- This article is about the high school in San Francisco, California. For the similarly-named high school in Chicago, Illinois, see St. Ignatius College Prep.
| Saint Ignatius College Preparatory | |
|---|---|
| File:Si prep.gif | |
| Location | |
 | |
San Francisco , CA United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Coeducational Jesuit Secondary School |
| Motto | Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam "For the Greater Glory of God" |
| Established | 1855 |
| President | Fr. Robert T. Walsh, S.J. |
| Faculty | 107 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 1,400 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Mascot | Wildcats |
| Newspaper | Inside SI |
| Yearbook | The Ignatian |
| Affiliations | Jesuit |
| Website | www.siprep.org |
St. Ignatius College Preparatory, is a preparatory school in the Jesuit tradition serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 1855. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, in the Sunset District of San Francisco, St. Ignatius is one of the oldest secondary schools in the U.S. state of California. It is known also as S.I., or simply "The Prep" to San Franciscans.
History
St. Ignatius was founded as a one-room schoolhouse on Market Street by Fr. Anthony Maraschi, a Jesuit priest, just after the California Gold Rush in 1855. Maraschi paid $11,000 for the property which was to become the original church and schoolhouse. The church opened on July 15 1855, and three months later, on October 15, the school opened its doors to its first students.
SI was originally the high school division of what later became the University of San Francisco, but it has since split from the university and changed locations five times due to the growth of the student body and natural disaster. In 1880, SI moved its campus to a prime location on Van Ness Street in the heart of San Francisco, and by 1883, SI had become the largest Jesuit school in the nation. Within 26 years of the relocation, however, St. Ignatius would be completely destroyed. Though the school would survive the tremors of the 1906 earthquake, the subsequent fires destroyed the school and church, forcing SI to find a new location near Golden Gate Park.
In 1927, the high school and university formally separated. Two years later, SI relocated its campus once more to Stanyan Street. In 1969, SI's current campus opened its doors to students and has been educating the youth of the Bay Area ever since. Though originally founded as an all-boys school, SI became coeducational in 1989 and is now home to 1,400 students. SI celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2005.
Academics
To prepare students for college, St. Ignatius requires coursework in English, mathematics, social science, physical science, foreign language, fine arts, physical education, and religious studies. Taught by a faculty that, in 2004, was one of 12 schools nationwide to be honored by Today's Catholic Teacher magazine for excellence and innovation in education, Ignatian students find themselves confronted with one the most rigorous curriculums in the country. In an effort to continually challenge her students at the highest levels St. Ignatius offers in-depth honors courses and Advanced Placement classes, which may be used for college credit with a passing score. In 2006, 541 SI students took 1,220 AP tests with a pass rate of 74.26 percent. The Prep ranks among the top three schools in Northern California and has ranked among the top 20 schools in the nation for its AP success.
The average SAT score for the St. Ignatius class of 2005 was 1209, which is well above the national and state averages of 1028 and 1020. In 2007 every SI graduate went on to attend college, with over 97% of its graduating class attending a 4-year institution. SI has been ranked as one of the nation’s top-60 prep schools by the U.S. Department of Education.
Student body
St. Ignatius attracts a diverse student body from all parts of the Bay Area, including the San Francisco city limits, Marin County, the East Bay, and San Francisco Peninsula. In 2005, the ethnic makeup of the student body was 57% White, 12% Filipino, 10% Asian, 10% Hispanic, 6% Black, and 5% other. In order to make it possible for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds to attend, SI offered $1.3 million of financial aid in 2005-06. Approximately 20% of the student body receives financial aid, with the average award totalling just over $5,000.
Athletics
Sports are a major component of student life at St. Ignatius with approximately 860 students competing on 65 teams in 26 sports, including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, water polo, swimming, lacrosse, tennis, cross country, golf, crew, and track and field. The Wildcats generally participate in the Western Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) in the Central Coast Section of California, though for some sports, teams belong to other leagues. Its athletics are highly ranked: the lacrosse team has consistently won the state championship and its men's rowing team ranked 1st in the nation in 2006, making it their 2nd year in a row. In addition, the crew competed in the world-renowned Henley Royal Regatta in England, where St. Ignatius won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup in 2006. The SI Football team reached new accolades when they won the 2006 WCAL Championship for the first time since 1967. The team later went on to win the CCS Championship, setting a new bar for SI Football.[citation needed]
St. Ignatius' traditional rival is Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, also located in San Francisco. The SI-SH rivalry began with a rugby game on St. Patrick's Day in 1893 and is the oldest high school rivalry west of the Mississippi. SI and SH compete against each other in football, basketball, and baseball for the Bruce-Mahoney Trophy, which is named after two SI and SH alumni who died in World War II. St. Ignatius leads the series 42-18 and has won the trophy for the past nine years.
Wildcat teams practice and compete in state of the art facilities on campus and in the surrounding area. J. B. Murphy Field and Jack Wilsey Track are used by the football, lacrosse, soccer, field hockey and track & field teams. J.B. Murphy Field recently underwent a multimullion dollar renovation and now features a field turf surface. SI offers two gymnasiums for basketball and volleyball, four tennis courts, and the Herbst Natatorium for the swimming & diving program and water polo teams. The rowing and baseball teams compete off-campus at San Francisco's Lake Merced and Daly City's Marchbanks Field, respectively.
Fight song
The St. Ignatius Fight Song was written by Fenton O'Toole '34:
- To the Red and Blue we'll all be true,
- We'll wave her banner to the sky.
- We'll fight for you, oh Red and Blue,
- We'll fight for Saint Ignatius High!
- And victory will be our goal—
- For we will reach it, if we try.
- So let us fight — with all our might —
- We're gonna fight, fight, fight, fight, fight!
Notable alumni
Notable alumni of St. Ignatius College Preparatory include:
- Daniel J. Callaghan, 1907, Navy Rear Admiral, Medal of Honor in WWII for his actions at Guadalcanal aboard U.S.S. San Francisco
- Leo T. McCarthy, 1948, former California Lt. Governor
- Gordon Getty, 1951, Billionaire & Businessman
- Jerry Brown, 1955, Mayor of Oakland (CA), former California Governor
- Mike Nevin, 1961, San Mateo County politician
- Paul Otellini, 1968 President of Intel Corp, Semi Conductor Giant
- Bob Sarlatte, 1968, Comedian
- Peter Casey, 1969 Producer of Cheers, Frasier, Writer on The Jeffersons
- Dan Fouts, 1969, NFL Quarterback, San Diego Chargers, Hall of Famer
- Ron Lagomarsino, 1969, Director, thirtysomething, Driving Miss Daisy
- Bernie Ward, 1969, KGO Talk Show Host
- Mark A. Terry, M.D. 1971, Noted cornea surgeon
- Kevin Shelley, 1973, former California Secretary of State
- Bartlett Sher, 1977, Tony Award nominated director and artistic director of Seattle's Intiman Playhouse
- Luke Brugnara, 1981, real estate/las vegas casino tycoon
- Al Madrigal, 1989, Comedian
- Sean Elsbernd, 1993, San Francisco Supervisor
- Sebastian Bea, 1995, Silver Medalist, Mens Heavyweight Coxless Pair, 2000 Sydney Olympics
- Igor Olshansky, 2000, NFL Defensive End, San Diego Chargers
- Jonathan Kathrein, 2000, youngest great white shark attack survivor at age 16; also author of Don't Fear the Shark
- Kareem Guilbeaux, 2001, Former San Jose State basketball player; KSJS 90.5 FM radio personality.