Saint Thomas Aquinas High School is a
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 recorded ...
,
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 letter ...
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 ...
in
Overland Park, Kansas
Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. A ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, serving students in grades 9-12. It is located in the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas ( la, Archidioecesis Kansanopolitana in Kansas) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical province or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the United States of America.
The archbishop's episcopal seat is locate ...
. The current co-chaplains are Fr. Andrew Gaffney and Fr. Brent Stull; the president is Brian Schenck, and the principal is Craig Moss; vice-principles are Kara DiCarlo, and Lori Greeson. Saint Thomas Aquinas is one of several private high schools located in the
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
. The school colors are navy blue and old gold.
The school was established in 1988 in order to accommodate the growing Roman Catholic population in south
Johnson County. It is the successor to St. Joseph/Aquinas High School, which was located in the present-day Saint Joseph Early Education Center in
Shawnee, Kansas
Shawnee is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the seventh most populous municipality in the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 67,311.
History
Territory of Kansas
Before ...
.
Saint Thomas Aquinas is a member of the
Kansas State High School Activities Association
The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors ...
and offers a variety of sports programs. Athletic teams compete in the 5A division (Football competed in 4A for the 22-23 season) and are known as the "Saints". Extracurricular activities are also offered in the form of performing arts, school publications, and clubs.
History
St. Joseph and Aquinas High School
St. Joseph high school opened in 1931 (first graduating class in 1934) as a co-educational parish high school for St. Joseph Roman Catholic parish in Shawnee, Kansas. In 1980, responsibility for the high school was expanded from just St. Joseph parish to the entire Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. To reflect this, the name was changed to "Aquinas High School," after
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
,
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocacy, advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, ...
of Catholic schools. The Shawnee campus could accommodate about two hundred students.
Saint Thomas Aquinas High School
The Archdiocese takeover included plans to open a new larger building on land adjacent to
Johnson County Community College
Johnson County Community College (JCCC) is a public community college in Overland Park, Kansas, which is in Johnson County.
History
In 1963, Johnson County Commissioners, recognizing the emerging community college movement and seeking to acco ...
in Overland Park, about 6.5 miles south and one mile west of the Shawnee campus. The new building, which could accommodate more than one thousand students, was open for the 1988-89 school year. The name was expanded from "Aquinas High School" to "Saint Thomas Aquinas High School" at the new building, as well as a new
athletic nickname
Athletic may refer to:
* An athlete, a sportsperson
* Athletic director, a position at many American universities and schools
* Athletic type, a physical/psychological type in the classification of Ernst Kretschmer
* Athletic of Philadelphia, a ba ...
: "The Saints."
The Shawnee high school building was returned to St. Joseph parish, which uses the gymnasium and stadium for its primary school and for
CYO
Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) is an international Catholic youth movement founded by Bishop Bernard Sheil in Chicago in 1930. It would become a major factor in the development of race relations in the US Catholic Church following World Wa ...
competitions, and operates the St. Joseph Early Education Center in other parts of the building.
Major expansions to the current campus began in 1991 with the addition of a stadium, theater and performing arts wing, air conditioning in classrooms, and a second classroom building. The second building was originally referred to as "SMC" because it housed the Johnson County offices of
Saint Mary College, which held classes in the building at night.
In 2002 an "Auxiliary Gym" was added to the main building to allow more athletic practices and events to occur simultaneously.
The new Innovation Lab makerspace/classroom and an adjacent hallway attaching the former SMC building to the main building were added in 2017, along with a new strength and training facility, and better access to the Auxiliary Gym via a new hallway.
Academics
In 2012, Saint Thomas Aquinas was awarded the
Blue Ribbon Award for excellence in education by the
US Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
. For the 2008–09 and 2009-2010 school years, Saint Thomas Aquinas was recognized by the
for achieving excellence in reading, writing and mathematics.
For classes beginning in 2011, 27 credits are required for graduation.
Extracurricular activities
Non-athletic programs
Choir Program
Saint Thomas Aquinas has a total of five choirs. The Swingin' Saints (Mixed Show Choir), Saintsations (Girls Show Choir), girls chorale, concert choir, and chamber choir. Concert choir, chamber, and chorale have received multiple "One" ratings at the KSHSAA Large Group Contest. The two show choirs compete at competitions in Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska.
Debate/Forensics
The school offers debate and forensics programs for students. The debate program has won several state championships in its history.
* The debate team won KSHSAA state championships in 2006, 2008 and 2011.
