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SI Goes High Tech
SI received its first computers in the 1970s for a summer session computer science class. According to an Inside SI article, “The students struggled with four Heathkits (made by Zenith and a gift of Don Ruder) and one Apple II computer in the back room of the library.”16 An anonymous gift of $50,000 to the…
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Genesis II Campaign
As Hugh O’Donnell ’37, finance chairman for the Board of Regents, wrote in the October 1979 issue of Genesis, “though the debt on our beautiful campus is nearly retired, this is no time to retreat from the task of providing excellent educational opportunities in the SI tradition…. Shortly, SI will announce a new program, Genesis…
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Reflections on Change
By Emily Behr ’93 I’ll never forget August 22, 1989. I was a member of the first co-ed class at SI, one of 175 girls in a school of 1,225 students. On our first day of orientation, we were greeted by nervous yet expectant teachers, excited juniors and seniors and the news media. They literally…
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Preparing for the Girls
In a very real sense, the door closed on the last all-male class with the retirement of J.B. Murphy, who left after 50 years of service. The last all-male student body honored him at the Awards Assembly in May 1989 by leaping to their feet for a standing ovation after Fr. Prietto introduced him. At…
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The Move Towards Coeducation
Just as SI in the 1960s and 1970s reflected the turbulence of the society that surrounded it, SI in the 1980s enjoyed a period of stability along with the rest of the nation. SI’s boat didn’t start rocking until June 5, 1985, when, after an end-of-the-year debriefing, the subject of coeducation arose. Someone asked, “What…
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SI Becomes a Regional School
Starting in the 1970s when San Franciscans began moving to the suburbs, SI’s demographics began changing, with more and more students coming from Marin and San Mateo Counties. SI struggled to find a way to afford a bus service, but each time it ran the numbers, the program proved too costly. Then, in 1984, the…
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A Top 60 School
Fr. Prietto’s efforts paid off in 1984 when SI was named one of the top-60 private schools from among the 6,000 in the country. Of the 60 schools receiving the award, given through the Exemplary Private School Recognition Project, half were Catholic and five were Jesuit. The award recognized SI’s commitment to excellence in education,…
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Fr. Mario Prietto, SJ
Fr. Prietto first came to SI in 1968 as a scholastic. He taught Spanish and Latin, coached golf and helped SI move from the old school to the new Sunset District campus. Those years were hard ones for the Jesuit community, he said, and he watched five brother Jesuits leave the order. “There were people…