Seton Catholic Preparatory High School

History

Seton Catholic Preparatory, then known as Seton Catholic High School, was founded by Father Joseph Patterson in 1954 in Chandler, Arizona. The school was initially founded as a parish school and began to operate under the supervision of the Diocese of Phoenix as a diocesan school beginning in 1973. In September 1980, a fire begun by one of the students destroyed much of the old campus. Looking to be more centrally located to serve the growing cities of Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler, the Diocese of Phoenix relocated the school site to a location at Dobson and Ray Roads, referred to when it opened as the "Seton Catholic High School Tri-City Campus". The school also chose to take the full name Seton Catholic Tri-City High School, though this change was short-lived and was later reverted. The school office at the site was completed in March 1983. That fall, the school reached a then-all-time high for enrollment, 259 students.

Though Seton entered the 1990s at enrollment levels lower than any seen since the new campus, it jumped to 343 students in 1994 (when it broke ground on a new gymnasium) and to 493 students – the highest in its history – by 1999. In the 1990s, the school also built six new science classrooms.

The 1990s and 2000s were times of similarly prolific growth in the East Valley. As the only Catholic high school located centrally enough to serve the area (though it by no means is centrally located, given the sprawl and rise of towns like Gilbert and Queen Creek), Seton continued to reap rewards in enrollment growth. At its height, in the fall of 2004, Seton had 604 students.

In 2007, following a massive undertaking to secure funds for the construction, the school completed its new copper-domed chapel.

Also in 2007, Seton was placed into 4A Division II athletics by the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Since then, the school has won three girls' volleyball state titles, three softball state titles, and two girls' basketball state titles.

In May 2009, the school was officially renamed Seton Catholic Preparatory High School.

In February 2010, the school broke ground on a new, two-story academic building and black box theater complex.

In October 2010, Seton was the only school in Arizona and one of fifty in the United States chosen by the Catholic High School Honor Roll project to be on its honor roll for the following two years.

Robotics team

Seton has a competitive robotics team, which competes in the FIRST FRC Robotics program. The team number is 1212, and they placed 61st out of 88 teams in April 2011 in the Galileo division of the FRC World Championship. They also received the Gracious Professionalism award at the Arizona Regional competition held at Hamilton High School in March 2011.

In March 2012, the robotics team was selected by the two best teams of the Arizona FIRST Regional, Team 610 and Team 842, and won the regional along with their alliance.