Seattle Preparatory School
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Seattle Preparatory School, popularly known as Seattle Prep, is a Catholic high school located on the north slope of Seattle's Capitol Hill. Until the mid 1970s, it admitted only boys.
Seattle Prep was founded in 1891 by two Jesuits, Father Victor Garrand and Father Adrian Sweere, as the School of the Immaculate Conception. Its original location was St. Francis Hall at the corner of 6th Avenue and Spring Street in downtown Seattle, and the school offered both high-school and college-level classes. In 1898, the school changed its name to Seattle College and moved to First Hill, at which point the high school split off as Seattle College High School and moved to its present location. Seattle College High School changed its name to Seattle Preparatory School in 1933; Seattle College changed its name to Seattle University in 1948.
Seattle Prep is still closely tied to Seattle University, and not just by their common Jesuit heritage (both schools are still managed by the Jesuit Order). Seattle Prep has an innovative curriculum arrangement with Seattle University wherein students of Seattle Prep can qualify for admission to Seattle University after three years of education at Seattle Prep under the Matteo Ricci College program. Students admitted to Seattle University under the Matteo Ricci College program can acquire a Bachelor of Arts degree after three more years, thus reducing the combined study requirement for the Bachelor of Arts degree to six years, versus eight years in a traditional four year high school and a traditional four year college. Students can then elect a course load at Seattle University with electives which can qualify for a second bachelors degree with an additional year of study (it is not uncommon for a student to acquire two bachelors degrees through this program of study, one in the humanities for example and another in the sciences.) This unique curriculum arrangement is fully accredited.
Not all Seattle Prep students elect to pursue the Matteo Ricci program. Instead many pursue a traditional four year course of study at Seattle Prep and then pursue other traditional arrangements (entrance into the workforce, other two or four year colleges).
Seattle Prep emphasizes its unique curriculum for college preparation. Its literature and humanities courses are organized as a unique course offering known as Collegio. Collegio combines the study of literature, religion and social studies into a single interdisciplinary course. Art is taught in AAD (Artistic/Aesthetic Development) and physical education is taught in PPD (Psychological-Physical Development).
In the 1950s, McDonnell Hall was added to the existing Adelphia Hall, and in the 1960s, Peyton Hall was added across the parking lot from McDonnell and Adelphia Halls. A gymnasium was built in front of Adelphia Hall in the 1970s.
There were several major additions to Seattle Prep in the late 1990s. A new underground parking garage was built to replace the old parking lot, which was replaced by a grass quad. In addition, St. Ignatius Hall was erected across from Peyton and McDonnell Halls.
Greg Nickels, the current mayor of Seattle, attended Seattle Prep, as did Martell Webster of the Portland Trailblazers.