St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.)
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| St. Albans School | |
| "Pro Ecclesia et pro Patria" | |
| School type | Private Preparatory School |
|---|---|
| Established | 1909 |
| Students | About 500 (grades 4-12) |
| Publications | The Independent The St. Albans News Albanian Gyre |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Information | (202) 537-6435 |
| Website | http://www.stalbansschool.org/ |
- For other schools with a similar name, see St. Albans School
St. Albans School is a private school for boys, chartered by the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, in Washington, D.C.. The School's motto is "For Church and Country." It is named after St. Alban, traditionally regarded as the first British martyr. The name is commonly abbreviated "STA." It enrolls approximately 500 students between grades 4 and 12 and is affiliated with the National Cathedral School for Girls (NCS) and the co-ed Beauvior School, for K-3 students, all located on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral.
St. Albans has a wide reputation as one of the most elite schools in the country; graduates include Al Gore, and Senators Evan Bayh and John Warner, among many other notables. Children of many American politicians and the Washington socialites attend. Among those that sit on the school's governing board are White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
It was founded in 1909 as a school for choristers at the Washington National Cathedral, a program that the school continues, with the students in the cathedral choir on a partial scholarship.
The faculty at the school include Donna Denizé, as well as numerous award-winning teachers. The school also maintains one writer in residence, who teaches English classes while also developing their work. In 2002-2003 Curtis Sittenfeld occupied this position. The headmaster, as of 2006, is Vance Wilson.
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[edit] School philosophy
St. Albans School is chartered by the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation and is an Episcopalian School. The school holds mandatory chapel services several times per week, and several faculty are ministers. Graduation is held in Washington National Cathedral, where John Bryson Chane, Bishop of Washington hands out the diplomas. Nonetheless, the school is very open to admitting boys of other religions, and they are not forced to participate in the chapels, although they must attend. Former Headmaster Charles Martin said about the school, "St. Albans exists to help boys not into the kingdom of Harvard but into the kingdom of Heaven."
St. Albans offers a rigorous general education program that intends to develop "well-rounded men." As such, its high school program includes four years of humanities, four years of math, three years of foreign language, three years of science, three semesters of religion and ethics, one year of an art, eleven trimesters of athletics, and 60 hours of community service. Most students choose to do more than the requirements, given the opportunities presented. In terms of elective courses, there are strong theater arts, music, religion, language, and interscholastic sports programs. Seniors can take independent studies with a teacher on a topic of their choosing.
St. Albans has an honor code that students are expected to follow under all circumstances. It specifically prohibits lying, cheating, plagiarism, and especially lying to cover up another offense. Students are not expected to turn others in, however, they are encouraged to ask offenders to confess. Other violations of policies are considered violations of discipline, and are usually less severe.
[edit] Traditions
- There is a dress code, mandating shirt, tie, and jacket. Sneakers are permitted, but jeans are not.
- Lunch is served family style at assigned tables in the refectory, where the whole upper (high) school eats together, as does the lower school.
- The format of the school is English-style with forms instead of grades. So grades 4,5,6 are forms C,B,A and 7-12 are forms I-VI.
- Outside the main entrance of the school sits a bush that is supposedly a cutting from the Glastonbury Thorn. Whether it really comes from the famous bush is debatable. The tree has been replaced several times with younger cuttings, even as recently as 2003.
- There is a school prayer: "Vouchsafe Thy blessing we beseech Thee, O Lord, upon this School and upon all other works undertaken in Thy fear and for Thy glory, and grant that all who serve Thee here, whether as teachers or learners, may set Thy holy will ever before them, and seek always to do such things as are pleasing in Thy sight; that so both the Church and Commonwealth of this land may benefit by their labors, and they themselves may attain unto everlasting life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." This prayer was taken aboard the Apollo 11 mission and read by St. Albans alum Michael Collins.
[edit] 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 students who were frustrated over an attempt by the school in earlier years to monitor student speech. It is now produced jointly with students from NCS. 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." ClosePerspectives is a newsmagazine that features in-depth reporting on stories related to campus life as well as broader news issues.
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 competitive groups such as It's Academic, Fed Challenge, and a math team. Fundraising groups have been common in recent years, and most dances held at the school donate their profits to charity, including a tsunami relief concert which featured the band, The Walkmen, which includes four St. Albans alumni.
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 former (senior).
The St. Albans' "Skip Grant" program seeks out to accept and support nontraditional students from a diversity of socioeconomic and ethnic groups. This program, previously called the "Risk Program," was begun by former St. Albans teacher Brooks Johnson, under the leadership of Headmaster Charles Martin 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.
St. Albans also has a rich tradition of aquatic sports. The Lawrence Pool houses the St. Albans and NCS Swimming and Diving programs in the winter, as well as other local high-school swimming programs, including The Capitol Sea Devils.
[edit] Notable alumni
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[edit] The School of Public Service
The School of Public Service (SPS) is a four-week residential summer program held on the grounds of St. Albans in Washington DC that combines academic courses, field trips and meetings with politicians, senior government executives and journalists, and affords students an inside view on the shaping and making of public policy.
[edit] Expansion and renewal
In 2004, the school announced plans to renovate the entire Upper School, rebuild the athletic fields, and construct a new academic building to join the existing buildings together. The school hired the firm SOM, with lead architect Roger Duffy to design a replacement. It features a minor extension of the building, covering a service road, and an underground performing arts center. While their conceptual design met with approval, the modernist glass curtain wall proposed is in striking contrast to the neo-Gothic façade of the older buildings and has sparked dispute among the school community, especially because the National Cathedral is on the National Register of Historic Places and the character of the close is overwhelmingly Gothic Revival.
Construction is expected to be largely done for the 2009 Centennial Celebration.
[edit] External links
- St. Albans School (official site)
- School of Public Service
- Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington
- International Boy's Schools Coalition, whose annual conference STA hosted.
| Interstate Athletic Conference |
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| Members
The Bullis School • Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia) • Georgetown Preparatory School • Landon School • St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) • St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Boarding schools in Washington, D.C. | Preparatory schools in the United States | High schools in the District of Columbia | Private schools in the District of Columbia | Educational institutions established in 1909
