Stella Maris College (Montevideo)
Encyclopedia
The Stella Maris College of Montevideo, commonly referred as Christian Brothers College – Stella Maris or just Christian, is a private, co-educational, not-for-profit Catholic school run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland. The school, located in the fancy residential neighborhood of Carrasco
Carrasco
-Places:* Carrasco Province , a province of Cochabamba Department, Bolivia* Carrasco National Park, a national park in Cochabamba Department, Bolivia* Carrasco Bonito, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Tocantins...

, (Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

), is regarded as one of the best high schools in the country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...

, blending a rigorous curriculum with strong extracurricular activities. The school's head master, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 Professor Juan Pedro Toni, is a member of the Stella Maris Board of Governors and the school is a member of the International Baccalaureate Organization
International Baccalaureate Organization
The International Baccalaureate , formerly the International Baccalaureate Organization , is an international educational foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and founded in 1968. IB offers three educational programmes for children ages 3–19.The organization's name and logo were changed...

 (IBO
International Baccalaureate Organization
The International Baccalaureate , formerly the International Baccalaureate Organization , is an international educational foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and founded in 1968. IB offers three educational programmes for children ages 3–19.The organization's name and logo were changed...

), currently offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP). It has a very long list of distinguished former pupils, including economists, engineers, architects, lawyers, politicians and even F1
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 champions.

The school has also played an important part in the development of rugby union in Uruguay
Rugby union in Uruguay
Rugby union is considered one of the most popular sports in Uruguay. The national team, commonly known as Los Teros, have been playing international rugby since the late 1940s and have made appearances in two world cups - once in 1999 and again in 2003.- Governing body :The Unión de Rugby del...

, with the creation of Old Christians Club
Old Christians Club
Old Christians Club, or simply Old Christians, is a rugby union and field hockey club from the Solymar neighbourhood of Montevideo, Uruguay.....

, the school's alumni
Alumnus
An alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...

 club.

Location

The school is located in the south-east neighborhood of Carrasco
Carrasco
-Places:* Carrasco Province , a province of Cochabamba Department, Bolivia* Carrasco National Park, a national park in Cochabamba Department, Bolivia* Carrasco Bonito, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Tocantins...

 in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

's metropolitan area.

History

It was founded in 1955 by the Christian Brothers, the founders also of Cardinal Newman College in Buenos Aires.

By then many Uruguayans upper class Catholics were unhappy with the educational system of public schools were concerned that their children receive religious education. Between 1953 and 1954 efforts were made to the Christian Brothers for the congregation to be installed in Uruguay, and founded a school for boys in the exclusive suburb of Carrasco.

This created a committee composed of the Moor family, Davie, Surraco Germain, Manuel Pérez del Castillo and Stella Ferreira, Adolfo Gelsi Bidart, Enrique Rozada, Antonio Barreiro, Conrad Hughes, Francisco Ferrer, Rodolfo Anaya, Antonio Galan, Eduardo Strauch and Jorge Alvarez Olloniego. They also collaborated Gallinal Alberto Heber, William Strauch, Roberto Houni, Jorge Eduardo Aznárez and Berenbau.

After arduous negotiations, in early 1955 the brothers came to Nairobi J. I. Doorley and J. V. Ryan, with a mission to make final arrangements for the opening of the new school. They rented a house located at 6585 Republic of Mexico promenade corner Puyol. Doorley's brother returned to Buenos Aires and was replaced by P. C. Kelly. Shortly after the brothers arrived J. V. O'Reilly and H. G. McCaig.

Classes began on May 2, 1955. That year a polio epidemic forced authorities to postpone the start of courses. Brother Patrick Kelly, a devotee
of the Virgin Mary and, since the school was facing the sea, decided to call it "Stella Maris", as the parish in the area.

The playground for physical activities and sports Carrasco was the beach in front of the house. Later, the Carrasco Polo Club allowed the use of their courts. The school grew rapidly. Of 93 students in 1955 went to 137 in 1956 and 279 in 1958. In 1957 he joined another house on the same block, in Potosi 1536, in the depths of the house of Puyol and the Rambla. In 1959 he began teaching school, with a first year and four teachers.
On March 12, 1961 opened the school's current location on the street Tajes Max, with the blessing of Cardinal Antonio María Barbieri. In late 1962 he graduated the first generation of students in fourth grade.
In 1963 he implemented the system of "Houses" (Casas), which identifies all the students into four groups: Prior, Sion, Iona and Newman, each with a color identificatorio. In 1972 the building was expanded, adding a new section for high school. In 1976 this area was completed with the construction of a second plant to high school, which includes a library and laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology.

In 1985 he joined the first generation of women to high school and, since 1989, joined the first generation of girls to primary school preparatory. Since that year the school became gradually to be mixed at all levels and have three groups by grade rather than the existing two. In 1991 the school added preschool from age four.
The Christian Brothers are not currently residing in Uruguay. In 1998 he left the school, although the institution remains the property of Edmund Rice Education Association, whose local address part three brothers of the congregation.

The Andes Accident of 1972

The school gained accidental fame when its alumni rugby team
Old Christians Club
Old Christians Club, or simply Old Christians, is a rugby union and field hockey club from the Solymar neighbourhood of Montevideo, Uruguay.....

 flew on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known as the Andes flight disaster, and in South America as Miracle in the Andes was a chartered flight carrying 45 people, including a rugby team, their friends, family and associates that crashed in the Andes on October 13, 1972...

, which crashed into the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972. The story of the crash and rescue was first told in the 1974 book Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors is a 1974 book by the British writer Piers Paul Read documenting the events of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.-Story:...

and more recently in the 2006 book Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home is a 2006 book by Nando Parrado and Vince Rause.-Story:Parrado co-wrote the 2006 book Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, with Vince Rause...

. The school also appeared in the documentary, Alive: 20 Years Later
Alive: 20 Years Later
Alive: 20 Years Later is a 1993 documentary film produced, directed and written by Jill Fullerton-Smith and narrated by Martin Sheen.-Content:...

.

Twelve of the 45 people on board the plane died in the crash, and more died of their injuries later. Another 8 perished in an avalanche. The remaining survivors endured hunger, crash-related injuries, altitude sickness, and temperatures that fell to 30 degrees below zero at night. On their eighth day in the mountains, they heard on the radio that the authorities had stopped searching for them. When their scarce food reserves were gone, they were forced to eat those who had died in the crash.

On December 12, 3 of the remaining survivors set out to find help, hiking west across the Andes Mountains mountains to reach Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. After scaling the nearly 17,000-foot Mt. Seler, they realized that the trek for help would take them much longer than they had thought. Therefore, to conserve their limited food supply, one of them returned to the crash site and the other two continued hiking west.

On 21 December 1972, the ninth day of their journey, they were found by huaso
Huaso
A huaso is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the Argentinian, Rio Grande do Sul's or Uruguayan gaucho, the American cowboy, the Australian stockman, and Mexican vaquero and charro. A female huaso is called a huasa, although the term china is far more commonly used for his wife...

s who grazed livestock in the high country, and the next day, the world learned of the 16 survivors who had beaten death for 72 days in the Andes mountains, in part by resorting to cannibalism.
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