St. Paul Academy and Summit School
Encyclopedia
St. Paul Academy and Summit School (commonly known as SPA) is a college preparatory independent day school in St. Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, for students in grades K–12.

The school was established through a merger in 1969 of St. Paul Academy, a school for boys, and Summit School, a school for girls. St. Paul Academy was founded in 1900 and Summit School in 1917. The school celebrated its centennial in 2000. Accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, SPA is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools
National Association of Independent Schools
The National Association of Independent Schools is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1963, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, boarding, and day/boarding schools; elementary and secondary...

, the Cum Laude Society, and The College Board.

Recent commencement speakers have included Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

, Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...

, and Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...

.

Academics

In the Upper School (grades 9–12), SPA has a college-preparatory liberal arts curriculum. SPA teaches an independent curriculum that does not follow either the AP or IB curriculum models, though individual students may opt to take AP tests. Courses have been taught using Harkness table
Harkness table
The Harkness table is a large, oval table used in a style of teaching, The Harkness Method, wherein students sit at the table with their teachers. This teaching method is in use at many American boarding schools and colleges. It encourages classes to be held in a discursive manner...

s, distinctive elliptical wooden tables that seat 12–15 students, since 2005. Each year, the school sends several juniors to semester-away programs including CITYterm in New York, Oxbow School
Oxbow School
The Oxbow School is a private single semester arts school for high school juniors and seniors located in Napa, California, sitting near an oxbow of the Napa River...

 in California, Maine Coast Semester
Maine Coast Semester
Chewonki Semester School formerly known as Maine Coast Semester, founded in 1988, is a semester-long, environmental education program for high school juniors run by the Chewonki Foundation and located in Wiscasset, Maine. The founding director was S. Scott Andrews, who currently teaches history...

 in Maine, and Rocky Mountain Semester
Rocky mountain semester
The Rocky Mountain Semester welcomed its first class in 1998 with Molly and Christopher Barnes as its first directors. The program name changed in 2011 to term itself HMI Semester. The semester takes place on the High Mountain Institute campus in Leadville, CO...

 in Colorado.

SPA's English department offers students strong individual attention, helping students develop their analytical reading and writing skills. General courses are offered during freshman and sophomore years, while semester-long electives are offered during junior and senior years.

The language department offers instruction in French, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese (simplified characters) and has optional international exchange programs for students in grades 10–12 with partner schools in France, Germany, Spain, and China. All students in grades K-5 study Spanish but then have the option to change their course of study in the Middle and Upper School.

For freshman through junior year, the history department has required courses that include two years of World History and one year of American history. In senior year, all history courses are electives.

SPA's math department offers a variety of courses that take most students through a study of Calculus as a senior, prefaced with Algebra 2, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus..

The science department at SPA offers earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics for freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years, respectively. In senior year, semester long electives are offered, including genetics, space science, marine biology, and field biology.

The music offerings include two jazz bands, one orchestra, string and wind ensembles, a large choir, a female choir, and a smaller choral group. The ensembles all offer a fall concert ("Pops Concert") where contemporary music is played as well as a spring concert where more traditional music is featured. SPA also hosts a free music competition every spring for singers and musicians from SPA and the surrounding area.

SPA has a laptop program in its Middle and Upper Schools whereby the school provides each student in 6th through 8th grade with a laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...

 and students in grades 9 through 10 must purchase one from the school. The program originally gave the middle schoolers Toshiba laptops, but instead is now giving them Nobi Netbooks. The Laptops have a suite of programs on them, and much of the homework process is streamlined through one note

Graduation requirements include that seniors complete a 5–8 minute speech in front of the Upper School on a topic of their choice (Senior Speech), as well as a month-long internship in May (Senior Project).

Athletics

St. Paul Academy and Summit School is a member of the Tri-Metro Conference, part of the Minnesota State High School League
Minnesota State High School League
The Minnesota State High School League is a voluntary, non-profit association for the support and governance of interscholastic activities at high schools in Minnesota, United States. The association supports interscholastic athletics and fine arts programs for member schools...

