Saint John's High School (Massachusetts)

The Xaverian Brothers' association with Worcester dates back to September 1893, when a pioneer community of four Xaverians arrived in the city to formally open Saint John's Parish Grammar School for Boys. In 1898 a three-year high school curriculum was introduced. A fourth, or senior year, was added in 1906, when the College of the Holy Cross dropped that institution's college prep or high school senior course to concentrate solely on college-level work.

In November 1953, John Cardinal Wright, who was then Bishop of Worcester, transferred the high school property under the new title of Saint John's Preparatory School of Worcester to the Xaverian Brothers. This event coincided with the centennial celebration of the Brothers' arrival in America in 1854. The school population in 1954 consisted of eleven Brothers and 354 students. The brothers purchased a large acre estate in neighboring Shrewsbury. This acquisition was the first step in the expansion of Saint John's to a regional high school serving all of Worcester County. In 1959, one hundred twenty-five acres at the foot of Main Street hill were purchased, and Pioneer Field came into being. In 1962, all classes had transferred to the Shrewsbury location. A gym and cafeteria were added in 1963 and 1964.[2]

From an enrollment of slightly over 410 and a staff consisting of four Brothers, Saint John's has emerged during the last ten decades as a regional, private, catholic, college-preparatory school with a student body of over 1,000. After the January 2008 retirement of Brother Plunket Doherty, there are no longer any Xaverian Brothers on the faculty, which is now composed solely of lay men and women.

Saint John's is a four-year college preparatory school. Students are tracked into several levels: Advanced Placement, Honors, Level I, and Level II. Along with traditional courses, students are required to take courses in religious studies including an Introduction to Religious Studies, Introduction to Biblical Literature, and Christian Morality and Justice. Seniors are offered religious studies electives such as Bioethics, World Religions, Christian Life, or The Catholic Church in History. Saint John's offers twenty four Advanced Placement courses and each year students take approximately 700 AP exams. In 2007, Saint John's was honored by the Siemens Foundation as the top Math, Science, and Technology AP high school in the state of Massachusetts. St. John's is the top Advanced Placement school of Massachusetts and one of the top AP schools in the nation.

The Pioneers baseball team won the 2017 D1A Super 8 State Championship. The baseball team also won the Division 1 State Championship in 1952, 1976, and 2002.

The school's basketball team won the Division 1 State Championship in 2000 and 2009.

The football program won three consecutive Central/Western Mass Super Bowls from 2004-2006. They also won super bowls in 1977, 1985, 1988, 2001, 2009, 2010, and 2017. One highlight to the football season is the annual Thanksgiving football game between Saint John's and rival St. Peter-Marian. The game is held at Fitton Field in Worcester. The St. John's-Saint Peter-Marian football rivalry is the oldest Catholic high school rivalry in the nation.[3]

The Saint John's ski team won the 2007 state championship.

The Saint John's golf team won three consecutive state titles from 2005–2007, and two more in 2011-2012.

In 2006, the 4 by 400 meter relay team won both state and New England titles.

In 2016, the 4 by 800 meter relay team placed 6th at New Balance Indoor Nationals, earning All-American status.

In 2017, the 4 by Mile relay team placed 4th at New Balance Indoor Nationals, earning All-American status.

The cross country team captured its first state title in 2017 after finishing as runners-up in 1998, 1999, 2006, and 2015.

The indoor track team won a state title in 1991.

In wrestling, the Pioneers hold several state and New England titles in individual weight classes.

In 2007 Saint John's won the Division 1 soccer state championship for the first time since 2002.

The Saint John's hockey team won a state championship in hockey in 1999 and 2004.

In 2004, the crew team won the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championship Regatta. In the mid-1980s St. John’s established itself as a presence in the international rowing world by competing in Ireland and at the Henley Royal Regatta in England, seven times from 1984-1996. They have won the New England team championship, competed in the 2001 and 2006 National Championships and since 1996 been consistently one of the top seven crews in New England. They compete annually in the Head of the Charles in the fall and the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Championship Regatta in the spring.

Extracurricular activities include academic programs such as the Model United Nations, Policy Debate, Mock Trial, Academic Decathlon, Spanish Club, and Math Team.

There are other activities such as the Cycling Club, Automotive Club, French Club, Strategy Game Club and the Chess Club. Students have opportunities to develop their journalistic and creative writing skills as part of SJ's student-produced publications, the Red and White newspaper and ICON literary magazine. Saint John's has a variety of Intramural sports teams as well.

Through two student-run clubs, the Entrepreneurship club and the Investment Club, students learn the process of starting a new company, developing a business plan, investing and analyzing stocks, and the ins and outs of wall street. St. John's now has an annual business plan competition in which students pitch their plan to a panel of investors with the chance of winning money for their venture.

The St. John's Improv Society is a student-run club which puts on two to three shows per year in the Black Box Theater.

The Drama Club sponsors a number of performances a year, including two plays, a Spring Spectacular variety show and a student-directed play each spring.

Recently the Campus Ministry began a program called "Global Encounter." Similar to a college Alternative Spring Break, this program sends students on national and international service trips during February and April vacations to places such as New Jersey, West Virginia, Haiti, New York City, and Ecuador.

The Saint John's campus covers the one hundred and twenty-five acre hillside of the former Dunmorlan estate on Main Street in Shrewsbury. Campus facilities include several academic buildings, athletic fields, a chapel, and the Xaverian Brothers' residence.

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