Later, due to fire safety codes, the rear parts of the auditorium were turned into the front hallways on the first and second stories which now connect the two wings of the original building.

It reopened the following fall as John Bapst Memorial High School, an independent, coeducational, nonreligious, college preparatory institution, for 193 students.

The school was named in honor of Johannes Bapst, a Jesuit missionary and educator who among other things built the first Catholic church in Bangor in 1856.

For John Bapst and other publicly funded private schools, the State of Maine sets secondary tuition annually (in 2009-10, at $9,154.37).

[4][5] Under Maine's school choice program, more than 90% of John Bapst students have their tuition paid for by public funds provided by their sending communities.

John Bapst is the defending Class C football state champions defeating Winthrop after a championship drought of over 30 years.

[14] John Bapst offers many clubs and activities including numerous performance (e.g. band, chorale, drama, etc.

[15] In both 2009-10 and 2008–09, a John Bapst student was honored with the Siemens/College Board award as the top female math-science AP test-taker in Maine.

Math teacher Brendan Murphy has won the Presidential Award as Maine's top math teacher and the College Board's top New England Educator Award for his extensive work in AP Calculus and AP Statistics, including workshops in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and Oceania.

Mr. Murphy was recently nominated by a former student and received the University of Maine Pulp and Paper Teacher Recognition Award for 2015.