Saint Peter's Preparatory School (also known as Saint Peter's Prep or simply Prep) is an independent, preparatory, and all-male day school located in Jersey City, in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the Archdiocese of Newark. Founded in 1872 by the Jesuits, it is operated as part of the Jesuit East Province. The school has been accredited by the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.
Students enroll from counties in Central and Northern New Jersey, as well as from nearby New York City. The school has a faculty of 83 that includes two Jesuits, 71 lay teachers, and 10 counselors, seven of whom work on college placement. Tuition for the 2025–26 school year is $24,551, while mandatory fees total $1,300.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 863 students and 76.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.3:1. The school's student body was 45.4% (392) White, 26.3% (227) Hispanic, 11.5% (99) Asian, 9.7% (84) Black 6.6% (57) two or more races and 0.5% (4) Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander.
Contents
History
Origins
Saint Peter's Prep was established in the Paulus Hook section of Jersey City as a department within Saint Peter's College (since renamed as Saint Peter's University) by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 3, 1872. Along with the Preparatory department were the Collegiate and Grammar departments. As a school for young men, Saint Peter's opened in September 1878 with seventy-one students in the Preparatory department. Academic degrees were first conferred in June 1889. At this time the only building on the campus was Shalloe Hall at 144 Grand Street. Mulry Hall, on the corner of Grand and Warren Streets, was built around the turn of the century as a local social club, before being acquired by the school.
Separation from the college
In 1918 Jesuit Superiors decided to close the college division in order to focus more attention on other universities in the Northeast. It remained closed until 1930; during this time, however, the Preparatory division remained open. The college division reopened in another location in 1930 and in 1936 settled at its current location. The college and Preparatory departments were officially incorporated separately on February 10, 1955. Although Saint Peter's College has not been located at 144 Grand for over eighty years, at an entrance to the original building, Shalloe Hall, a window pane above the door still reads "Saint Peter's College."
Recent history
On June 22, 2009, the board of trustees voted unanimously to approve phase one of the Campus Master Plan.
The remaining phases of the Master Plan were to be approved by the Board once funding for the remainder of the project was secured. Prep introduced a campaign, "Imagine: The Fund for Saint Peter's Prep," for the financing of the Master Plan projects. Total gifts, as of September 29, 2010, were over $13.6 million.
Hogan Hall was renovated in summer 2017, and renovation of Mulry Hall was completed soon after.
To commemorate its sesquicentennial anniversary, a statue of Saint Peter was revealed at the start of the 2022–2023 school year during the school's annual Mass of the Holy Spirit. Designed and created by sculptor Brian Hanlon, the statue depicts a young Peter and "represents us: imperfect and imperfect-able, someone with the entire world in front of him.” The statue is situated at the intersection of York and Warren Streets.
Athletics
The St. Peter's Prep Marauders compete in the Hudson County Interscholastic League, which is composed of public and private high schools in Hudson County, and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). The school's teams wear maroon and white. With 1,416 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Non-Public A for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 381 to 1,454 in that grade range (equivalent to Group IV for public schools). The football team competes in the National Blue division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Non-Public Group A (equivalent to Group III/IV/V for public schools) for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 738 to 1,404 students.
Saint Peter's offers 18 sports and 38 teams, including football, soccer, cross country, basketball, bowling, fencing, indoor track, wrestling, swimming, ice hockey, baseball, golf, volleyball, outdoor track, lacrosse, tennis, and rugby.
The boys basketball team won the Non-Public Group A state championship in 1949 (against runner-up Trenton Catholic High School in the playoff final), 1951-1953 (vs. Trenton Catholic all three years), 1954 (vs. St. Peter of New Brunswick), 1955 (vs, Trenton Catholic), 1956 (vs. St. Peter of New Brunswick) and 1959 (vs. Trenton Catholic). The program's eight state group titles are tied for seventh-most in the state and the streak of six state titles from 1951 to 1956 is the second longest. In front of a crowd of 2,000 at the Dillon Gymnasium at Princeton University, the 1956 team won its sixth consecutive Parochial A state title with a 65–48 win against New Brunswick's St. Peter in the championship game.
The boys track team won the Non-Public Group A spring / outdoor track state championship in 1952 and 1953.
The ice hockey team won the Handchen Cup in 1986. In the 2006–2007 season, they advanced to the final round after defeating Christian Brothers Academy 2–0. They played St. Augustine College Preparatory School in the NJSIAA championship, but fell 3–1.
Campus ministry
Christian service
At Prep, each year of study includes a service requirement:
First-year – 5 hours: fulfilled through the mandatory day of service.
Second-year – 15 hours: fulfilled through Prep-sponsored activities or direct service.
Third-year – 60 hours: fulfilled through an immersion trip or direct service.
Seniors are not required to complete any service hours.
At the end of the second year, students may participate in a summer immersion trip, typically lasting one week. Past trips have included California, West Virginia, Camden, and the New York metropolitan area.
In the summer of 2007, the school introduced a senior service immersion experience in New Orleans. This program was continued in August 2008 as Prep sent 16 students and four faculty members to Covington, Louisiana to work with Habitat for Humanity.
The summer of 2009 saw the introduction of the school's first international service trip. Ten rising juniors and seniors, along with two faculty members, traveled to the Working Boys' Center in Quito, Ecuador. The group updated a blog with reflections and experiences throughout the trip.
Social justice issues
Starting in 1998, Prep has hosted an annual Arrupe Lecture, named after the former Superior General of the Society of Jesus Pedro Arrupe, on a social justice topic. From 1998 through 2008 this entailed a one-time lecture on such various topics as Jewish-Christian relations, the death penalty, and urban poverty. In 2009, under the direction of then-campus minister Ryan Heffernan, the program took a new direction, becoming a week-long program focused on social justice issues.
Prep also sends a delegation annually to Fort Benning, Georgia, to protest the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC, formerly the School of the Americas - SOA), which was implicated in the training of mainly Latin American military officers who later committed human rights violations in their home country, including the murder of six Jesuits in El Salvador.
Notable alumni
Nick Acocella (1943–2020), political journalist and author
Mark Armstrong (born 2004), basketball player for the Long Island Nets
Lawrence Babbio Jr. (class of 1962), former CEO of Verizon Wireless Corporation, now CEO of ADC Telecommunications
Charles Beirne, S.J. (1938–2010, class of 1956), former president of Le Moyne College (2000–2007)
George Blaney (born 1939), former player for the New York Knicks, who was Head Basketball Coach at Seton Hall and Holy Cross, and was Assistant Coach at UConn
Philip Bosco (1930-2018), Tony Award-winning actor (Broadway and Hollywood)
Roger Breslin (1937–2025), attorney who served as Prosecutor of Bergen County, New Jersey from 1977 to 1982
Charles J. Catrillo (1945-2004), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from the 32nd Legislative District from 1986 to 1988
Nicholas Chiaravalloti (born 1972, class of 1990), politician who represents the 31st Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly
Joe Dailey, American football coach who is the wide receivers coach for the Boston College Eagles football team
Edward M. Daly (born 1965, class of 1983), four-star general in the United States Army who serves as the 20th commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command
Myles Davis (born 1993), former college basketball player who played guard for the Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team