De La Salle High School (New Orleans)


De La Salle High School is a secondary school in New Orleans, Louisiana. The school's campus is located on picturesque St. Charles Avenue in uptown New Orleans, near the Audubon/University District. De La Salle teaches grades 8 through 12. The school is affiliated with the Lasallian mission, and functions within the school system of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Lasallian heritage

De La Salle is named for St. John Baptist de La Salle, the founder of the Christian Brothers. De La Salle is a Lasallian education institution.

Brief history of De La Salle High School

De La Salle opened in September 1949 to a freshman class of 74 boys. The founding faculty/staff of the school included four Christian Brothers: Brother Ernest Cocagne, Brother August Faure, Brother John Devine, and Brother Francis Vesel. Classes were initially held in a large old home on Pitt Street, but, in 1951, De La Salle moved to the present building on St. Charles Avenue.
A number of additions to the school's physical plant have been made over the years. These additions have included a wing of eight classrooms on Leontine Street, a gymnasium, a student chapel, the Brother Arsenius Center, the Buck Seeber Health and Fitness Center, the Life Sciences Center, and the Shane and Holley Guidry Baseball and Softball Complex.
De La Salle, which was initially an all-boys school, became coeducational in 1992.
An interesting point regarding the school's history is that De La Salle was the first high school to open in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. The school opened its doors to high school students from schools all across the city and surrounding areas.

Athletics

De La Salle athletic programs compete as a member of the LHSAA. De La Salle has 17 sports teams: 10 boys' teams and 7 girls' teams.

Facilities

De La Salle built the Shane and Holley Guidry Batting facility for baseball and softball. Thefacility has two batting cages with two pitching simulators. The complex also has an area for golf and tennis.

In popular culture

On the TV show American Horror Story: Coven, a hairdresser for Marie Laveau states that her son had his first day at De La Salle.

Notable alumni