Marquette University High School

History

Founded as St. Aloysius Academy in 1857, MUHS has bore the name "Marquette" since 1881 and the founding of Marquette College (now Marquette University). The college and academy split in 1907, with the college moving to the present location of Marquette University and the academy eventually moving to its current location in 1922.

Campus

Marquette University High School is located at 3401 W. Wisconsin Avenue in the Merrill Park Neighborhood on Milwaukee's west side. It is a four-story building, built in the early 20th century.

Academics

The school is part of the Jesuit network that consists of 59 high schools and 28 colleges and universities in the United States. Theology classes are conducted daily.

The curriculum at Marquette is entirely focused on college prep and has strict credit requirements in all fields of study. The school offers 14 AP courses in social sciences, economics, languages, science, computer science, English, and the fine arts.

MUHS offers Latin, German, and Spanish as foreign languages, and has participated in exchange programs with France, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic. Students also have the opportunity to travel to Ireland, the UK, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Canada through various activities such as athletics, service work, and academic activities.

The Webster Club

The Webster Club provides students with an opportunity to compete in Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Forensics, and Public Forum Debate.

Mathematics club

The MUHS math club participates in the WIML (Wisconsin Math League) contests.

Robotics

MUHS supports a year-round FIRST Robotics team in conjunction with DSHA (Divine Savior Holy Angels), which was started during the 2005–06 school year. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields. The FIRST Robotics Competition gives the team six weeks to build a robot for a competition. In addition, the team participates in outreach events, community service, and also hosts two FIRST Lego League tournaments. Each year, the team competes in two regular season regionals, the World Championship, and several off-season tournaments. In the 2009-2010 school year the team won both the Wisconsin and Midwest Regionals, going undefeated at the Midwest tournament. The team won the Wisconsin Regional again during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years and has attended the World Championships for the past 8 years. Starting in 2014–15, the team is expanding to include 6 VEX Robotics Competition teams.

Theater

Every year since 1963, the senior class has written and performed "Senior Follies", a satirical musical farce in which the actors portray caricatures of faculty members.

The school's theater group, the Prep Players, annually presents a stage play in winter and a musical in spring.

Athletics

Nicknamed the "Hilltoppers", MUHS teams competed in the now defunct Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletics Association (WISAA) in most sports prior to 1999. Since then, they have competed in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). The school fields teams in baseball, basketball, cross country running, downhill skiing, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby union, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, ultimate, volleyball, and wrestling.

MUHS teams have won 28 WIAA state titles in soccer, volleyball, tennis, baseball, and football, as well as the lacrosse team's 2010 WLF state championship. In the summers of 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 the Hilltoppers were ranked #1 in the state for overall boys' athletics by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In the program's history, the Hilltoppers have won over 130 State Championships.

Basketball

The basketball team was 84–29 in five seasons from 1997 to 2002. The team won the 1999 Greater Metro Conference and WISAA Division I State Boys Basketball Championships, when the Hilltoppers went 21–3 and defeated Dominican High School in the championship game. The basketball team also won Greater Metro conference championships in the 1997–98 and 1999–2000 seasons. In 2010, the Hilltopper basketball team made it to the WIAA Division I state semifinals, before losing to eventual champion Arrowhead. In 2016, The hilltoppers made another run in the post season, eventually being defeated to Muskego in the WIAA Division I state semifinals.

Cross country

The MUHS cross country team has won the Greater Metro Conference meet 8 of the last 9 years, and took third at both the 2007 and 2008 WIAA state meets, as well as second in both 2009 and 2010.

Football

Marquette has a football team that dates back to 1907, playing in over 1,000 games. Over that time, Marquette has won 701 games, 40 conference titles and 9 state titles. Their most successful coach, Dick Basham, coached Marquette for 38 seasons and 42% of its 1,000 games. In 2009 (his last season), the Hilltoppers went 14-0 to win their most recent WIAA Division 1 state title. The team currently has a partnership with ESPN Milwaukee Radio for all home and away games.

Lacrosse

The MUHS lacrosse team has competed in the state tournament five times since its creation in Spring 2003 and won its first state title in 2010, which completed an undefeated season in Wisconsin. The lacrosse team annually competes against other Jesuit schools from around the United States, traveling to Indianapolis every spring where Jesuit teams from across the Midwest compete. In 2013, the MUHS lacrosse team won its second state title, with another undefeated season in Wisconsin.

Soccer

Since 1973, the soccer program has won 24 state championships and tied a national record of 10 straight state championships from 1994 to 2003. The Hilltoppers were ranked #1 in the country by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in 1999 and in 2003. The 2011 soccer team finished the season with an undefeated record of 24–0–1 and were ranked 4th in the USA by the NSCAA and 3rd by ESPN. In 1996 and 2011 the soccer coach, Bob Spielmann and Steve Lawrence, respectively, were selected as National High School Coach of the Year.

In 2012, the Hilltoppers won the state championship, defeating Kettle Moraine High School, 2–1. In 2014, the Hilltoppers once again won a state title by beating Menomonee Falls 4–1

The Hilltoppers' home field, Quad/Park, was donated by former MUHS graduate Harry Quadracci ('54), in 1998. The facility is dedicated solely to soccer and track and field events. The site was formerly occupied by Marquette Stadium, which opened in 1924 and was demolished in 1976.

Tennis

The MUHS tennis program has 26 team state titles to its credit. Before moving to the WIAA in 2001, MUHS had won 19 of the previous 20 WISAA state titles. Since the merger, Marquette has won nine WIAA team state titles (in 2002, 2003, 2007,2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013), six WIAA state singles titles, and two WIAA state doubles titles.

Volleyball

Volleyball began at MUHS in 1996, and the team's first state championship was in 1998. This team was undefeated in 98 matches, losing only 2 matches over a 3-year span. The team has won nine state championships, most recently the 2014 WIAA tournament when they defeated New Berlin United, 3–2.

Principals

Presidents