John Bapst High School

As Bangor area’s top independent school, John Bapst serves day students from across the region and boarding students from around the world. Welcome to John Bapst, one of America’s best high schools. We’re eager to tell you about how at this historic school, motivated students meet outstanding teachers. We’re eager to tell you that learning can be challenging, creative, and fun—eager, too, to show that learning together in a friendly, supportive community is the hallmark of our school.

John Bapst is a coed, nonsectarian, independent college preparatory high school with a tradition of excellence since 1928. Located in Bangor, Maine, the third largest city in the state, John Bapst prepares students in grades 9 through 12 for college and university placement by offering challenging programs in academics, athletics and the arts. Accredited by the New England Association of Colleges and Schools, John Bapst is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools, the Association of Boarding Schools, the Independent Schools Association of Northern New England, and the Maine Association of Independent Schools.

John Bapst students and faculty have won four Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement and state championships in everything from football and girls’ track to cyber-defense and chess. In 2012, John Bapst senior Mary Carmack was one of 141 Presidential Scholars nationwide. The school was ranked #1 in Maine by the Washington Post in 2012, 2014, and 2016 and has received a grade of “A” from the State of Maine.

John Bapst Memorial High School is an academically challenging, independent, college-preparatory school fostering in students a respect for learning, for themselves, and for others.

With a focus on strong academic preparation for college, John Bapst serves a wide range of students, preparing them not only as students but as citizens of an increasingly globalizing world. Every student who comes to John Bapst is ready to study, work hard, and participate in the life of the school. Courtesy, kindness, fairness, acceptance, and honesty govern personal conduct as we construct a community of good learners and good people. John Bapst embraces the concept of ethical literacy as the cornerstone of its approach to good decision making and good conduct. Students become fluent in the language of ethics as a means of building character and community.