Saint Francis High School (Mountain View, California)


Saint Francis High School, founded in 1954 by the Brothers of Holy Cross, is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory secondary school located in Mountain View, California, United States. The Brothers of Holy Cross serve both on the faculty and on the Board of Directors. The school is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California.

History

The Brothers of Holy Cross opened Saint Francis High School as an all-boys school in September 1955. The original teaching facility was a small frame building, renovated from a grammar school and named Grant Hall after Harry Grant, the first student to enroll. Other buildings included a former residence, Andre House, and some peripheral structures. The grounds were largely orchards. Four Brothers comprised the first-year faculty. The first principal was Brother Donatus Schmitz. He was soon replaced by Brother Fisher Iwasko, who remained several years and is considered the principal founder.
Soon afterwards, the Brothers of Holy Cross invested $210,000 of their own funds and $225,000 of borrowed funds to build Holy Cross Hall. The building contained eight classrooms, three science laboratories, and administrative offices, and was completed in December 1956.
In 1959, Raskob Memorial Gymnasium was built on land donated by Ira and Elise Higgins. By 1962, the student body had grown to 685. In 1972, Saint Francis merged with Holy Cross High School, necessitating additional facilities.
In 2012 the school made a $15,000 investment into the website Snap Inc.; it had taken money from the endowment fund. This investment grew to $24 million by 2017.

Academics

Saint Francis provides honors and Advanced Placement.

Notable alumni

Saint Francis has a history of athletics. Most of the student-athletes play in the West Catholic Athletic League part of the CIF Central Coast Section a subset of the California Interscholastic Federation., the school has accumulated 32 CIF-NorCal championships. The following sports are offered at Saint Francis: