The Bishop's School is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

college preparatory Episcopal day school located in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

. Bishop's is known for its reputation in academics, arts, and athletics as well as its sizable endowment. The school offers courses for students in the sixth through twelfth grades and has an 8:1 student-teacher ratio.

History

The Bishop's School was founded in 1909 by

Ellen Browning Scripps Ellen Browning Scripps (October 18, 1836 – August 3, 1932) was an American journalist and philanthropist who was the founding donor of several major institutions in Southern California. She and her half-brother E. W. Scripps created the E. W. ...

and her half-sister (Eliza) Virginia Scripps, with gifts of land and funding, at the request of the Right Reverend Joseph Horsfall Johnson, at that time

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is a community of 48,874 Episcopalians in 147 congregations, 40 schools, and 18 major institutions, spanning all of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, and part of Rive ...

. Originally, it was a boarding school for girls only and Anna Frances O'Hare Bentham was appointed the inaugural headmistress. The earliest parts of the campus were designed by architect

Irving Gill Irving John Gill (April 26, 1870 – October 7, 1936), was an American architect. He did most of his work in Southern California, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles. He is considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture. Twelve ...

, responsible for a multitude of buildings in La Jolla. The current tower building was designed by

Carleton Winslow Carleton Monroe Winslow (December 27, 1876 – 1946), also known as Carleton Winslow Sr., was an American architect, and key proponent of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Southern California in the early 20th century. Biography Win ...

as a replacement for the original Gill tower. Bishop's became co-educational after merging with the nearby San Miguel School in 1971 under the leadership of headmaster Philip Perkins, who served until retirement in 1974 when Dorothy Anne Williams was appointed headmistress. The boarding department was closed after the 1982–1983 school year, and later that year Michael Teitelman was appointed headmaster. The school expanded to include sixth grade in the fall of 2009, with the first cohort graduating in 2016. That same year, headmaster Michael Teitelman retired and Aimeclaire Lambert Roche was appointed head of school. During her time as head of school, Roche served as the President of the Association of Independent Schools. In 2018, longtime Bishops’ administrator Carol Barry was appointed interim head of school when Aimeclaire Lambert Roche retired. In 2019, Ron Kim was appointed the permanent headmaster.

Campus

The Bishop's School's 11-acre campus is located in the heart of

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

. At the center of the campus is a grassy quadrangle, where tradition prohibits anyone from setting foot on "the quad" before noon. The original campus surrounds the quad and includes buildings dating back to the turn of the twentieth century with many original buildings designed by famed architect

, one of the pioneers of the modern movement in architecture. The school has been acquisitive of the surrounding real-estate, expanding the initial campus significantly over more than a century. Additions have included a science center, a football and field athletics center, and an aquatic center. The school has further plans to expand the campus. The campus in its entirety was designated a historical landmark in 1998, with several buildings gaining individual historical standing of significance over the years starting in 1994: Bentham Hall (Irving Gill, 1909), Scripps Hall (Irving Gill, 1910–11), Gilman Hall (Irving Gill and Louis Gill, 1916), St. Mary's Chapel (

, 1916), The Tower (Carleton Winslow, 1930), Wheeler J. Bailey Library (Carleton Winslow, 1935), and gardens.

Rankings

The Bishop's School has consistently been named a top private school both nationally and in California. ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' recognized Bishop's in 2007 for its high matriculation rate to eight selective American colleges, and CBS recognized the school in 2011 noting Bishop's had higher matriculation rates to east-coast selective colleges than

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy is an elite coeducational preparatory school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association, the Ten Schools Admissi ...

. The College Board's

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 ...

program ranked the AP Biology program the strongest in the nation for two consecutive years (2004 and 2005), as Bishop's achieved the highest rate of achievement for medium-sized schools (300–799 students). As of 2023, Bishop’s remained ranked as the top Christian high school in California.

Student life

The Bishop's School offers a wide selection of student activities spanning across the arts, athletics, and science.

Arts

The school offers physical arts programs in drawing and pottery as well as performance arts in theater, musical instruments, and choir. One of school's Choirs, known as ''The Bishop’s Singers'', have performed in New York's

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

and in Chicago's Symphony Hall.

Athletics

The school (known in competition as the "Knights") has 36 upper school and 31 middle school teams, with 80% of upper school students play on at least one sports team. Bishop's is known for its athletics prowess, holding more than 118

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a s ...

titles. The school has won numerous state titles in men's

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

(2002-2006, 2008, 2010, 2019–2021), women's water polo (2000-2002, 2004–2007, 2011–2018, 2020–2022), men's football (1997, 2010). The school also holds many local titles across various sports. After graduation, 20% of students continue to play sports in college. Notable alumni of the athletics program include

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger ...

