Benet Academy

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Benet Academy
Established 1887
Type Private secondary
Principal Stephen Marth
Students 1,200 (approx)
Grades 9–12
Location Lisle, Illinois USA
Oversight St. Procopius Abbey
Colors Red and White
Mascot Redwings
Website www.benet.org
Benet Logo
Benet Logo

Benet Academy (commonly referred to as "Benet") is a fully accredited private co-educational college-preparatory Catholic high school based in Lisle, Illinois. The student body is roughly 1,200, depending on year-to-year individual class sizes. Benet is known regionally for above average scores (SAT and ACT), focused students, proactive teachers, relaxed atmosphere, and involved student body.

Benet was originally two separate Benedictine schools: St. Procopius Academy for young men and Sacred Heart Academy for young women. In 1967 the two high schools merged to form a unified co-ed Benedictine school christened "Benet Academy". The old campus of St. Procopius Academy has served as the home of Benet Academy since the merger. The former Sacred Heart Academy presently serves as a base of operations for the sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery.

The high point of the school year is the annual Christmas Charity Drive, held during the two weeks prior to Christmas Break. The current record, as of the 2005-2006 school year, was $46,416.21 raised for needy families. Benet is more infamously known among the local banking community for its annual "Penny Wars", a charitable contest that takes place during the Christmas Drive and pits class against class in a bid to win a Slop Day. Historically, the Senior Class wins the "Penny Wars", though there has been one notable exception to this rule, the Class of 2005, which unexpectedly usurped the title from the seniors their freshman year.

Benet Redwings Mascot
Benet Redwings Mascot

Benet Academy hosts many sports (Cross Country, Track, Soccer, Football, Volleyball, Baseball, etc.) and clubs (Art, Recycling, Newspaper, etc.). In recent years, organizations that are not sponsored by Benet such as the Redwing Ski and Snowboard Association, the Redwing Hockey Club, and Gadfly, the student underground periodical created by Nik Gallicchio '01 and Rachel Jurado '01 that is traditionally filled with humorous satire and political rants, have taken root at Benet with much success. Most sports are traditionally divided along the lines of Fall, Winter, and Spring Sports. Athletic Teams compete in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

Benet's student government is known as SG (which stands for "Student Government" imaginatively enough). Elections for SG President and Vice-President are held in late spring. Class Representatives are elected in the weeks following that election. SG is organized in various committees (Special Events, Dance, Publicity, etc.) staffed by volunteers and co-chaired by various Class Reps. Freshmen class elections are held early the following year. SG is in charge of most social events at Benet Academy, in particular the Christmas Drive.

Until quite recently, Benet Academy was well known locally for its student dress code; in particular, its "sassy plaid miniskirts" as termed by the Chicago Sun-Times. Due to a groundswell of criticism from both alumni and the local community, the Academy tightened its dress policy and adopted a standard uniform policy beginning in the 2003-2004 school year. The policy now includes coulattes which must be a set length, making the girls look more respectable, and Benet is cracking down on students who do not tuck in their shirts. This was not, however, the first time uniform policies had been changed; in the early 1980s the Benet dress code tightened for men (uniform men's shirts were mandated for the first time, after a series of what the administration considered "abuses" of the men's dress code) while the women's dress code expanded to allow slacks. Casual Fridays (also known as "slop" days) were mostly eliminated at that time, however, because of complaints from lower-income parents that their daughters felt pressured to compete with girls from higher-income homes who could afford designer clothes.

Contents

[edit] Timeline

In 1887, St. Procopius College Academy was founded in Chicago

In 1900 land is purchased to house St. Procopius College Academy and a new Abbey. St. Procopius College's cornerstone is laid in this year. The subsequent year St. Procopius College Academy moves to its new facilities.

The St. Joseph Bohemian Orphanage builds what will later become St. Joseph Hall in 1910. The orphanage uses the hall to house its wards and also to educate those wards in its grammar school.

1912: Benet Hall built. It originally serves as a dorm and then boarding facility for the orphanage. Later it is converted into classrooms.

