St. Thomas Aquinas High School (New Hampshire)

St. Thomas Aquinas High School is a coeducational Catholic high school in Dover, New Hampshire, United States, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester. It has a student population of approximately 455 and a faculty of 55.

St. Thomas Aquinas High School
Address
197 Dover Point Road

Dover
,
New Hampshire
03820

United States
Coordinates43°9′5″N 70°50′28″W
Information
TypePrivate, Coeducational
MottoLux In Tenebris
(Light in Darkness)
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic
Patron saint(s)Thomas Aquinas
Established1960
FounderSchool Sisters of Notre Dame
OversightDiocese of Manchester
PresidentDan S. Soller
Administrator7
PrincipalPaul Marquis
ChaplainFr. Andrew Nelson
Staff19
Faculty33
Grades9–12
Enrollment400 (2020-21)
Average class size15
Student to teacher ratio12:1
CampusSuburban
Color(s)Navy and White    
SloganSaints Pride
Athletics conferenceNHIAA Division II (Ice hockey- Division Il, Football- Division II)
MascotBernie Saint Bernard
Team nameSaints
AccreditationNew England Association of Schools and Colleges[1]
PublicationReflections Magazine
Tuition$15,560
Feeder schoolsSt. Mary Academy, St. Patrick Academy, St. Elizabeth Seton, Sacred Heart School
Alumni6,800
Websitewww.stalux.org

History

In August 1959, His Excellency Matthew F. Brady, Bishop of Manchester, opened the fundraising drive for St. Thomas Aquinas High School. When Bishop Brady suddenly died, Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston kept his last project alive. Cardinal Cushing greeted the new bishop, His Excellency Ernest J. Primeau, with the advice, "Go on with St. Thomas Aquinas."

The diocesan co-educational school opened in 1960 with a freshman class only. Serving seventeen parishes in southeastern New Hampshire, the school was staffed by two diocesan priests, seven School Sisters of Notre Dame and one layman. When STA graduated its class of 219 in 1964, the faculty had grown to six priests, twenty-one sisters (requiring a new convent) and four lay teachers.

By the late 1960s, enrollment topped nine hundred students, making St. Thomas Aquinas a Class L power in athletics. A nationwide trend toward declining enrollments, combined with the higher cost of salaries as the number of teaching sisters fell, brought St. Thomas through a series of challenges throughout the 1970s.

Beginning in the mid-1980s through the 1990s St. Thomas Aquinas showed a steady and dramatic increase in enrollment. During this period the school enhanced and expanded the academic and extracurricular programs available to students. The convent, named Notre Dame Hall, was converted to provide additional classroom space and to house the Guidance Department, which includes offices, a library, and a conference area. Today the school is at its maximum enrollment.

St. Thomas Aquinas High School mascot, Bernie. Dover, NH

Athletics

The school's sports teams compete as the "Saints". Teams of note include football, soccer, swimming and diving, ice hockey, basketball, lacrosse, tennis, track and field, alpine skiing, cross country, and baseball. The Ice Hockey team competes as one of the four Catholic schools in the state in the NHIAA Division II.

In 2011–12, STA was state champion in football (Div IV), girls' swimming, baseball (Div II), and girls' tennis (Div II). The school was a finalist in girls' volleyball and boys' lacrosse. Tennis player Julia Keenan became the first high school athlete in New Hampshire to win four straight individual titles in any sport.

In 2012–13, the girls' volleyball team repeated as state finalists and the girls' tennis team repeated as state champions.

Overall, St. Thomas Aquinas has won 30 state team championships in the last 16 years, along with dozens of individual titles.

Notable alumni

Among St. Thomas Aquinas' graduates are Madison Lancaster, best know for the kindness in her heart, and her resemblance to Christopher Columbus, Ron Fortier, comic book and pulp writer best known for his work on The Green Hornet, Brendan DuBois, author of numerous novels including Resurrection Day,[2] and Baltimore Orioles' baseball player Ryan McKenna.[3]

Notes and references
  1. NEASC-CIS. "NEASC-Commission on Independent Schools". Archived from the original on 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  2. "The Official Website of Mystery/Suspense Author Brendan DuBois". www.brendandubois.com. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  3. "MLB Draft: A five-tool find in STA's McKenna - Boston High School Blog". ESPN. June 2, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.