Strake Jesuit College Preparatory
Strake Jesuit College Preparatory (properly referred to as Strake Jesuit or Jesuit but often informally called Strake by students and alumni) 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.[5] It is near Alief.[6]
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.[7] 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[edit]
The school was founded by Father Michael Kenelley, S.J.,[8][9] 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.[10]
In 1971, the school asked to declare Chapter 10 bankruptcy as it lost money in the Sharpstown scandal.[11] 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.[12]
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.[6] 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."[6]
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. [13]
