Strake Jesuit College Preparatory

History

The school was founded by Father Michael Kenelley, S.J., on June 21, 1960, in what was then the undeveloped, west side of Houston.

During a three-year period until 1993, the number of applications submitted to Strake Jesuit doubled. Fr. Brian Zinnamon, the school President, said during the year that there were two times the number of applicants compared to available spots. At the time, tuition was $4,700 per year, described by Stephanie Asin of the Houston Chronicle as being steep. 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."

In 2017 Niche ranked Strake second among Catholic High schools in Texas, along with the comment: "Challenging academic program supplemented by excellent arts and strong athletics produces well rounded students. The faculty and staff here genuinely care about these students as individuals and their holistic development."

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). 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. 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. After its admission into the U.I.L., Strake began competing in its listed district of 19-5A in the fall of 2003. The Crusader's own numerous district, regional and state championships in their various sports that date back from over the past 50 years in its old league. The Crusaders also 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 13 different programs which include: baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, 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.

Rivalry

Despite moving to the U.I.L., Strake Jesuit still maintains its rivalry with Saint Thomas High School (STH). Since 1964 Strake has a record of 24-29-1 against STH.

Cross country / track

The Cross Country Team won 22 straight T.C.I.L. State titles starting in 1972.

Retreat & Leadership Center

Strake has a spacious country retreat with a lake and woods to accommodate various forms of retreats, and other groups. It includes a chapel and dining room each seating 125 people, and adjacent to the dining room a conference hall plus 8 rooms for break-out sessions. Near the chapel is a large, octagonal building in a wooded setting, for quiet reflection. There are 8 cabins spread over the grounds, each with 5 double bedrooms. There is also a bunkhouse, in proximity to the recreation area which includes a 400,000 square foot covered pavilion. A guest house completes the facility.

Retreats

All students and members of faculty and staff take part in a retreat at some point during the school year. Besides taking part in their own retreat, many teachers are involved in retreats for students.

Freshmen participate in a three-day retreat, led by juniors and seniors who spend several months in preparation. Sophomores are responsible for the "nuts and bolts" dimension of the retreat such as errands, meals, and cleaning. Freshmen gather in homes, spend a night at school, visit nursing homes, and engage in various activities designed to promote spiritual growth and class bonding.

Sophomores take part in a retreat with their fathers or father-figures. The purpose of the sophomore retreat is to develop the relationship between father and son as well as the spirituality of the student.

Juniors have a choice of retreat. One is a three-day retreat experience, the first day of which is spent with the disadvantaged members of the Houston area. Afterwards, they spend two days reflecting on the experience, upon the brokenness of the world, and the meaning of Jesus' claim to be present in the poorest. The other option is focused on prayer; this began in 1996 after requests from students over 2–3 years. During this three-day residential retreat, juniors discover and experience a variety of prayer methods such as meditation, praying with music, through nature, and the psalms, and using such things as play-dough as creative prayer.

Seniors participate in a four-day Kairos Retreat, during which they, together with faculty, share their lives, particularly those moments when they have experienced God, emptiness, joy, pain, or healing. The purpose is to see how the Spirit of God is present in all aspects of life. There is a special session of this retreat each year open also to juniors, often referred to as "Junior Kairos".

Community service

Catholicism embraces a preferential option for the poor, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that a healthy spirituality is expressed in a concern for the social aspects of life. Strake Jesuit shares this understanding and was one of the first Catholic schools in Texas to require its students to engage in community service in order to graduate.

Freshmen visit nursing homes, sophomores collect Christmas gifts for underprivileged children, juniors engage in various projects, and seniors are required to spend 100 hours of community service in such places as soup kitchens, camps for special needs children, and missions abroad. Seniors are also required to produce a reflection paper on the experience.

The Strake Jesuit website states: "Strake Jesuit College Preparatory is grounded in the conviction of St. Ignatius of Loyola that God is to be found in all things. All activities of the school, from biology to band, from football to forensics, have this objective: to find God in all of God's wondrous creation." It is the declared goal of the Pastoral Department to foster this aim.

Notable alumni

Awards and honors

Strake Jesuit was recognized by the Texas ACT Council with the 2009 College Readiness Award for maintaining or increasing the number of students taking the ACT Assessment over the past five years and significantly increasing their level of achievement and college readiness. Also, since the foundation of the Catholic High School Honor Roll in 2004 by the Cardinal Newman Society, this society has bestowed the following honors on Strake Jesuit: ranked among the top 50 Catholic High Schools in the United States in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010; recognized for its academics in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007; and in 2004, 2005, and 2007 recognized for its civic education.

Strake's robotics team joined with St. Agnes to win the regional tournament and move on to the global competition in 2017.