Destiny Littleton ( University of South Carolina women's basketball, winner of the 2021-2022 national championship), America's top lacrosse recruit Isaiah Dawson (

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

), and football quarterback Tyler Buchner (

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

and

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

Spirit

The Bishop's School does not have a cheerleading squad but has a spirit team called "The Dungeon." The Dungeon is a co-educational spirit team that cheers at various "Knights" athletic events. The Dungeon is responsible for attending all of the athletic events and raising crowds of students to support their peers. Community and school spirit is a fundamental part of the curriculum, and The Dungeon serves as a co-educational spirit team to further student involvement in school life.

Academic League

The Bishop's Academic League team participates in the Northern division of the City League. Overall, the Bishop's Academic League team has placed first in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

for several years including in 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2023, and have finaled and semi-finaled in the city league.

Mock Trial

The Bishop's Mock Trial team won the San Diego County championship in 2010–2012, 2014, and 2015. The team is made up of AP U.S. Government students who are completing a class project as first-year players. Numerous graduates have continued to participate in mock trial at the collegiate level.

Speech and debate team

The Bishop's School Speech and Debate team competes in Congressional debate, Parliamentary debate, Lincoln-Douglas debate, and various individual speech events. The team consistently sends several qualifiers to the California State tournament each year and has won awards.

Advanced Topics in Economics

The Bishop's School began offering advanced economics classes in 2015, with students placing in numerous local, state and national competitions. The work product of the class relating to the consumer price index across income levels was presented to the Dallas Federal Reserve. In 2017, members of the class won first place in the country at both the Harvard and Stanford Pre-collegiate Economics Competitions.

Model UN Team

The Bishop's Model United Nations team has participated in regional and national Model UN conferences for over two decades. The Bishop's Model UN Team has won numerous awards, most recently at the Columbia Model United Nations Conference and Exposition, the UCSD Triton MUN conference and the USD MUN conference. The Secretariat of the Bishop's MUN team also hosts an annual conference for other high schoolers, dubbed KnightsMUN, every December. In 2019, over 150 participants from 20 schools across Southern California attended the conference. Due to concerns over the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the 2020 KnightsMUN conference was virtually hosted on

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

. But, in December 2022, the school hosted the KnightsMUN conference in-person for the first time since 2019. In January 2023, the school sent numerous delegates to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's CMUNCE MUN conference. More recently, the school also participated in the T&T MUN 2023 conference.

Publications

School Publications

The School publishes its magazine, ''Bishop's'', twice a year. The school also publishes several monthly, daily, and quarterly publications.

Student Publications

Bishop's has several student publications. Noteworthy publications include: *''The Tower –'' Bishop's official student newspaper and magazine, published monthly. It covers a variety of topics, but all of them are designed to have some link to Bishop's. *''The Daily Urinal –'' an independent daily newspaper which was founded in 2004 and received its moniker after being posted in campus restrooms. Although originally intended to be a humorous publication, the "DU" has tackled both important and controversial issues at Bishop's. It is distributed daily via email. * ''Globe –'' a student-led magazine, is an annual publication with the purpose of sharing the global and cultural experiences of students and faculty through word and art. * ''Reflections –'' the Upper School Literary Magazine, is an annual publication that accepts prose, poetry, and art of all kinds. * ''Dragonwings –'' the Middle School literary magazine. *''Quanta –'' a science publication, was established at Bishop's in 2010. *''Spectrum –'' a student diversity newsletter, distributed monthly via email, was established at Bishop's in 2016. *''Eye on Visual Arts –'' an art publication established at Bishop's in 2019.

Notable alumni

2019 The Bishop's School tower at sundown 2

The school is known to have educated the children of famous executives and athletes, such as Steve Kerr (Coach of the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

Joseph Tsai Joseph Tsai (; born January 1964) is a Hong Kong-Canadian billionaire businessman, lawyer, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder and executive vice chairman of the Chinese multinational technology company Alibaba Group and owns the Brooklyn Net ...

(co-founder of

Alibaba Ali Baba (character), Ali Baba is a character from the folk tale ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves''. Ali Baba or Alibaba may also refer to: Films * Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1902 film), ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'' (1902 film), a F ...

and owner of

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball 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 in the United St ...

’s

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...

), Ralph Whitworth (Chairman of

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

Doug Manchester Douglas Frederick Manchester (born June 3, 1942) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the former chairman of Manchester Financial Group, past chairman and publisher of ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', and an unsuccessful nominee t ...

(American financier and owner of

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

Junior Seau Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. (; ; January 19, 1969May 2, 2012) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the San Diego Chargers. Known for his passionate play, he was a ...

(

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 rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player). Famous alumni include: * Pancho Barnes — 1919, pioneering female aviator * Andrew Campbell — 2002, yachtsman, four-time All-American and 2008 Summer

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

competitor * Andrew Cunanan — 1987, American spree killer *

Gretel Ehrlich Gretel Ehrlich is an American travel writer, poet and essayist. Biography Born in 1946 in Santa Barbara, California, she studied at Bennington College and UCLA film school. She began to write full-time in 1978 while living on a Wyoming ranch ...

