Cascia Hall Preparatory School

Cascia Hall Preparatory School is an Augustinian Roman Catholic coeducational College-preparatory day school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is a member of the Augustinian Secondary Education Association. It is one of Tulsa's two Catholic high schools, with Bishop Kelley High School.

History

Cascia Hall was founded by the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, of the Order of Saint Augustine, in 1926 at its current location, a campus at 2520 South Yorktown Avenue in midtown Tulsa.Viewbook at Cascia Hall official website
. The school's first headmaster was Francis A. Driscoll, who had previously been president of Villanova College (now Villanova University). The school is named after St. Rita of Cascia, an Augustinian nun who lived in a monastery in Cascia, Italy in the early 15th century.

Cascia Hall was an all-male day school, which accepted boarders, until 1986. In that year, the school ceased to take boarders, added a middle school, and became a coeducational day school for grades 6-12. It has a total enrollment of about 525, about 45% of whom are Roman Catholic. Cascia Hall follows the Augustinian tradition of education, which traces its heritage to the educational philosophy of Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Athletics

The mission of the athletic department is to develop perseverance, sportsmanship, endurance, strength, coordination, self-confidence and teamwork, as well as to create a winning attitude and an appreciation of recreational habits that will last a lifetime. Sports include football, basketball, track and field, baseball, volleyball, tennis, cheerleading, cross country, swimming, wrestling, golf, lacrosse, and soccer. Cascia Hall won the 2A football state championship in 2008 & 2009 and won the 3A state championship in 2010.

Various sports are offered including:

Fall Sports - cheerleading (middle and upper school), cross country (middle and upper school), football (middle and upper school), and volleyball (middle and upper school).

Winter Sports - basketball (middle and upper school), and wrestling (middle and upper school).

Spring Sports - baseball (upper school), golf (middle and upper school), lacrosse (middle and upper school), soccer (upper school), tennis (middle and upper school), and track (middle and upper school).

Fine and Performing Arts

Cascia Hall possesses a top-tier curriculum in visual and performing arts with rich and varied programs to provide many opportunities for students to express themselves creatively. Students are consistently honored on local, regional, and national levels for their talent. Cascia Hall is a place for young people, despite experience level, to explore all creative arts.

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Theatre
'' - Cascia’s theatre program is designed to encourage students to develop acting and improvisation skills on the stage. Students learn basic acting skills and techniques, including stage movement, delivery, projection, presentation, and characterization. Students can also be introduced to the technical aspects of the theatre if they so choose, learning more about stage management, stagecraft, set design, lighting, and sound. Some theatre courses are offered, but many of the theater offerings are purposefully designed as extracurricular offerings. Each year, the theatre department puts on multiple shows, including both stage plays and musicals. The level of productions put out by Cascia Hall is extremely impressive from direction, acting, choreography, props, set, lights, and costumes.

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Music
'' - The middle school music program introduces students to various facets of music, including singing, guitar, handbells, Orff, and music appreciation. The upper school vocal offerings include a general chorus and a select vocal ensemble group. General chorus is open to every upper school student, regardless of experience. Their select vocal ensemble group, called Command Performance, is audition only. Both general chorus and the select ensemble perform in two Cascia concerts each semester featuring a wide variety of music. In addition, the select ensemble takes part in other performance activities both within Cascia and in the outside community. Upper school guitar offerings include both beginning and intermediate guitar, with the school providing a class set of guitars to use each day during class. For those interested in beginning guitar, no prior experience is needed. Additional music offerings such as music theory are offered for those students wishing to pursue music in the future. Other additional activities include: upper school handbells, middle school handbells, upper school pep band, and upper school ac amplified.

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Visual Arts
'' - Courses are offered as part of the middle school elective rotation and as sequential elective offerings in the upper school. They acquaint students with skills and concepts in painting, drawing, and other visual art disciplines, along with contextual understanding of art history and visual arts in their own lives and communities. Introductory to advanced skills and concepts are taught, with the option of upper school advanced portfolio development and AP Art for those students wishing to pursue the field more seriously. Student art shows are produced during the school year and some students also enter outside art competitions. Involvement with community artists is also encouraged.

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Speech and Debate
'' - Classes specialized in preparing students for public speaking and debate. Introductory speech courses are offered as part of the middle school elective rotation and both speech and debate are offered as upper school electives. Speech courses focus on the principles of communication and informative current event speeches, with students delivering several speeches during class. Debate focuses on preparing students for interscholastic competition in one of the two major forms of debate and teaches students the basic structure of policy and value style debate. Debate students participate in numerous debate tournaments at the local, state, regional, and national levels depending on qualifications.

Notable people

Notable people who attended, or were otherwise associated with, Cascia Hall include:
*G. T. Bynum, mayor of Tulsa, 2016–present
* John F. Reif, Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court 2015-16
*Bill Hader, actor/comedian and repertory player, on ''Saturday Night Live''.
*Frank Keating, Governor of Oklahoma 1995-2003
*Bill LaFortune, Mayor of Tulsa, 2002-06
*Robert J. LaFortune, Mayor of Tulsa, 1970-78
* Gailard Sartain, actor (attended Cascia Hall, but graduated from Will Rogers High School)
* G. G. Smith, college basketball head coach, High Point University
*Lovie Smith, NFL and college football head coach (assistant football coach at Cascia Hall 1981–1982)
*Lauren Stamile, professional actress, best known for her recurring role as "Nurse Rose" on the ABC series ''Grey's Anatomy''.
* Iciss Tillis, professional women's basketball playerJohn D. Ferguso
"Cascia Great Inducted"
''Tulsa World'', December 15, 2008
* Blake Towsley, contestant on 11th season of ''Survivor''
*R. A. Lafferty, American science fiction and fantasy writer

References

External links

Cascia Hall Preparatory School
Homepage
Augnet
International Cooperative Web Site for Schools in the Tradition of St. Augustine
Midwest Augustinians
Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel

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Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa
Catholic secondary schools in Oklahoma
Cascia Hall Preparatory School
Private middle schools in Oklahoma
Educational institutions established in 1926
Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma
1926 establishments in Oklahoma