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Strake Jesuit College Preparatory

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Strake Jesuit College Preparatory
Location
8900 Bellaire Boulevard
Houston
,
Texas
77036-4699
United States
29°42′29″N 95°32′23″W / 29.70809°N 95.53979°W
Information
Type Private independent college-preparatory school
Religious affiliations Roman Catholic
Jesuit
Patron saint Stanislaus Kostka
Established June 21, 1960
Founder Michael Kenelley
President Fr. Jeff Johnson, S.J.
Principal Ken Lojo
Chaplain Fr. Michael Wegenka, S.J.
Teaching staff 104.8 (FTE) (2017–18)[1]
Grades 9–12[1]
Gender All male
Enrollment 1,108 (2017–18)[1]
Student to teacher ratio 9.7:1 (2017–18)[1]
Campus Urban[1]
Colors Green
White
Slogan "Magis"
Nickname Crusaders
Accreditation Southern Association of Colleges and Schools[2]
Publication Inkwell (literary magazine)
Newspaper Magis
Yearbook The Crusader
Website www.strakejesuit.org

Strake Jesuit College Preparatory (properly referred to as Strake Jesuit or Jesuit but often informally called Strake) is a Jesuit, college-preparatory school for boys, grades 9–12, in the Chinatown area and in the Greater Sharpstown district of Houston, Texas, United States.[3] It is near Alief.[4]

With over 1,200 students, it is the largest Catholic high school in Houston. It has a full-time curator for its art collection; the City of Houston has classified the campus as an art museum.[5] The school is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It is one of only two private schools in Texas that are members of the University Interscholastic League (the other being Dallas Jesuit), which allows it to compete athletically against the largest public schools.

History

The school was founded by Father Michael Kenelley, S.J.,[6][7] on June 21, 1960, in what was then the undeveloped, west side of Houston. It is named in honor of oil tycoon George William Strake Sr.

The school's patron saint is Stanislaus Kostka, a Polish Jesuit who serves as a patron of students; additionally, as a Jesuit institution, Ignatius of Loyola is invoked as an unofficial patron saint.[8]

In 1971, the school asked to declare Chapter 10 bankruptcy as it lost money in the Sharpstown scandal.[9] The school surrendered seven acres of its original property to pay its debts and emerge from bankruptcy protection. The seven-acre tract was repurchased by the school in 2012 for $3.3 million.[10]

From 1990 to 1993, the number of applications submitted to Strake Jesuit doubled. Fr. Brian Zinnamon, the school president, said during the year that there were twice as many applicants as available spots. At the time, tuition was $4,700 per year, described by the Houston Chronicle as steep.[4] Father Zinnamon said, "Certainly what is going on in the public schools is a factor. Parents are choosing a safe environment where they know their children are getting Christian values."[4]

In 2005, before Hurricane Katrina, the school had 899 students. An additional 410 were temporarily enrolled at Strake after the hurricane for a period of time from Jesuit High School in New Orleans.[11]

Athletics

The "Fighting Crusaders" were one of many Catholic high schools that originally competed in the now defunct T.C.I.L. (Texas Christian Interscholastic League).[12] The league began in 1935 under the direction of Albert Mitchell (then principal of Central Catholic, San Antonio). Strake Jesuit's last year of competition in the T.C.I.L. concluded when the league came to a close in the 1999–2000 athletic season with the baseball team capturing the final T.C.I.L. State Championship in any sport. After T.C.I.L. merged with TAPPS, both Strake Jesuit and Dallas Jesuit were not permitted to join as TAPPS believed those two schools were too powerful.[12] From the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2003, the Crusaders competed as an independent in all sports.

They were admitted into the University Interscholastic League (U.I.L.), the public school athletic league, partly due to the efforts of Joe Nixon, a member of the Texas House of Representatives.[12] Texas Senate Bill 1943 opened the UIL to Strake and Dallas Jesuit, which established rules to put those two schools on equal footing with public schools.[13] After its admission into the U.I.L., Strake Jesuit began competing in its listed district of 19-5A in the fall of 2003. The Crusaders have won several district and regional championships along with a state championship, state runners-up, and state semi-finalists within the past eight years in the U.I.L. The "Fighting Crusaders" athletic department provides 14 different programs which include: baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, water polo, and wrestling.

The Houston Press ranked the U.I.L. realignment as the "Best Way to Break In to the Big Time" in 2003.[12]

Rivalry

Despite moving to the U.I.L., Strake Jesuit had a storied rivalry with Saint Thomas High School (STH). Since its beginning in 1964, Strake Jesuit had a record of 24–29–1 against STH. However, as of 2020, both schools have announced the end of the annual competition and Strake Jesuit will now compete with Dallas Jesuit instead. This decision however was disliked by students and alumni from both schools.[14]

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 "Search for Private Schools – School Detail for Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  2. Back to citation SACS-CASI. "SACS-Council on Accreditation and School Improvement". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
  3. Back to citation "Chinatown Archived August 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine." () Greater Sharpstown Management District. Retrieved on December 4, 2012. Map image Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine,
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Back to citation occurrence 4.2 Asin, Stephanie. "GOING BY DIFFERENT BOOKS/More private institutions get the call Archived June 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine". Houston Chronicle. August 8, 1993. Section C, Page 1. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  5. Back to citation "Art Museum". Strake Jesuit College Preparatory. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  6. Back to citation Pope, John (January 11, 2011). "The Rev. Michael Kennelly, former Loyola University president, dies at age 96". The Times-Picayune. Archived from the original on January 15, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  7. Back to citation "Past president of Loyola dies at age 96". Loyola University New Orleans. January 5, 2011. Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  8. Back to citation "About - Strake Jesuit". www.strakejesuit.org. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  9. Back to citation "Strake Jesuit asks Bankruptcy". The Texas Catholic. Vol. 19, no. 22. Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas. February 20, 1971. p. 1.
  10. Back to citation "School buys tract lost in 1971". Houston Chronicle. July 17, 2012. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  11. Back to citation Abram. Lynwood (July 8, 2007). "'Sally' Landram, 72, superintendent of Catholic schools". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  12. Back to citation occurrence 12.0 Back to citation occurrence 12.1 Back to citation occurrence 12.2 Back to citation occurrence 12.3 "Best of Houston® /// Sports & Recreation /// 2003 Strake Jesuit joining the UIL Best Way to Break In to the Big Time". Houston Press. Archived from the original on March 4, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  13. Back to citation "Private schools must play by same rules as public schools". Houston Chronicle. May 15, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  14. Back to citation Coleman, Adam (January 30, 2020). "Longtime Strake Jesuit-St. Thomas rivalry game canceled for 2020 football season". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 13, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2020; Jenkins, Jeff (August 19, 2010). "Game of the Week Strake to host rivalry game Crusaders favored over historic foes in opener of school's 50th". Houston Chronicle; McKenna, Carter (September 2019). "Strake Jesuit Wins Football Opener vs. St. Thomas". The Buzz Magazines. “Strake Jesuit and St. Thomas, who have been high school football rivals for five and a half decades now,...”
  15. Back to citation Texas House Bio https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=133 Archived September 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  16. Back to citation Strake Jesuit interview https://www.strakejesuit.org/sj-snaps?pk=955908 Archived December 12, 2025, at the Wayback Machine
  17. Back to citation "How chatter and conservative anger upended a White House staffing search". POLITICO. Archived from the original on May 30, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  18. Back to citation HAMILTON, HEATH (May 16, 2007). "Strake Jesuit runner gives it his all in state finale". Chron. Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  19. Back to citation "Nicholas Jean Baptiste Baylor profile". Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  20. Back to citation "Tim Frazier Bio". GoPSUSports.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  21. Back to citation Chiappetta, Mike (July 17, 2019). "For Juan Adams, taking out Greg Hardy is both personal and professional". MMA Fighting. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  22. Back to citation "Rasheed Sulaimon - 2013-14 - Men's Basketball". Duke University. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
  23. Back to citation Sondheimer, Eric (May 12, 2019). "Matthew Boling sets national record in the 100 meters in Texas". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019 – via latimes.com.
  24. Back to citation Krueger, Nick (May 11, 2018). "Arizona emerges as leader for RB Michael Wiley". Rivals.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
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