.
The school mascot is a Spartan, and the school's main rivals are Breck School
Breck School
Breck School is an independent college-preparatory preK–12 school in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. It was founded in 1886 and is affiliated with the Episcopal Church...

, Blake School and Minnehaha Academy
Minnehaha Academy
Minnehaha Academy is a Christian private school in Minneapolis, Minnesota for students in preschool through 12th grade, and established in 1913. It is owned by the Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, and is located in the Cooper and Longfellow neighborhoods. The student body...

. According to school legend, SPA won the right to wear its school colors (Navy Blue and Vegas Gold) in a football game against Blake more than a century ago. The SPA-Blake rivalry is still regarded as the oldest high school rivalry in the state of Minnesota. SPA offers 15 varsity sports, and 34 teams. To date, Spartan sports teams have won 29 State titles since the school joined the MSHSL in 1975. In 2010 the boys varsity soccer team went to the state tournament and seniors Conor Perkkio and Nick Forsgren were voted to the all-State tournament team. In 2011, the boys varsity team made another run to the Metrodome for the state tournament and placed fourth yet again. Goalkeeper Ben Braman was named to the all tournament team.
State Championships-MISL and MSHSL
Season Sport Appearances Number of Championships Year
Fall Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, Girls
19 9 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988
Football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, Boys
1 0
Soccer, Girls 5 0
Soccer, Boys 15 4 1986, 1987, 1991, 1994,
Cross Country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, Boys
8 3 1990, 1991, 1992
Cross Country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, Girls
3 0
Swimming and Diving, Girls (Co-op with Highland Park) 2 0
Winter Alpine Skiing
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

, Boys
unknown 0
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

, Girls
3 0
Nordic Skiing, Boys 1 0
Nordic Skiing, Girls 1 0
Fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

, Coed
n/a 9 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2006
Hockey, Boys 15 5 1941, 1942, 1961, 1962, 1974
Hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

, Girls
0 0
Wrestling, Boys ( inactive ) 0 0
Gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, Girls ( inactive )
0 0
Dance, Girls 0 0
Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, Girls
0 0
Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, Boys
0 0
Swimming and Diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, Boys (co-op with Highland Park)
0 0
Spring Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, Boys
0 0
Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, Girls
0 0
Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, Boys
9 4 1993, 2004, 2007, 2008
Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, Boys
0 0
Track, boys 1 1 1993
Softball 1 0
Track, Girls 2 0
Total 86 34

Campuses

The school consists of two campuses: the Goodrich Campus and the Randolph Campus.
  • The Goodrich Campus, site of the old Summit School for girls, is the current home of the Lower School (grades K–5, ~290 students) and contains the Sarah Converse Auditorium, home of SPA theater productions. It is located at 1150 Goodrich Avenue
    Aaron Goodrich
    Aaron Goodrich was an American lawyer, jurist and diplomat.-Biography:Goodrich was born in Sempronius, New York in 1807. In 1815, the family moved to a farm in western New York state, where Aaron attended country school and read law books with enthusiasm...

    .
  • The Randolph Campus, site of the old St. Paul Academy for boys, is the current home of the Middle School (grades 6–8, ~240 students) as well as the Upper School (grades 9–12, ~380 students). Drake hockey arena and the Harry M. Drake Gallery are both located on this campus, 1712 Randolph Avenue.

School hours are from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with exceptions for after-school activities.
The school has art programs as well as sports.

Hockey

SPA has what is thought to be the oldest varsity hockey squad in the state of Minnesota. The first official team was recorded in 1905. The opponents the team faced during the early years included local colleges St. Thomas as well as the University of Minnesota, who didn't field a team until a few years after the Academy. The Hockey team has won five Minnesota Independent School League (MISL)
tournaments, in 1941, 1942, 1961, 1962, and 1973.
Practices are held in the Drake Arena.

Notable alumni/ae

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald
    F. Scott Fitzgerald
    Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...

     attended the school from 1908-1911. Later, he became one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. His works include The Great Gatsby
    The Great Gatsby
    The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....

    and This Side of Paradise
    This Side of Paradise
    This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University...

    .
  • Karen Ashe
    Karen Ashe
    Karen K. Hsiao Ashe is a professor at the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota, where she holds theEdmund Wallace and Anne Marie Tulloch Chairs in Neurology and Neuroscience...

     ('72) is director of the Neurobiology of Alzheimer’s Disease Research Laboratory at the University of Minnesota
    University of Minnesota
    The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

  • Ann Bancroft
    Ann Bancroft
    Ann Bancroft is an American author, teacher, and adventurer. She was the first woman to successfully finish a number of arduous expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic.-Biography:...

     ('74) was the first woman to successfully complete expeditions across the Arctic and Antarctic.
  • James J. Barnes ('50) is a historian, Rhodes Scholar, Fulbright Scholar, and Harvard University Woodrow Wilson Fellow.
  • Charles Berde ('69) is a Professor of Anesthesia and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

    , and is co-founder and director of the Pain Treatment Service at Children's Hospital Boston
    Children's Hospital Boston
    Children's Hospital Boston is a 396-licensed bed children's hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts.At 300 Longwood Avenue, Children's is adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical School, and to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute...

    .
  • Leo Cullen (soccer)
    Leo Cullen (soccer)
    Leo Cullen is a former American soccer defender.Cullen played college soccer at the University of Maryland, where he was ACC player of the year first-team All-American in 1997, his senior year. The Miami Fusion made him the first draft pick in team history, taking Leo first overall in the 1998 MLS...

     ('94) is a former American soccer player.
  • John Doar
    John Doar
    John Michael Doar is an American lawyer and currently senior counsel with the law firm Doar Rieck Kaley & Mack in New York....

     ('40) was a prominent civil rights attorney in the 1960s, who most notably defended James Meredith
    James Meredith
    James H. Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President...

     in his attempt to enroll in the then-segregated University of Mississippi.
  • Catherine "Cack" Ferrell ('02) was a professional runner for Nike who represented the United States at the 2007 World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa and at the 2007 Pan-Am Games, where she won the silver medal in the 5000 meter run.
  • Paul Georgieff
    Paul Georgieff
    Paul Georgieff is an American mixed martial artist. He was a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra, fighting on Team Hughes.-Ultimate Fighter:...

     ('01) was a contestant on season six of The Ultimate Fighter
    The Ultimate Fighter
    The Ultimate Fighter is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts competition produced by Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship , and soon to be shown on FX. The show features unknown, professional MMA fighters living together in Las Vegas, Nevada, and follows them as...

    on Spike TV.
  • Christopher Gores
    Christopher Gores
    Christopher Gores is a Puerto Rican soccer player who plays for Gigantes de Carolina FC in the Puerto Rico Soccer League. He has also appeared for the Puerto Rico national football team.-Career:...

     ('96) played soccer professionally for a team in Puerto Rico.
  • Reynolds Guyer
    Reynolds Guyer
    Reyn Guyer is an American inventor. Among his notable developments are the game Twister and the NERF ball, which he developed for Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, respectively...

     ('53) invented the Nerf
    Nerf
    Nerf is a toy brand created by Parker Brothers and currently owned by Hasbro. The acronym NERF stands for "Non-Expanding Recreational Foam". Most of the toys are a variety of foam-based weaponry, but there are also several different types of Nerf toys, such as balls for sports like football,...

     children's toys.
  • Stanley S. Hubbard ('51) is the founder of Hubbard Broadcasting, which owns TV stations across Minnesota, Wisconsin, *Seth Janus ('91) is program director of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Minnesota
    University of Minnesota
    The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

  • Rebecca Jarvis
    Rebecca Jarvis
    Rebecca Jarvis is a financial journalist and was a finalist on Season 4 of The Apprentice. Jarvis graduated from the University of Chicago in 2003 and from St. Paul Academy and Summit School in 1999....