Athletics
Saint Thomas Aquinas athletic teams are known as the Saints. They compete in the Eastern Kansas League and are members of the
Kansas State High School Activities Association
The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors ...
. The Saints have won two National Championships (boys soccer, 1994 and 2009), 105 KSHSAA state championships, 56 state runner-up championships, and 265 league/district/regional/sub-state championships. That includes a record eight KSHSAA championships during the 2006–2007 school year.
Soccer
The Saints have won a combined 32 state championships in boys' and girls' soccer, which includes eight straight state titles for boys from 2003 to 2010 and seven straight state titles for the girls from 2010 to 2016. Additionally, the boys' team won the National Championship in 1994 and 2009 according to the
National Soccer Coaches Association of America
The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 3 ...
.
[National Soccer Coaches Association of America June 13, 2006](_blank)
/ref> After winning the National Championship in 2009, head coach Craig Ewing was honored as the NSCAA national boys coach of the year for private and parochial schools by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America
The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 3 ...
.[ ] Ewing had twice previously been selected as the NSCAA's girls soccer coach of the year.
Cross country
The cross country program has been a state championship contender since the very first season. The girls team placed second at the 1988 4A championship and second in 5A in 1991.
In 2006, both teams won the state title. The Saints have repeated the state sweep in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
The 2013 Aquinas girls team set an unbreakable record at the championship with a perfect score of 15 as all five Aquinas runners finished in the top five spots.
In 2015 the boys set the state meet record with a score of 22 points Aquinas runners taking the top four spots.
The boys have won seven straight state titles from 2014 to 2020, and the girls have won six of the last nine state titles from 2012 to 2016 and in 2018.
Golf
The girls' golf team were the first Saints to win a KSHSAA championship, in the fall of 1992. They won again in 1996 and 1997. The Saints won in 2002, placed second in 2003 and 2004, then won six consecutive championships from 2007 to 2012 and have had multiple individual champions as well. The girls golf team won the school's 100th state championship in 2017, then repeated in 2018.
The boys' golf team placed second seven times from 1995 to 2006. The Saints finally won in 2007, repeated in 2008, won again in 2011, 2016, 2017 and has also produced individual state champions.
Football
The school alumni undertook an ambitious effort to raise $500,000 to replace the football field's turf in 2022. Aquinas' head football coach is Randy Dreiling, who came to Aquinas in 2013 after successfully coaching the Hutchinson High School Salthawks.
State championships
Exchange programs
The school has an exchange program with Yonago High School in Yonago
is a city in western Tottori Prefecture, Japan, facing the Sea of Japan and making up part of the boundary of Lake Nakaumi. It is adjacent to Shimane Prefecture and across the lake from its capital of Matsue. It is the prefecture's second large ...
, Japan.[Esfeld, Jill Ragard.]
The Japanese Connection
Notable alumni
* Drake Dunsmore, former professional football player 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 ma ...
*Lisa Kerney
Lisa Diane Gangel Kerney (born July 8, 1981) is an American sportscaster who worked for ESPN until April 2018.
Early life and education
Kerney grew up in Leawood, KS where she graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, KS in ...
, professional sports broadcaster/anchor for ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
* Kyle Miller, professional Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
player
*Riley Pint
Riley Kenneth Pint (born November 6, 1997) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Colorado Rockies organization. He was drafted fourth overall in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft by the Rockies.
Amateur career
Pint attended St. ...
, professional 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) ...
player
* Brian Smith, former NFL player
*Michael Thomas Michael or Mike Thomas may refer to:
Entertainment
* Michael M. Thomas (born 1936), American novelist of financial thrillers
* Michael Tilson Thomas (born 1944), American conductor, pianist, and composer
* Michael Thomas (actor) (1952–2019), Bri ...
, professional Major League Soccer player
*Ryan Mueller
Ryan Mueller (born April 30, 1991) is an American football defensive end, linebacker, and fullback for the Vegas Vipers of the XFL. He played college football at Kansas State University. He played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Foo ...
, former professional football player 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 ma ...
* Janine DiVita, Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...
and screen actress
*Angel Reda
''Wicked'' is a 2003 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'', in turn based on L. Frank Baum's ...
, Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...
and screen actress
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas Aquinas High School, Kansas
Catholic secondary schools in Kansas
Education in Overland Park, Kansas
Educational institutions established in 1988
Schools in Johnson County, Kansas
1988 establishments in Kansas