— 1963, travel writer, poet, and essayist *

M.F.K. Fisher Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (July 3, 1908 – June 22, 1992) was an American food writer. She was a founder of the Napa Valley Wine Library. Over her lifetime she wrote 27 books, including a translation of ''The Physiology of Taste'' by Brillat- ...

— 1927,

epicurean Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by Epi ...

, culinary historian, and memoirist *

Marjory Gengler Marjory Logan Gengler Smith (born May 3, 1951) is an American retired tennis player. In 1973, while a student at Princeton University, she was captain of the women's tennis team and led them to an undefeated season in 1972. She was the top ranked ...

— 1969, tennis player *

Jean Guerrero Jean Carolyn Guerrero (born March 31, 1988) is an American investigative journalist, author, essayist, columnist and former foreign correspondent. She is the author of ''Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir,'' winner of the PEN/FUSION Emerging Writers Pr ...

— 2006, investigative journalist, author, and former foreign correspondent *

Jennifer Holt Jennifer Holt (born Elizabeth Marshall Holt; November 10, 1920 – September 21, 1997) was an American actress. Early years She was born in Hollywood, California, to actor Jack Holt and his wife, Margaret Woods. She was the sister of wes ...

— 1930s, American actress * J. J. Isler — 1981, yachtswoman,

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

medalist and

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

competitor *

Gary Jules Gary Jules Aguirre Jr. (born March 19, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, one-hit wonder, known primarily for his cover version of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World#Michael Andrews and Gary Jules version, Mad World", which he recorded wi ...

— 1987, singer-songwriter *

Eric Lax Eric Lax is an American author who has written books on modern medicine, four books on Woody Allen including a biography, and a personal memoir ''Faith: Interrupted'' about his loss of Christian faith. Biography Lax was raised in an Episcopalian ...

— 1962, editor, writer, and author * Elliott Liu — 2008, chess player * Chris McKenna — 1988, television writer, producer, and film writer * Inga Orekhova — 2009, professional basketball player * Roy Perkins — 2008, Paralympic swimmer, two-time Paralympic gold medalist *

Ankur Rathee Ankur Rathee (born 24 March 1991) is an Indo-American actor. He is best known for his role in the Amazon Prime Video show ''Four More Shots Please'' (2019-2020). Early life Ankur was born in Hisar, Haryana. He graduated from Princeton Univ ...

— 2009, actor and dancer * Marc Rosen — 1994, film and television producer, including

Sense8 ''Sense8'' (a play on the word '' sensate'' ) is an American science fiction drama streaming television series created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski for Netflix. The production companies behind ''Sense8'' included th ...

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Honoré Desmond Sharrer Honoré Desmond Sharrer (July 12, 1920 – April 17, 2009) was an American artist. She first received public acclaim in 1950 for her painting ''Tribute to the American Working People'', a five-image polyptych conceived in the form of a Renaissanc ...

— 1938, painter in the style of Magical Realism *

Kevin Stadler Kevin Stadler (born February 5, 1980) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and formerly on the European Tour. Early life Stadler, the son of former Masters champion and 13-time PGA Tour winner Craig Stadler (known affect ...

— 1998, professional golfer * Bonnie St. John — 1982, the first African American woman to win a silver medal at the Paralympics * Elise Trouw — 2017, pop/alternative/rock singer and multi-instrumentalist * Colin Walsh — 2007, Major League Baseball player * Shane Walton — 1998, NFL defensive back * Melissa Winter — 1985, Deputy Chief of Staff for First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

Notable faculty

* Judith Keep –

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

Edith Head Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making her the most awarded woman in the Academy's history. Head is cons ...

–

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winning costume designer *

Kirk McCaskill Kirk Edward McCaskill (born April 9, 1961) is a Canadian-American former Major League Baseball pitcher and former professional ice hockey player. He played in Major League Baseball for the California Angels and Chicago White Sox between 1985 and ...

– 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 In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player *

Akili Smith Kabisa Akili Maradufu Smith (born August 21, 1975) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round (3rd overall) of the 1999 NFL Draft, the third quarterback in the first three choices, beh ...

– former

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

* Shane Walton — 1998, NFL defensive back

Appearances in popular culture

In 2011, the school and its campus appeared in

Every 15 Minutes Every 15 Minutes is a two-day program focusing on high school juniors and seniors, which challenges them to think about driving while drunk, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions. Along with alcohol-related crashes, i ...

. In 2018, the school appeared in

Twentieth Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

’s

American Crime Story ''American Crime Story'' is an American anthology true crime television series developed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who are also executive producers, alongside Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Simpson. The seri ...

: ''The Assassination of Gianni Versace''.

References

External links

The Bishop's School Website

The Bishop's School Athletics Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop's School Preparatory schools in California High schools in San Diego Private high schools in California Private middle schools in California La Jolla, San Diego Irving Gill buildings Landmarks in San Diego Educational institutions established in 1909 1909 establishments in California Episcopal schools in the United States