Monsignor Donovan High School
Encyclopedia
Monsignor Donovan High School (often referred to as simply MonDon) is the only Roman Catholic
High School
in Ocean County
, New Jersey
, United States, and operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton
. Located in the coastal community of Toms River Township
, the school originally opened in 1962 as St. Joseph High, but was renamed after its founder, Msgr. Lawrence Donovan in 1983. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Commission on Secondary Schools since 1977.
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 888 students.
The school mascot is the Griffin
. In the 1960s, the school (then St. Joseph High School) sponsored a contest to name the mascot. Finalists were chosen by the faculty from the submissions, and then the students voted on the finalists.
Monsignor Donovan offers a variety of Advanced Placement courses; English Literature and Composition, United States History, World History, Psychology, Calculus AB & BC, Biology, Environmental Science, Chemistry, and Physics.
Students who excel in Monsignor Donovan and who meet particular standards of academics, service, leadership, and character may apply for entry to the National Honor Society
.
The school usually provides a casual dress down day once a month to students to wear casual clothes instead of the school uniforms. The students donate about three dollars for the day to wear the casual clothes. Each dress down day is dedicated to a particular charity or worthy cause and the funds collected are donated to that cause. Faculty members also pay to wear casual attire on dress down days.
, an athletic conference made up of private and public high schools centered at the Northern Jersey Shore
. All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County
and Ocean County
. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
(NJSIAA).
The athletic teams compete in the following sports: football
, soccer
, powerlifting
, baseball
, hockey
, basketball
, swimming
, gymnastics
, cheerleading
, softball
, lacrosse
, tennis
, golf
, wrestling
, track and field
, volleyball
, sailing
, bowling
, ping pong, chess
, and cross country running
.
The Monsignor Donovan Sailing Team has won the NJ State High School Sailing Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2007, they have also won the CT State High School Sailing Championship in 2005 and 2008. In a period of six years, the M.D.H.S. Sailing Team has qualified for the Inter-Scholastic Sailing National Championship four times.
The Monsignor Donovan boy's bowling team succeeded in the winter of 2006-07, finishing with a 34-11 record and taking home the titles of divisional champions, Shore Conference tournament champions and South Jersey Group II state sectional champions all in a single season.
The Boy's and Girl's varsity bowling teams both took 1st place in the Shore Conference in the 2009-10 season, and the Boys took 2nd place in the Sectionals Tournament, and in the States tournament, took 2nd place in their group
The Monsignor Donovan girl's swimming team won the Ocean County Championship for the first time in school history during the 2007-08 season, a first for a non-public school, then repeated in 2008-09.
In 2008, the men's track and field team won the State Championship.
team won the Ocean County tournament in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
High School
Secondary education in the United States
In most jurisdictions, secondary education in the United States refers to the last six or seven years of statutory formal education. Secondary education is generally split between junior high school or middle school, usually beginning with sixth or seventh grade , and high school, beginning with...
in Ocean County
Ocean County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 510,916 people, 200,402 households, and 137,876 families residing in the county. The population density was 803 people per square mile . There were 248,711 housing units at an average density of 151/km²...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, United States, and operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton
Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in southern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes the counties of Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean, and Mercer ....
. Located in the coastal community of Toms River Township
Toms River, New Jersey
Toms River is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Toms River Township and is the county seat of Ocean County, New Jersey. It is part of a larger Toms River Township...
, the school originally opened in 1962 as St. Joseph High, but was renamed after its founder, Msgr. Lawrence Donovan in 1983. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer evaluation and accreditation...
Commission on Secondary Schools since 1977.
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 888 students.
The school mascot is the Griffin
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...
. In the 1960s, the school (then St. Joseph High School) sponsored a contest to name the mascot. Finalists were chosen by the faculty from the submissions, and then the students voted on the finalists.
Academics
MDHS has created an Enhanced Learning Community (ELC) though the educational vehicle known as block scheduling. This model, implemented in the fall of 1998, includes two eighteen-week (Fall and Spring) terms. Terms may be divided into quarters depending on curriculum needs. Students take four courses each term. Each course meets for approximately twice the standard instructional time than is offered under the traditional schedule. In order to graduate, students must complete four years of religious studies, have completed seventy hours of Christian Service, and have taken twenty credits of English, ten credits of United States History, five credits of World History, fifteen credits of Mathematics, fifteen credits of Science, ten credits of the same Foreign Language, three credits of Fine and Practical Arts, and ten credits of Physic and Health/Driver Education.Monsignor Donovan offers a variety of Advanced Placement courses; English Literature and Composition, United States History, World History, Psychology, Calculus AB & BC, Biology, Environmental Science, Chemistry, and Physics.