     ('99) is a financial reporter for CNBC and was a finalist on The Apprentice (Season 4)
  • Dave Kansas
    Dave Kansas
    David Kansas is a journalist living in London and working for The Wall Street Journal.Kansas is former president of a personal finance online venture FiLife.com between Dow Jones and IAC/InterActiveCorp...

     ('85) Prominent financial writer
  • Roger G. Kennedy
    Roger G. Kennedy
    Roger George Kennedy was an American polymath whose career included banking, television production, historical writing, and museum administration, the last as director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, before the Clinton administration selected him to head the...

     ('44) served as Director of the National Park Service
    National Park Service
    The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

     and of the Smithsonian Institution
    Smithsonian Institution
    The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

    's National Museum of American History. He was a Vice President of the Ford Foundation
    Ford Foundation
    The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....

     and has worked for the departments of Labor, Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education.
  • Manuel Lagos ('90) Played soccer professionally and for the United States national team during the Olympics.
  • Steven Levitt
    Steven Levitt
    Steven David "Steve" Levitt is an American economist known for his work in the field of crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. Winner of the 2004 John Bates Clark Medal, he is currently the William B...

     ('85) is the author of 2005 New York Times bestselling book Freakonomics
    Freakonomics
    Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a 2005 non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. The book has been described as melding pop culture with economics, but has also been described as...

    . He led the SPA Quiz Bowl team to nationals two years in a row as a high school student.
  • Joan Mondale
    Joan Mondale
    Joan Adams Mondale is the wife of Walter Mondale, the 42nd Vice President of the United States and later the U.S. ambassador to Japan. She is an advocate for the arts....

     ('48) is the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale
    Walter Mondale
    Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...

    .
  • William Pedersen ('56), partner in Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, is the lead architect on the Shanghai World Financial Center
    Shanghai World Financial Center
    The most distinctive feature in the design of the building is an aperture at the peak. The original design specified a circular aperture, in diameter, to reduce the stresses of wind pressure, as well as serve as a subtext for the design, since "Chinese mythology represents the earth with a square...

    , one of the world's tallest buildings.
  • Tony Sanneh
    Tony Sanneh
    Anthony "Tony" Sanneh is an American soccer player who most recently played for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer.-Youth and college:...

     ('90) is a professional soccer player who has won two Major League Soccer
    Major League Soccer
    Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

     Cups and played every minute for the United States in the 2002 World Cup
    2002 FIFA World Cup
    The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...

     in Korea/Japan.
  • Davidson Sommers ('22) was an international policy expert who served as general counsel to the World Bank
    World Bank
    The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

    , Vice Chairman of the Overseas Development Council, Chairman of the Board of the Equitable Life Assurance Society
    AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company
    AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, formerly The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, also known as The Equitable, was founded by Henry Baldwin Hyde in 1859. In 1991, AXA, a French insurance company, acquired majority control of The Equitable...

    , and as an advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
    Joint Chiefs of Staff
    The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...

    .
  • John Tate
    John Tate
    John Torrence Tate Jr. is an American mathematician, distinguished for many fundamental contributions in algebraic number theory, arithmetic geometry and related areas in algebraic geometry.-Biography:...

     ('42) is an internationally renowned number theorist and winner of the 2010 Abel Prize
    Abel Prize
    The Abel Prize is an international prize presented annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. The prize is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel . It has often been described as the "mathematician's Nobel prize" and is among the most prestigious...

  • George Tesar (’69) is chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Cleveland Clinic
    Cleveland Clinic
    The Cleveland Clinic is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The Cleveland Clinic is currently regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S. News & World Report...

  • Jean West ('45) served as a commissioner of the St. Paul Port Authority and as president of West Premium Corporation.

New York, and New Mexico (including the Twin Cities ABC affiliate KSTP).
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