St. Francis Regional High School dates back to 1901 when the school enrolled twenty three students to further their education past the grade school level. In 1910 the school became a two-year Commercial School and then in 1934 St. Francis Borgia officially became a four-year parish high school. As the school expanded and more students enrolled, a larger campus was needed. It went through four locations before finally settling in 1982 at 1000 Borgia Drive, close to downtown Washington, Missouri. In 1985 the school celebrated its golden anniversary of being an accredited four-year high school. At this time over half of the student body came from outside of the Washington city limits, truly making it a “regional” high school. The growing number of students and more rigorous academic requirements made way for another expansion program which began in 1998. This included thirteen new classrooms, two remodeled science labs, remodelling and enlargement of the theater, chapel, and cafeteria, a weight room, an elevator, additional offices, and restrooms. In 2001 the High school was accredited as a college preparatory high school by the North Central Accrediting Association. A new AstroTurf football field and a regulation-sized track were added to the facilities in the summer of 2010. In the 2012-2013 school year, iPad technology was integrated into learning, beginning the process of becoming a paperless school. The school has a computer lab where a student can check out a laptop as needed. In 2015, a new multipurpose building was constructed near the existing gymnasium and connected with a covered walkway. It was named after past school president George Wingbermuehle. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, school leaders announced that students would have the choice to attend classes in person, remotely, or via hybrid of the two during the 2020-2021 school year.
Clubs
St. Francis Borgia Regional High School offers a large variety of clubs and organizations. There are four academic clubs: Scholar Bowl, National Honor Society, Creative Writing, and Student Council. There are five fine art clubs: Art, Drama, Speech, Soul Singers, and Borgia On Stage Society. The five religious groups are Campus Ministry, Discerning Ones Place, St. Vincent DePaul Youth Group, Pro-life Club, Scape Club, and Christian Life Communities. There are also two language clubs, Spanish and German. There are also many sports clubs, a politics & civics club, reading club, engineering club, and even a lego club as well. A Model United Nations club was also inaugurated in 2017.
Academics
“For the fifth year in a row, SFBRHS has once again scored well above the state and national averages on the ACT test.” It is an open enrollment school and offers an eight-class block schedule. A student can earn up to 40 college credit hours through St. Louis University and East Central College. The class sizes are small, with a school enrollment of 540 students.
Sports
Borgia has a rich athletic tradition and fields 12 sports teams. The school often competes at the state level and has won a total of 18 state titles in 5 different sports. The Starry Knights Dance Team have a total of 8 state titles and the Borgia Knights Cheer Team has 6 state titles.
