Stanton College Preparatory School
Stanton College Preparatory School is a high school located in Jacksonville, Florida that has a history which dates back to the 1860s. It serves secondary students within the Duval County school district in grades 9-12. The school offers special curriculum which includes honors, advanced placement and International Baccalaureate courses in a number of different subjects. In 2005, the Advanced Placement Report to the Nation officially recognized Stanton College Preparatory School as the best large size high school for Advanced Placement European History and Advanced Placement English Literature & Composition in the world.
In 2000, Stanton College Prep was ranked 1st in Newsweek magazine's list of the top 1,000 public schools in the United States, in 2004, it was ranked 2nd, and in 2005, it was ranked 3rd. It has frequently ranked 1st in the United States in the number of International Baccalaureate diplomas awarded. Stanton perennially leads the Jacksonville metropolitan area in the number of National Merit Scholarship recipients, and consistently ranks in the top three in the state.
Stanton has been called "one of the premier IB and AP public schools in the country" by Jay Mathews in his 2005 book "Supertest: How the International Baccalaureate Can Strengthen Our Schools."
History
Shortly after Emancipation, a group of African Americans from Jacksonville organized the Education Society and in 1868, purchased the property on which the Stanton school now resides. It was their purpose and intent to erect on the property a school building to be known as the Florida Institute. Financial problems, however, delayed progress on the building until December of that year when the first school was built and incorporated through the aid of the Freedman's Bureau. The school was a wooden structure and was named in honor of General Edwin McMasters Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War . He was an ardent champion of human rights and an advocate of free formal education for Negro boys and girls. It was the first school of education for black children in Jacksonville and its surrounding counties, and was the first school for black children in the State of Florida.
For a number of years, the Freedman's Bureau conducted the school. Northern white teachers were employed until the county leased the property for the purpose of opening a public school. The first building was destroyed by fire in 1882. Another building constructed the same year was also destroyed by fire on May 3, 1901, a fire that destroyed much of Jacksonville. A new school was constructed in 1902 and remained in operation until 1917. Originally the school mascot had been the Blue Devil. Because the school had burned and been rebuilt twice, the Phoenix rising from ashes would eventually be adopted as a second mascot. Today both mascots are used.
On May 23, 1914, the Circuit Court of Duval County appointed nine trustees to manage the school and its property. They included Robert B. Archibald, S. H. Hart, A. L. Lewis, J. W. Floyd, W. L. Girardeau, I. L. Purcell, B. C. Vanderhorst, J. E. Spearing, and W.H. H. Styles. Archibaid and Hart resigned and were replaced by J. M. Baker and L. H. Myers.
The deteriorating and unsafe condition of the poorly constructed school building prompted the Board of Public Instruction, the Stanton School trustees, and interested citizens of Jacksonville, to jointly agree to replace the wooden structure with a good fire-proof building. In 1917, the building, which stands at Ashley, Broad, Beaver, and Clay Streets, was completed. Stanton became the main focus for the education of black children in Duval County and the surrounding areas.
An equally impressive record of academic expansion has accomplished the physical growth of Stanton. Beginning as an elementary school with six grades under the administration of J. C. Waters as the first principal and D. W. Gulp who followed as principal, Stanton gradually became known throughout the state for the high educational standards which it still maintains today. The eighth grade was added under the principalship of W. M. Artrell. Principal James Weldon Johnson started the move toward a high school department. The addition of the twelfth grade made Stanton an elementary, junior, and senior high school.
Stanton continued as a school for all grades through the administration of I. A. Blocker, G. M. Sampson and J. N. Wilson. In 1938, with F. J. Anderson as principal, Stanton became a senior high school exclusively. J. L. Terry served as the last principal of Stanton Senior High School, #101.
In 1953, the Stanton Senior School name was transferred to a new facility on 13th Street and was re-named New Stanton Senior High School. Charles D. Brooks was the first principal of the "new" school. Under his principalship, Stanton continued to foster the same traditionally high standards which befit its rich heritage and flourished as the oldest and most important high school for blacks in Jacksonville.
Beginning in 1953, the Board and Ashley Street facility became known as "Old" Stanton. The Old Stanton building was used as a junior high school in 1953-1954. In August 1954, it was converted into Stanton Vocational High School and functioned as a vocational training center, adjusting its curriculum to train and graduate students in technical skills of the day. At night, it became a center for the Adult and Veterans Education Program.
From 1969-1971, the focus of New Stanton Senior High School began to change from academic to vocational under the principal-ship of Ben Durham, the former principal of Stanton Vocational High School. In 1971, the Old Stanton High School building was again placed under control of the trustees of Stanton and the student body was transferred to New Stanton Senior High School where the revised curriculum now provided for both the academic and the vocational interests of the students
In 1981, Stanton College Preparatory School became the Duval County School System's first magnet school. Beginning with grades 7-10, and adding one grade level each succeeding year, the first senior class of 54 students graduated in 1984. Stanton College Preparatory School now serves secondary students living within the 841 square miles of the Duval County school district and leads the Duval County Public Schools in academic achievement.
Fight Song
Sung to the tune of On Wisconsin
- On Blue Devils! On Blue Devils!
- Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight!
- We will never, never, ever yield unto the foe.
- On Blue Devils! On Blue Devils!
- Fight for victory!
- We will always stand up for the blue and white!
Alma Mater
- Give your best for dear old Stanton,
- For the blue and white.
- Whether games or life's endeavors,
- Always bravely fight.
- Stanton, thee, thy loyal sons
- To exalt we'll try.
- And we'll strive the Blue-White Banner
- Ever to hold high
Valedictorian and Salutadictorian
- 1998 David Chang and Lisa Smith
- 1999 Jeremy Fuchs and Jessica Dzhugashvili
- 2000 Marie Yang and Susan Roberts
- 2001 Steven Evans and Alicia Childs
- 2002 Marcus Shlongburger and Kyle Ritzgerald
- 2003 Robert Sasuke and Jeffrey Weisman
- 2004 Edith Cummings and Graham Walker
- 2005 Adlei Roxe and Catherine Lee
Contact information
- Stanton College Preparatory School
- 1149 West 13th Street
- Jacksonville, Florida 32209
- Phone: (904) 630-6760
References
- Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools compiled by Newsweek magazine.