John Bapst Memorial High School
UPCOMING COLLEGE FAIRS | 
Overview & Key Facts
Welcome from Mel MacKay, Head of School
Our school has stood proudly at 100 Broadway for 80 years, first as John Bapst High School, Bangor’s only parochial secondary institution, and since 1980 as John Bapst Memorial High School, an independent, non-religious day school. Today the school serves a socio-economically and geographically diverse population of 470 students from nearly 50 towns, many too small to have their own high school.
A number of things make this a very special school. First, at John Bapst it’s cool to be smart. Supporting the talented student body is a faculty of 35 individuals with a combined total of 1001 years of teaching experience. Most have advanced degrees. Seven are Advanced Placement graders or College Board test development committee members. One is Maine’s Presidential award-winner for excellence in teaching mathematics. The school acts as an academic magnet with students who travel as far as a hundred miles a day to be part of an environment that challenges them with high expectations and collegiate goals. In the classroom, worksheets are few and far between and critical thinking is prized. In 2008, the school’s graduates will go on to attend the public universities of Maine—many in top-notch honors programs—and also fan out to such distinguished colleges and universities as Bowdoin, Colby, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn, Oberlin, RPI, and Swarthmore.
Secondly, John Bapst is a school where it’s safe for students to be themselves—a comfortable, medium-sized school students truly come to love—a place where the personal touch has not been lost, where respect is mutual, and friendships are genuine. It’s a school of creativity, with room for musicians, artists, and actors to explore and grow without being forced into becoming one-dimensional. Over the years, music especially has become a signature program, and the school’s band, chamber and jazz ensembles, and choirs involve almost 200 students.
Finally, John Bapst is a school of winners: state champions, regional contenders, and conference leaders; a school of individual stars and spirited teamwork; and a place where the norm is full student involvement in the life of the school.
We’re not the biggest school in the country, and we’re not the most famous. As members of the Class of 2008 begin their college careers, they will meet peers who will ask, “John Bapst? Where’s that? What’s that?”—and they’ll proudly answer, “It’s in Bangor, Maine, and it’s a really good school.”
Key Facts
- Name: John Bapst Memorial High School
- Location: Bangor, Maine
- Founded: 1928
- School type: Private, co-educational
- Accreditation: NEASC
- Enrollment: 470
- Varsity sports: 17
With best wishes,
Mel MacKay
John Bapst Memorial High School
100 Broadway
04401
