Named for St. Francis Xavier (1506–1552), it was founded by John Larkin in 1847 as the College of St. Francis Xavier and also known as St. Francis Xavier College.[4]
History
The school was founded in 1847 by John Larkin, a professor at St. John's College in Rosehill Manor, then in Westchester County, now a part of the Borough of the Bronx, and which later became Fordham University. It taught boys from the age of eight to twenty-one. The Regents of the University of the State of New York chartered Xavier in 1861.[5]
A military-training unit began at the school in 1886 under the direction of the National Guard, and membership became mandatory in 1892. Five years later, collegiate and secondary studies were separated into different departments, and the college-level department was closed in 1912. The student regiment became a Junior ROTC unit in 1935, and the school was declared a military institute in 1968, offering four years of military science and training which would be recognized upon enrollment in any branch of the United States military. Participation in military studies was declared optional in 1971.[5]
In 2008, Xavier High School announced that then President Daniel James Gatti would be retiring. Gatti's retirement was pushed back until the end of the 2009 school year. He was succeeded by Hoboken School Superintendent, Jack Raslowsky, the school's 33rd president and the first time in history that the position would be held by a lay person. Upon ascending to the role, Raslowsky oversaw a development operation that leading to a significant physical expansion of the Xavier High School campus.[6][7]
In March 2021, Xavier High School announced that following a nationwide search, Kim Smith, vice president of Boston College High School, was chosen to take over as headmaster starting July 1. Smith, who would be replacing Headmaster Michael LiVigni, was to become the first female headmaster in the over 170-year history of the school.[8]
Demographics
As of 2021–22, the school had an enrollment of 1,063 students and 95 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11:1.
The school's student body was 70.3% White, 3.9% Black, 12.0% Hispanic, 3.7% Asian, and 10.1% two or more races.[9]
Xavier's courses prepare students to embrace the five goals of the Profile of a Graduate of a Jesuit School at Graduation (the "Grad at Grad"). These goals—being open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, and committed to doing justice—are the foundation of Xavier's curriculum and prepare students to live a life of competence, conscience, and compassion.[10]
Xavier's current mascot is a knight, and all of its athletic teams are referred to as the Knights. However, for many years, the teams were called the Cadets, a reflection of Xavier's military program, while a terrier was used as a mascot. After a variety of replacements, including the 1980s Bruins, the nickname of the Knights was decided upon in the early 1990s and has been official since.
Football
The Xavier Football program began in the late 19th century. It has a continued rivalry with the Bronx's Fordham Preparatory School. The two schools compete in an annual "Turkey Bowl", the oldest high school football rivalry in New York City.[11] Their very first game against one another took place in the late 19th century when the game was called off due to darkness, ending in a tie. Many of these football matches were played at Manhattan's famed Polo Grounds, until its demolition.
Rugby
Rugby is a popular sport at Xavier. Rugby has varsity status, and fields four teams with over 125 players.[12] Xavier has fielded one of the top rugby teams in the United States since the club's founding in 1976.[13]
Track
The Freshman Track and Field team won the indoor and outdoor 2009 CHSAA Intersectional Championships, the first time in team history.[14] In 2010, the team defended their outdoor victory as sophomores. The Track and Field team competed in the Nationals track meet in Greensboro, North Carolina and finished fifth in both the 4 by 100 and 4 by 200 meter relay, earning Emerging Elite Metals.[15]
Other sports
In 1859 the College of St. Francis Xavier and St. John's College (now Fordham University) played the first collegiate level baseball game, featuring the new nine-man team style of play. Fordham won the game 33–11.[16]
Xavier High School's JV Soccer team won the CHSAA Intersectional Championship in 2008 and 2009.[17]
Buildings
This wing, known colloquially as the "K" building, was built in 1965 and currently houses a gymnasium, library, and computer lab, along with several dedicated science classrooms.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2017)
In 2016, the school acquired space inside a 25-story building, 35 West 15th Street, to house Fernandez-Duminuco Hall, occupying 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) of space in the basement and six floors. The other floors house condominiums, and both the school campus and the condominiums have separate entrances.[18]
The building has allowed for the expansion of the arts at Xavier. The expansion includes a new band room, music practice rooms, small ensemble room, recording studio, theater, and STEAM classroom, which houses an expanded computer science and technology department, and a student activities space.
Notable people
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(May 2017)
Rev. Francis P. Duffy – former chaplain, 69th Infantry Division (known as the "Fighting 69th"); teacher of French (1893),[36] "Duffy Square – the northern half of New York City's Times Square between 45th and 47th Streets – is named in his honor".[37]
^Solomon, George. "About Dave Anderson"Archived October 5, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism. Retrieved November 29, 2017. "Dave Anderson, 85, was born in Troy, N.Y., moving with his family as a boy to Brooklyn, N.Y. and graduating from Xavier High School in Manhattan in 1947."
^"John Caemmerer, Chairman Of State Senate Transit Panel". The New York Times. February 8, 1982. Retrieved November 29, 2017. "Mr. Caemmerer, who was born in Brooklyn, grew up in suburban East Williston. It was there, the burly Mr. Caemmerer once said, that he came to appreciate mass-transit needs as a student commuting to Xavier High School in Manhattan."
^Waggoner, Walter H. "John T. Clancy, 82, Ex-Borough Chief". The New York Times. May 17, 1985. Retrieved November 29, 2017. "Mr. Clancy was born in Long Island City, the son of Patrick J. Clancy, a grocer, and Mary Clancy, both natives of Limerick, Ireland. He attended public schools in Long Island City and St. Francis Xavier High School in Manhattan and then graduated from Fordham University Law School."
^Goldaper, Sam (October 12, 1994). "Frank McGuire, 80, Basketball Coach, Dies", The New York Times. Retrieved November 29, 2017. "Francis Joseph McGuire, the 13th child of a New York City policeman, was born on Nov. 8, 1913, in Greenwich Village. He attended St. Francis Xavier High School, where he later taught history and coached for 11 seasons."
^"Al Roker Biography”. The Biography Channel. Retrieved November 18, 2007. "After graduating from Xavier High School in Manhattan, Roker studied communications at State University of New York at Oswego, where he got his first shot at weathercasting."
^Thomas Jr., Robert McG. "Leo Paquin, 83, One of Fordham's Blocks of Granite". The New York Times. December 3, 1993. Retrieved November 29, 2017. "Instead, he accepted a position at Xavier High School in Manhattan, where he spent more than 40 years as football coach, as athletic director, and as a Latin and English teacher who would annually startle his awed freshman classes by telling them that his parents and professors had been far less impressed by his football glory than by the fact that he made the dean's list for four years."
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