Students who excel in Monsignor Donovan and who meet particular standards of academics, service, leadership, and character may apply for entry to the National Honor Society
National Honor Society
The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
.
Dress Code
Students are required to wear uniforms. Girls may wear navy knee socks or tights, navy plaid pleated skirt or kilts, or khaki pants. They may also wear white dress shirts or blue golf shirts. Sweaters are optional. The boys wear khaki pants, belt, black dress shoes, dress shirts with a tie, or blue or white golf shirts. Sweaters are optional. Also, if a boy's hair is longer than his collar, it must be pulled back into a ponytail.The school usually provides a casual dress down day once a month to students to wear casual clothes instead of the school uniforms. The students donate about three dollars for the day to wear the casual clothes. Each dress down day is dedicated to a particular charity or worthy cause and the funds collected are donated to that cause. Faculty members also pay to wear casual attire on dress down days.
Athletics
The Monsignor Donovan High School Griffins compete in the Shore ConferenceShore Conference
The Shore Conference is an athletic conference of private and public high schools in the U.S. state of New Jersey, centered at the Northern Jersey Shore. All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County and Ocean County. The Shore Conference is broken up into six classes based on...
, an athletic conference made up of private and public high schools centered at the Northern Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
. All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
and Ocean County
Ocean County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 510,916 people, 200,402 households, and 137,876 families residing in the county. The population density was 803 people per square mile . There were 248,711 housing units at an average density of 151/km²...
. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports.-State championships:...
(NJSIAA).
The athletic teams compete in the following sports: football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
, soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, powerlifting
Powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...
, 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...
, 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:...
, 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...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, 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...
, cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, 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...
, 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....
, wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
, ping pong, chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, and cross country running
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...
.
The Monsignor Donovan Sailing Team has won the NJ State High School Sailing Championship in 2005, 2006 and 2007, they have also won the CT State High School Sailing Championship in 2005 and 2008. In a period of six years, the M.D.H.S. Sailing Team has qualified for the Inter-Scholastic Sailing National Championship four times.
The Monsignor Donovan boy's bowling team succeeded in the winter of 2006-07, finishing with a 34-11 record and taking home the titles of divisional champions, Shore Conference tournament champions and South Jersey Group II state sectional champions all in a single season.
The Boy's and Girl's varsity bowling teams both took 1st place in the Shore Conference in the 2009-10 season, and the Boys took 2nd place in the Sectionals Tournament, and in the States tournament, took 2nd place in their group
The Monsignor Donovan girl's swimming team won the Ocean County Championship for the first time in school history during the 2007-08 season, a first for a non-public school, then repeated in 2008-09.
In 2008, the men's track and field team won the State Championship.
Extracurricular activities
The school's mock trialMock trial
A Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...
team won the Ocean County tournament in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Notable alumni
- John CudiaJohn CudiaJohn Cudia is a musical theatre actor who has played many of the biggest roles in musical theatre on Broadway. He was born on September 21, 1970 in North Carolina, but he graduated from Monsignor Donovan High School in Toms River, New Jersey....
(born 1970, class of 1988), Broadway actor. - Page FalkinburgDiamond Dallas PageDallas Page , better known by his ring name "Diamond" Dallas Page , is an American retired professional wrestler, fitness instructor and actor...
(born 1956, class of 1974, but transferred to Point Pleasant Boro High SchoolPoint Pleasant Boro High SchoolPoint Pleasant Borough High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located on Laura Herbert Drive in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, United States, that serves students in grades nine through twelve. It is a part of the Point Pleasant School District...
before graduating), wrestler. - Scott PalgutaScott PalgutaScott Palguta is an American soccer player who currently plays for Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer.-Youth and College:...
(born 1982, class of 2001), professional soccer player. - Mike StrakaMike StrakaMike Straka is an American television host, author and journalist. He is the host of Fighting Words with Mike Straka on HDNet which features interviews with mixed martial arts athletes. He is also a regular contributor to FIGHT! Magazine, and has penned an MMA book based on interviews from his...
(class of 1988), Fox News journalist. - Glenn TarantoGlenn TarantoGlenn Taranto is an American actor and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his role as Gomez on The New Addams Family....
(born 1959, Class of 1977), actor and screenwriter.
External links
- Monsignor Donovan High School website
- Monsignor Donovan High School, National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...