The Christian Brothers College of Montevideo, commonly referred as Stella Maris College – Christian Brothers or just Christian, is a private,
co-educational
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 ...
,
not-for-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
school run by the
Christian Brothers of Ireland
The Congregation of Christian Brothers ( la, Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice.
Their first school was opened in Waterford, Ireland, ...
. The school, is located in the residential
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
of
Carrasco Norte,
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. The school's head master is Patricia Ponce de Leon. The school is a member of the
International Baccalaureate Organization
The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...
(
IBO), currently offering the
International Baccalaureate Diploma Program
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
(
IBDP
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
). The college also offers valuable international exams such as the IGCSE programs and the A levels. It has a very long list of distinguished former pupils, including economists, engineers, architects, lawyers, politicians and even
F1 champions.
The school has also played an important part in the development of
rugby union in Uruguay
Rugby union in Uruguay is considered a popular sport. The Uruguay national team, commonly known as ''Los Teros'', have been playing international rugby since the late 1940s and have made appearances in four Rugby World Cups: 1999, 2003, 2015 a ...
, with the creation of
Old Christians Club
Old Christians Club, or simply Old Christians, is an Uruguayan sports club from the Carrasco neighbourhood of Montevideo.
The club is known mostly for its rugby union team that became famous around the world due to the 1972 Uruguayan Air Force F ...
, the school's
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 ...
club.
Location
The school is located in the south-east
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
of
Carrasco Norte in
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
's metropolitan area.
History
It was founded in 1955 by the Christian Brothers, the founders also of
Cardinal Newman College, Buenos Aires.
By then many Uruguayans upper class Catholics were unhappy with the educational system of public schools were concerned that their children receive religious education. Between 1953 and 1954 efforts were made to the Christian Brothers for the congregation to be installed in Uruguay, and founded a school for boys in the exclusive suburb of Carrasco.
This created a committee composed of the Moor family, Davie, Surraco Germain, Manuel Pérez del Castillo and Stella Ferreira, Adolfo Gelsi Bidart, Enrique Rozada, Antonio Barreiro, Conrad Hughes, Francisco Ferrer, Rodolfo Anaya, Antonio Galan, Eduardo Strauch and Jorge Alvarez Olloniego. They also collaborated Gallinal Alberto Heber, William Strauch, Roberto Houni, Jorge Eduardo Aznárez and Berenbau.
After arduous negotiations, in early 1955, from Nairobi, Brothers Nairobi J. I. Doorley and J. V. Ryan arrived, with a mission to make final arrangements for the opening of the new school. They rented a house located at 6585 Republic of Mexico Promenade Corner Puyol. Brother Doorley returned to Buenos Aires and was replaced by Brother P. C. Kelly. Shortly after, Brothers J. V. O'Reilly and H. G. McCaig arrived.
Classes began on May 2, 1955. That year a polio epidemic forced authorities to postpone the start of courses. Brother Patrick Kelly, a devotee of the Virgin Mary and, since the school was facing the sea, decided to call it "Stella Maris", as the parish in the area.
The playground for physical activities and sports Carrasco was the beach in front of the house. Later, the Carrasco Polo Club allowed the use of their courts. The school grew rapidly. Of 93 students in 1955 went to 137 in 1956 and 279 in 1958. In 1957 he joined another house on the same block, in Potosi 1536, in the depths of the house of Puyol and the Rambla. In 1959 he began teaching school, with a first year and four teachers.
On March 12, 1961 opened the school's current location on the street Tajes Max, with the blessing of Cardinal Antonio María Barbieri. In late 1962 he graduated the first generation of students in fourth grade.
In 1963 he implemented the system of "Houses" (Casas), which identifies all the students into four groups: Prior, Sion, Iona and Newman, each with a color identificatorio. In 1972 the building was expanded, adding a new section for high school. In 1976 this area was completed with the construction of a second plant to high school, which includes a library and laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology.
In 1985 he joined the first generation of women to high school and, since 1989, joined the first generation of girls to primary school preparatory. Since that year the school became gradually to be mixed at all levels and have three groups by grade rather than the existing two. In 1991 the school added preschool from age four.
The Christian Brothers are not currently residing in Uruguay. In 1998 he left the school, although the institution remains the property of Edmund Rice Education Association, whose local address part three brothers of the congregation.
The Andes Accident of 1972
The school gained accidental fame when its
alumni rugby team flew on
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
The Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was a chartered flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as the Andes flight disaste ...
, which crashed into the
Andes mountains
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
on October 13, 1972. The story of the crash and rescue was first told in the 1974 book ''
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'' and more recently in the 2006 book ''
Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home''. The school also appeared in the documentary, ''
Alive: 20 Years Later''.
Twelve of the 45 people on board the plane died in the crash, and more died of their injuries later. Another 8 perished in an avalanche. The remaining survivors endured hunger, crash-related injuries, altitude sickness, and
temperatures
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
that fell to 30 degrees below zero at night. On their eighth day in the mountains, they heard on the radio that the authorities had stopped searching for them. When their scarce food reserves were gone, they were forced to eat those who had died in the crash.
On December 12, 3 of the remaining survivors set out to find help, hiking west across the
Andes Mountains
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
to reach
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. After scaling the 15,000-foot
Mount Seler
Mount Seler is a mountain located on the border between Argentina and Chile in the Andes mountain range. The mountain was first summitted in December 1972 by Nando Parrado, and shortly thereafter by Antonio Vizintin and Roberto Canessa, survi ...
, they realized that the trek for help would take them much longer than they had thought. Therefore, to conserve their limited food supply, one of them returned to the crash site and the other two continued hiking west.
On 21 December 1972, the ninth day of their journey, they were found by
huaso
A huaso () is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the United States, American cowboy, the Mexico, Mexican charro (and its northern equivalent, the vaquero), the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay and Rio Grande Do Sul, and the Austr ...
s who grazed livestock in the high country, and the next day, the world learned of the 16 survivors who had beaten death for 72 days in the
Andes mountains
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
, in part by resorting to cannibalism.
Alive : The Andes Accident 1972 , Official Site,
/ref>
Notable alumni
* Roberto Canessa
Roberto Jorge Canessa Urta, M.D., (born 17 January 1953) is one of the 16 survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972, and a Uruguayan political figure. He was portrayed by Josh Hamilt ...
* Nando Parrado
Fernando "Nando" Seler Parrado Dolgay (born 9 December 1949) is one of the sixteen Uruguayan survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972. After spending two months trapped in the mounta ...
* Carlos Páez Rodríguez
Carlos "Carlitos" Miguel Páez Rodríguez (born October 31, 1953), known as "the man of the iron spirit", spent 72 days in the Andes following a plane crash, during which the sixteen survivors of the 45 on board resorted to cannibalism to stay ali ...
* Gonzalo Rodríguez (racing driver)
Gonzalo "Gonchi" Rodríguez Bongoll (January 22, 1972 – September 11, 1999) was a Uruguayan racing driver. He was killed in an accident at Laguna Seca Raceway during practice for a CART race.
Career
He showed promise in Formula 3000 for three ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Stella Maris College (Montevideo)
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
Education in Montevideo
Congregation of Christian Brothers secondary schools
Educational institutions established in 1955
1955 establishments in Uruguay
Carrasco, Montevideo
Private schools in Uruguay