Bergen Catholic High School

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Bergen Catholic High School
Image:BCCrest.jpg
Deus Vult - "God Wills It"
Established	1955
School type	Private
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic
Location	Oradell, NJ, USA
Enrollment	847
Faculty	48
Student:teacher ratio	18:1
Athletics	14 varsity sports
Color(s)	Scarlet and Gold
Mascot	Crusaders
Conference	Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League

Bergen Catholic High School is an all-male Roman Catholic high school in Oradell, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade. It was founded in 1955 by the Irish Christian Brothers, with the first Freshman class made up of 114 students.

Bergen Catholic currently has about 950 pupils. Bergen Catholic's reputation draws students from its location of Oradell to as far as Rockland County in New York and Pennsylvania. People of many ethnicities and creeds come to Bergen Catholic for its academic and sports programs. Bergen Catholic has a long-standing rivalry with fellow Catholic school, Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey. Bergen Catholic is also recognized for its diverse lingo and ridiculous sarcasm. One of the traditional pass times of the school is "backpack skinning", which is when a students' backpack is turned inside out and the books are reinsterted. This school is also reffered to as daycare for its easy curriculum.

1 Technology Program
2 Activities
3 Athletics
4 Team Colors
5 Administration
6 Notable alumni
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Technology Program

Bergen Catholic High School is noted for its laptop program, in which the students buy an IBM Thinkpad through the school as their own laptop for completing work that requires internet access and for taking notes. Other notable parts of the computer include the use of an interactive whiteboard and Edline.The program was phased in starting with the class of 2007, and the 2006-07 school year will mark the first time during which each student will carry a laptop.

[edit] Activities

Activities within the school include CCA (Crusaders for Catholic Action, a Catholic service group), Student Government, The Herald school newspaper, The Crusader yearbook, The Commentator literary magazine, a chorus group which plays at all school liturgies, a dramatics club, ski club, chess club and team, math club and team, guidance club, stock market club, mock trial team, and quiz bowl team. Bergen Catholic also offers a program of intramural sports for students not on our interscholastic teams: golf, basketball, tennis, bowling, volleyball, and street hockey. A program of weight training is available. Also in the hallways of the school there are cameras to prevent theft as well as to keep track of visitors.

Bergen also has a BCTV team, which is the school's own television crew. BCTV presents a TV show every day in the morning of first period which shows the cafeteria menu for the day and the current news for the day. BCTV is headed by Mr. Flynn.

Bergen Catholic has one of the best Mock trial teams in the State, with many state and county championships and one National Championship. The club is headed by the students and moderated my Mr. Lapierre and Mrs. Sancliver. In the 2005-06 season they made it to the County Semi-Finals before losing to Immaculate Heart Academy, a Catholic, all-girls school in Washington Township.

In 1991, Bergen Catholic High School won the National High School Mock Trial Championships held in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[1]

[edit] Athletics

Bergen Catholic is known for being a state powerhouse in football and other sports as well. In 1998, they won the Parochial Group IV championship along with the Star Ledger Trophy. In 2004, they were named by Sports Illustrated as having the top athletic program in New Jersey. Also, in 2004, the football team went to Giants Stadium to play Don Bosco Preparatory High School and won the title of State champs.

Bergen Catholic Offers fourteen sports at the varsity level:

Fall Sports

Winter Sports

Spring Sports

[edit] Team Colors

Bergen Catholic's mascot is the Crusader. The school colors are scarlet and gold and the school motto is "Deus Vult", which means "God wills it."

[edit] Administration

Principal: Mr. Timothy J. McElhinney
Vice Principal: Mr. Anthony Mattera
Vice Principal of Technology: Mr. Joseph Haemmerle
President: Br. Lawrence T. Murphy
Dean of Students: Mr. Craig LaPierre
Dean of Underclassmen: Mr. Joshua Powers
Director of Admissions: Mr. Richard Ardito

[edit] Notable alumni

Al De Molina, Bank of America, Chief Financial Officer
Sean Banks, NBDL's Tulsa 66ers Small Forward
Chris Barnes, actor The Bad News Bears
Kieran Burke, Six Flags Chief Executive Officer
Jim Burt, Jr., Brooklyn Cyclones Baseball First Base, Son of former New York Giant Jim Burt
Charlie Casserly, Houston Texans Former General Manager
Brian Cushing, USC Trojans football Linebacker
Mark DeRosa, Chicago Cubs 2nd Baseman
Jim Dray, Stanford University Cardinal Football Tight End
Alecko Eskandarian, D.C. United First Pick in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft
Jim Finn, New York Giants Fullback^[2]
Wil Horneff, (actor) The Sandlot, Born to Be Wild, The Shining
Edward Ludwig, Becton Dickinson Chairman, President, CEO
Bill Madden, Sports Columnist in the New York Daily News
Pierre McGuire, Sports Illustrated Columnist
Dennis McNerney, County Executive of Bergen County^[3]
James Oleske, Discovered the AIDS virus in children
Bob Papa, New York Giants Play-by-play sportscaster
Joe Sandberg, University of Pennsylvania Quakers Football Running Back
Rich Scanlon, Kansas City Chiefs Linebacker^[4]
Msgr. Robert Sheeran, Seton Hall University President
Isaiah Williams, University of Maryland Terrapins Football Wide Receiver