St. Albans School

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St. Albans School
"Pro Ecclesia et Pro Patria"
Location
Washington, D.C.
Information
Type	Independent College Preparatory School for Boys
Established	1909
Headmaster	Vance Wilson
Faculty	100
Enrollment	About 570 students (grades 4-12)
Mascot	Bulldog
Information	202-537-6435
Publications	* The Bulletin (alumni magazine) * The St. Albans News (official student newspaper) * The Independent (unofficial student newspaper) * Albanian (yearbook) * Gyre (literary magazine) * Grace
Website	www.stalbansschool.org

St. Albans School is a selective, private college preparatory school for boys in Washington, D.C. The School's motto, "Pro Ecclesia et Pro Patria," translates to "For Church and Country." Its mascot is the bulldog and its team colors are blue and white. The school is named after St. Alban, traditionally regarded as the first British martyr. Within the St. Albans community, the school is commonly referred to as "STA". It enrolls approximately 570 boys from grades 4 through 12 and is affiliated with the National Cathedral School for Girls (NCS) and the co-ed Beauvoir School for PK-3 students, all located on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral on Mount St. Alban in Washington. Through the coordinate program with NCS, English classes during the junior year, as well as a number of electives offered by both St. Albans and NCS, are co-educational.

A 2004 article in the Wall Street Journal found that among U.S. schools, St. Albans had the 11th-highest success rate in placing graduates at 10 selective universities.^[1] St. Albans graduates include Former Vice President Al Gore, U.S. Senator Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., Apollo astronaut Michael Collins, NFL athlete Jonathan Ogden, Journalists David Ignatius, David Plotz and Ian Urbina, and Fox News host Brit Hume.

The school was founded in 1909 by Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of President James Buchanan, as a school for boy choristers at the Washington National Cathedral,^[2] a program that the school continues today.

Seventy-one percent of the faculty at the school have advanced degrees. The school also maintains one writer-in-residence, who teaches English classes while developing his or her work. (A past writer-in-residence is Curtis Sittenfeld, who worked on her best-selling novel "Prep" while at St. Albans.) The school’s seventh headmaster is Vance Wilson, who recently completed ten years as Headmaster. Wilson serves as the President of the International Boys School Coalition (IBSC), a world-wide organization for all-boys schools.

St. Albans School Honor Code

St. Albans has an honor code that students are expected to follow.

"Recognizing that honesty is of primary importance in an educational institution, St. Albans requires its students to observe an Honor Code in all aspects of School life. Lying, cheating, and stealing are violations of the Code; violators make themselves liable to expulsion. Any student who has violated the Code is expected to report his offense to a member of the Student Council or of the faculty. Any student who has knowledge of a violation should speak to the offender and ask him to report himself as soon as possible. If the offender fails to do so, the student is urged to report him to a member of the Student Council, the Dean of Students, or a member of the faculty."^[3]

Athletics

Along with academics and community service, the athletic program at St. Albans is considered co-curricular and all students are expected to participate in a sport. St. Albans competes in the Interstate Athletic Conference (IAC), a league of independent schools in the Washington, D.C. area. Other members of the league are Georgetown Preparatory School, Bullis School, Episcopal High School, Landon School, and St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School. In addition to fielding varsity teams in fourteen sports: cross country, football, soccer, aquatics, basketball, indoor soccer, ice hockey, wrestling, track and field, lacrosse, baseball, tennis, golf, and crew, the school offers as an elective the Voyageur Outdoor Experiential Education program in which students can participate in such sports as indoor rock climbing on a climbing wall and white water kayaking. St. Albans rock climbers compete in the Washington Area Interscholastic Climbing League and kayakers participate in interscholastic competition on the Great Falls rapids of the Potomac River. In recent years, programs that have produced significant numbers of intercollegiate athletes include baseball, crew, cross-country, football, and lacrosse.

