The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, typically known simply as the Xavier Institute, is the only recognized high school for superhumans in the United States, and quite possibly one of the only places of its kind in the world. The majority of the student body consists of mutants, but the school does not discriminate between mutants and those who gained their powers by other means. The school is located at 1407 Greymalkin Lane in Salem Center, New York, about 40 miles due north of New York City. The headmaster of the school, Professor Charles Xavier, began the school with the express intention of instructing mutants in how to control their powers so they would not be considered "dangerous" by the authorities and general public. He has since loosened the admittance requirements to allow non-mutant superhumans access to the school's training facilities. The Institute will offer training in powers to anyone who desires it, regardless of age, though Xavier is constantly worrying he'll end up training the next Magneto.
The Xavier Institute is a fully accredited private school teaching grades 7 through 12, with the majority of the students living on campus; grades 10 through 12 consists of about 40 students in total, with grades 7 through 9 having about 30 to 40 students each. The school offers scholarships for those who cannot afford enrollment; a recent survey showed a full third of the students were actually runaways who had been found living on the streets by Xavier. The faculty consists of fifteen teachers, not including Professor Xavier, a school nurse, three lunchroom cooks, and two janitors. As headmaster, Xavier has taken it upon himself to act as the student counselor.
The primary building of the Xavier Institute is a mansion which has been in the headmaster's family since being built in the 1700s. Professor Xavier inherited the mansion while he was in college, and upon returning home after receiving crippling injuries began to use his inheritance to convert his home into a facility suitable for training mutants in their powers. A second building, meant for additional dormitories, is in the planning stages; upon its completion, the dorms in the main building will be converted to classrooms.
The school's colors are blue and gold, which are also the colors of the students' power training uniforms (made of dynamic molecules), and the school's mascot is the image of a floating little green blob critter with stumpy arms and a black circle-X on its chest, nicknamed "Doop" by the students. The unofficial school motto among students appears to be, "What would Doop say?" (The usual response is, "Probably something unintelligible.") The Institute has a "no powers" policy regarding intramural sports with other schools in the area, though many informal games between Institute students ignore this rule.
The Grounds:
The school consists of the main building, a three story mansion with two wings, one on the north and one on the south, with an Olympic-sized swimming pool situated between the two wings. A ten-car garage sits off to one side, with a parking lot across from it for the faculty and senior students that own cars. The grounds include a Japanese rock garden, a baseball diamond, a basketball court, a tennis court, and a field that can be used for football, soccer, or field hockey.
First Floor:
The north wing of this floor contains the school's library and student recreation lounge. The south wing contains the cafeteria (in what was once the formal dining room), kitchen, and pantry. The central area includes the main entry hallway with a pair of staircases headed to the second level, the headmaster's offices, and faculty facilities. A pair of elevators enable the students and faculty to head upstairs without needing to use the stairs, while a third elevator starting on this level is used to access the basement and sub-basements.
Second Floor:
The north wing of this floor consists entirely of classrooms. The southern wing consists of dorms for the older students. Xavier's own quarters dominate the central area; this area also houses the school's infirmary.
Third Floor:
This floor consists primarily of student dormitories. The north wing includes a game room. The central area contains laundry facilities, and has a stairwell leading up into the attic and bell tower.
Attic:
This floor consists almost entirely of storage space. The southern wing's attic has been adapted to a studio for dance and martial arts classes, and includes a skylight that runs almost the entire length of the ceiling.
Basement:
As might be expected, the school's basement contains the typical features one would expect to find in a mansion or school: hot water heaters, additional pantry space for canned goods, and Xavier's wine cellar (off-limits to the student body). Xavier has also added a darkroom for photography classes.
Sub-Basement 1:
Taking the elevator to the sub-basements, it becomes apparent that this is not a typical school. This floor contains a medical suite much more advanced than the usual school infirmary, including a series of Stark Industries automated medical diagnostic tables and a room for performing emergency surgery. It also contains a holographic map room with monitors showing news reports from around the world; this room does not get used that often, but has been borrowed by the X-Men for certain cases.
Sub-Basement 2:
This floor contains two features found nowhere else in the world. The first is a spherical room with a pylon extending into the exact center of the room which houses the Cerebro computer. Cerebro is used by Professor Xavier in locating mutants around the world by amplifying his own mutant telepathy power for greater range and precision when he wears a special helmet. As a secondary feature, the room also contains many holographic projectors, controlled via Cerebro's helmet.
The second feature on this level is the Institute's super-powers training center, affectionately referred to by staff and students alike as "the Danger Room". This room, roughly the size of a standard high school gymnasium in all three dimensions, consists of a number of reconfigurable traps and non-lethal obstacles, along with advanced holographic projectors which enable the room to duplicate the look of any terrain imaginable. Adversaries are provided using robots, which the room often makes appear as living beings using the holographic tech. The Danger Room is operated from a control room situated about halfway up the western wall. Connected to the Danger Room are locker rooms and showers.
First Post-Reboot Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #
Jubilee: "What is this place?"
Beast: "One part gymnasium, one part survival course. Affectionately referred to as ... the Danger Room."
– X-Men: the Animated Series #1.2
Cerebro is a TL9^ psi-tech telepathic amplifier helmet (Psi-Tech, p. 12) connected to a holographic terminal.
The Danger Room is a TL8 facility coupled with TL10^ holographic projectors.