By: Brother John Kane, FSC, Ed.D., President, Calvert Hall College High School
On the evening of March 21, Calvert Hall College High School's Gala 175 celebrates the 175th anniversary of the school's founding. Starting at 6 p.m. in the SECU Arena at Towson University, the evening features cocktails, dinner, Hall of Fame Induction, silent auction and dancing. You are invited to join us by visiting calverthall.com/gala.
Being inducted into our Hall of Fame that evening will be John Murtaugh ’61 (posthumously), a 45-year faculty member at Calvert Hall; John Noppinger, Jr. ’64, who spent most of his career in construction and industrial sales in Houston and in the Middle East and serves as a member of the Calvert Hall board of trustees; W. Daniel White ’65, retired executive vice president and treasurer of Whiting-Turner and a former Calvert Hall board member; Kenneth Boehl ’72, instrumental in the merger between MBNA America and Bank of America and a former trustee of Calvert Hall; and Francis Smyth ’78, CEO of Century Engineering.
Joseph Croteau, retired vice president and treasurer of T. Rowe Price, former Calvert Hall board member and the father of a graduate, will be presented with the President's Medal at Gala 175.
How did Calvert Hall come to be?
One hundred seventy five years ago, in 1845, a young Baltimore native, John McMullen, returned to his hometown to start a school for boys called Calvert Hall. John McMullen was one of five young men from Baltimore who traveled to Montreal, the North American base for the Christian Brothers, to receive training as a teacher and as a religious brother at the request of Baltimore Archbishop Samuel Eccleston.
The Christian Brothers, founded by St. John Baptist de La Salle in France in the late 1600s, are known for providing educational excellence to their students through five core principles: concern for the poor and social justice; faith in the presence of God; quality education; respect for all persons and inclusive community.
On September 15, 1845, Calvert Hall, the first Christian Brothers school in the United States, opened its doors to 100 boys at 16 West Saratoga Street. It cost approximately $10,200 to construct the two-story, 127-foot by 50-foot building. The school was named Calvert Hall in honor of the Catholic family who settled Maryland; "hall" was added because the building was the largest hall in Baltimore.
John McMullen, now Brother Francis, taught the first class. Two other Christian Brothers were part of the faculty.
Today, Calvert Hall is located on a 32-acre campus in Towson and educates nearly 1,200 young men from 105 zip codes. Eight Christian Brothers join with 147 lay faculty and staff members (including 33 alumni) in preparing Calvert Hall students for the next 175 years.
At its core, the Calvert Hall of today is the same as the Calvert Hall of 1845. We educate the whole person by respecting each individual and join the community that professes faith, justice and service. We are a school that reflects the world around us today, with students from diverse geographic, racial, religious, economic and learning backgrounds.
The hallmark of a Calvert Hall education is academic rigor and intellectual development. Our campus is known for its college setting with a small feel. We offer 25 Advanced Placement courses, the most of any boys' school in the Baltimore area. Last spring 83 percent of Calvert Hall students who took Advanced Placement classes received college-qualifying scores. The McMullen Scholars Program and Brother Tom Miller Honors Program also assist our students in pursuing academic excellence. We offer our students more than 50 extracurricular clubs. You can learn more by visiting our website at calverthall.com.
The arts are as equally valued and pursued as the sciences. This year, 295 Calvert Hall students participate in fine arts programs, including music, choral, dramatic and visual arts; 243 are STEM students, pursuing science, technology, engineering and math in 24 classes.
Calvert Hall students excel in the classroom and beyond. Our students today have accomplished a great many honors. In the fall, the Calvert Hall Marching Band captured its fourth consecutive USBands national championship title and its fifth straight Maryland state title. Two of our students were named National Merit Semi-Finalists this academic year, quite the honor. Our robotics team won its fourth straight state title. We also have speech and debate champions.
On the sports front, our teams are standouts. We compete in 17 sports, with 40 teams, in the MIAA. Our students have won more than 125 boys high school athletics titles in the conference. In the fall, the varsity and JV cross country teams were MIAA champions. Last spring, the lacrosse team made MIAA history by winning a third consecutive league title.
Most likely you interact with Calvert Hall graduates on a regular basis. They are men of intellect, faith and integrity, who work in fields as varied as medicine, banking, law enforcement, military, government, academia, media, financial services, professional sports and more.
The Lasallian tradition continues today through the active presence of my fellow Christian Brothers as teachers and administrators. Faith, service and community are themes we live by day in and day out and impart to our students. As every Calvert Hall graduate will remember from the start of the school day: St. John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us. Live Jesus in our hearts...Forever!