1938: The Old Gym is built for St. Joseph Bohemian Orphanage. It will occasionally serve as a funeral hall for recently deceased wards, a fact that serves as more than a little fodder for modern Benet Academy urban legends. In modern times, the "Old Gym" serves as the main gym for Physical Education classes, a meeting hall for small assemblies, and sometimes is a dance hall (in particular for Soc-Hops).

1956: St. Joseph Bohemian Orphanage closes operations and subsequently becomes the new home of St. Procopius Academy. St. Procopius College is separated from St. Procopius Academy and the two schools occupy spaces opposite one another on Maple and College. St. Procopius College will eventually go on to be renamed Illinois Benedictine College (or "I.B.C." for short) and, in the 1990s, Benedictine University ("B.U."). St. Mary's and Petru halls are built and house upperclassmen.

1963: St. Martin's Hall is built. Originally an indoor track, the basement of St. Martin's Hall is used in modern times primarily by the Foreign Language Department. The first floor is used by the English Department. The second floor is used by the Math Department. On a funny historical side note, St. Martin's Hall is legend among its students, alumni, and faculty for the distinctly pungent smell that occasionally emanates from the stairwell nearest the Dean's Office. The source of the odor is, as of this posting, still unknown.

1967: St. Procopius Academy and Sacred Heart Academy merge to create the new, unified Benet Academy on the campus of St. Procopius Academy.

1975: St. Thomas Hall is built. In modern times, it houses the Science Department and the library.

1994: The "New Gym" is built. It is used as an auxiliary gym for Physical Education classes. Features air conditioning and many modern amenities. It serves as an assembly hall for school-wide gatherings, such as masses, the Christmas Drive Assembly, and the rare student funeral. Also used in the springtime to hold Benet's AP Tests. Occasionally houses dances but in recent times usually in a back-up capacity.

2000: St. Daniel Hall opens. Built on the grounds of Petru Hall, it is the fifth hall of Benet Academy and serves as the base of operations for the school's Music and Theater Departments, as well as the venue for monthly NHS meetings.

2000-2002: The old chapel, which had been converted to a school theater/assembly hall, is renovated and remade into the Chapel of Saint Thérèse - The "Little Flower."

[edit] Athletic Milestones

Benet Academy has many notable athletic milestones in its history, in a number of sports.

  • 1979-1983 - Coach Bill Geist led the Benet boys basketball team to three state quarterfinal appearances, including a third-place finish in the 1978-79 campaign. Geist was also the coach of the teams that won 102 straight home games during a nine-year stretch - to this day, still a state record.
  • 1984 - Benet's boys football team appeared in their only football state final in the school's history in 1984. The team finished 7-2 in the regular season and rattled off three straight wins in the playoffs before falling to Quincy in the state final. Coach Tim Cederblad, who coached the state final team, was the team's coach for twelve years, compiling 99 wins with the school.
  • 1998 - Benet's girls basketball team advances to the state quarterfinal round of the IHSA basketball tournament for the first time in its history. While defeated by Marshall High School 63-37 in the quarterfinal round, the team finishes with the best record in their history at 29-5.
  • 2000 - Benet's boys soccer team earns the school's first state championship in any sport, defeating conference rival St. Viator 3-1 in the Class A state championship. The team would finish undefeated with 22 wins and 4 draws.
  • 2001 - Benet's boys soccer team follows up the 2000 championship with an unlikely 2001 repeat, defeating Peoria Notre Dame High School 2-1 in extra time. In contrast to the undefeated campaign of 2000, the 2001 squad finished the season with 18 wins over 7 defeats, with 1 draw.
  • 2006 - The boys volleyball team at Benet began their existence with a bang - rattling off 32 straight wins before falling to eventual state runner-up Naperville North High School in the IHSA sectional final. The Redwings won 29 matches in the regular season.

[edit] "The Record"

Benet's boys basketball team holds two state records for winning streaks - a 102-game home winning streak that lasted from November 26, 1975 to January 24, 1987 and a 96-game conference winning streak that lasted from January 21, 1977 to February 24, 1984. As a result of this record, Bill Geist's teams compiled 12 straight 20-win seasons between 1976 and 1987, good for eighth best all-time in the Illinois High School Association.

[edit] Famous alumni

[edit] External links

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