Trivia

• Outside the main entrance of the school sits a bush that is supposedly a cutting from the Glastonbury Thorn. The tree has been replaced several times with younger cuttings from the original stock, even as recently as 2003.^{[citation needed]}
• The school prayer was taken aboard the Apollo 11 space mission, in 1969, and read by St. Albans alumnus and astronaut Michael Collins '48.^{[citation needed]}

Extracurriculars and clubs

St. Albans has one official student newspaper, The Saint Albans News. Founded in 1930, it is one of the oldest, continuously published student newspapers in the country. The Independent is an unofficial newspaper founded by St. Albans and NCS students in response to what some students viewed as censorship by the School administration of the official newspaper. Students publish several books annually: a yearbook called the "Albanian," a collection of Chapel Talks called "Grace," and a collection of student literature called "Gyre."

St. Albans has a coordinate performing arts program with NCS that puts on eight productions each year, including dance, drama, and musical performances. In recent years, the schools have won several National Capital Area Cappies for individuals, staging, and technical accomplishments.

The school also sponsors many political clubs, and academic teams such as "It's Academic", Fed Challenge, JETS, and a math team. Fundraising groups have been common in recent years, and most dances held at the school donate their profits to charity.

The Upper School has a student council that primarily serves on the disciplinary councils and organizes social events. Each Form has three prefects, one of whom is the class president. There is also a Head Prefect, always a Sixth Form (senior year) student.

The St. Albans Skip Grant Program seeks out to accept and support students from a diversity of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. This program, previously called the "RISK Program," was begun by former St. Albans teacher Brooks Johnson and is now named after the program's second director, former teacher, coach, and athletic director, Oliver "Skip" Grant. Currently, the Skip Grant Program is led by Malcolm C. Lester, English teacher and head lacrosse coach at St. Albans.

Notable alumni

The School of Public Service

St. Albans established its School of Public Service ("SPS") in 2002. SPS is a residential public policy, politics, and public service program that takes place for a four-week period each summer, beginning in late June. Fewer than 40 rising high school seniors are selected to participate in SPS, located at St. Albans School. SPS admits both male and female students who have already shown a great deal of interest in public service, as well as an ability to positively influence others. While in the program, students gain experiences designed to heighten not only an interest in public service but also their probability of entering into and succeeding in a career in civic leadership. Students study at the highest level of scholarship, using Harvard and other case studies that are more commonly used at the graduate level.

In addition to using the case study method—used for graduate study in law, business, and public policy—SPS students continue the dynamic learning experience outside the classroom through policy simulations, speakers, and visits and meetings with public servants from State Department Foreign Service Officers to serving Army and Marine officers. In the past several years, SPS students have (in simulations!) run congressional campaigns, negotiated their way through a dangerous crisis with North Korea, taken steps to contain a flu pandemic sweeping the nation, and argued and decided Supreme Court cases on First Amendment and national security issues. In the "real" world, the SPS students have, among other things, visited the White House to talk with the President's Chief of Staff, had lunch with the Governor of Maryland, hosted a formal dinner for Ambassadors from around the world, attended screenings of "Meet the Press" and talked with hosts Tim Russert and his successor, David Gregory, met with members of the U.S. Supreme Court, and chatted about fiscal policy with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. For more information about this program, click on School of Public Service.

Expansion and renewal

In 2004, the school announced plans to construct Marriott Hall, rebuild the athletic fields, renovate the entire Upper School, and construct a new academic building to join the existing buildings together with its Marriott Hall project. The school hired the firm SOM; with lead architect Roger Duffy to design a replacement. It features a building extension, covering a service road, and an underground performing arts center.

The school opened the newly constructed Marriott Hall for the start of the 2009-2010 school year after two years of construction. With the completion of Marriott Hall, plans and fund raising for new athletic fields can begin in earnest.

References

External links

• St. Albans School homepage
• The Saint Albans News

Coordinates: 38°55′43″N 77°4′17″W / 38.92861°N 77.07139°W / 38.92861; -77.07139