com, May 30, 2007. *

Martin López-Zubero Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austra ...

Olympic gold medal swimmer * Andrew G. McCabe former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation *

MacKenzie Miller MacKenzie "Mack" Todd Miller (October 16, 1921 – December 10, 2010) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner/breeder. During his forty-six-year career, he conditioned seventy-two stakes winners, including four Eclipse Award cha ...

U.S. Racing Hall of Fame Thoroughbred trainer * Ryan Murphy 2016 Olympic gold medalist and swimmer for the Cal Golden Bears. *

Anthony Nesty Anthony Conrad Nesty (born November 25, 1967) is a former competition swimmer from Suriname who was an Olympic gold medallist in the 100-metre butterfly event in 1988. He is currently the head coach of the Florida Gators men's and women's swim ...

Olympic gold medal swimmer for

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

Gram Parsons Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...

country rock musician * Colin Peek All-SEC and Academic All-SEC tight end for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

2010 BCS National Championship team and a free agent in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

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 The Way Back (2020 film) *

Olympic gold medalist for

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. *

George Scribner George Scribner (born September 28, 1952) is an artist, director and animator that is best known for having directed the 1988 animated Walt Disney Animation Studios film ''Oliver & Company''. Biography Scribner was born and raised in the Repu ...

Disney Director, Imagineer. Directed Oliver & Company. Professional painter. *

Ryan Silverfield Ryan Daniel Silverfield (born August 4, 1980) is an American football coach who is the head football coach at the University of Memphis. Silverfield has spent most of his coaching career, which began during his senior year of high school, as eithe ...

Head Football Coach of the

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic C ...

. *

Riley Skinner Riley Skinner (born October 21, 1986) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He played college football at Wake Forest University. College career Skinner played high ...

All-ACC quarterback for the

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

Deamon Deacons and NFL

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

Austin Slater Austin Thomas Slater (born December 13, 1992), nicknamed AC, is an American professional baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball at Stanford University. He was drafted by th ...

MLB player with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

* Jason Spitz NFL player with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

DJ Stewart Demetrius Jerome Stewart (born November 30, 1993) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Baltimore Orioles. Stewart played college baseball fo ...

– MLB player with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

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 ...

former NFL player. *

David Treadwell David Mark Treadwell (born February 27, 1965 in Columbia, South Carolina) is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League for the Denver Broncos (1989-1992) and the New York Giants (1993-1994). He played college footbal ...

former NFL player *

Travis Tygart Travis Thompson Tygart (born 1971) is an American lawyer and CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He is best known for his role in exposing Lance Armstrong's massive doping operation. Life and career A native of Jacksonvill ...

CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency

USADA The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti- doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...

Fred Tyler Frederick Daniel Tyler (born March 15, 1954) is an American competitive swimming (sport), 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 Summe ...

Olympic gold medal swimmer *

Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (born March 4, 1990) is a competitive swimmer and national record-holder from the Bahamas who has represented her country in international championships, including the Olympics, FINA world championships, and Pan Ameri ...

Olympic swimmer *

Dez White Edward Dezmon White (born August 23, 1979) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). White was selected in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears and had a brief stint with the Atlan ...

former NFL player * Ashley Whitney Olympic gold medal swimmer * Mari Wilensky 2006

Miss Florida The Miss Florida competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Florida in the Miss America pageant. Florida has twice won the Miss America crown. In the fall of 2018, the Miss America Organization terminated Miss F ...

* Rick Wilkins former

player * George B. Stallings Jr. Served in the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopt ...

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