St. Laurence High School

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St. Laurence High School
Established 1961
Type Private all-male secondary
President Mr. Thomas Ondrla
Principal Mr. James Muting
Students 800
Grades 9–12
Location Burbank, Illinois USA
Colors black and gold
Mascot Vikings
Yearbook Valhallan
Newspaper The Helm
Website www.stlaurence.com

St. Laurence High School is a private, all-male Catholic college preparatory high school founded in 1961. The school is conducted by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and is named for the Irish saint, St Laurence O'Toole. It is located in the southwest Chicago suburb of Burbank, Illinois, across the street from Queen of Peace, a private all-female Catholic high school.

Rich in academic and athletic tradition, the campus is situated on a spacious 25-acre suburban campus and serves young men from Chicago and over 50 surrounding suburbs. The modern complex includes the chapel, five academic wings, four computer labs including a graphics design center, modern science labs, a media center, guidance center with career planning and college placement services, a 1,600-seat gymnasium and a university-level fitness center. St. Laurence continues to recognize the needs of a newer generation of students and provides an excellent Christian preparation for life. St. Laurence also provides a balanced curriculum that is responsive to the needs of our students while offering up-to-date technology, facilities, labs, and an environment necessary for learning.

Contents

[edit] Classes

Classes are divided into three levels: B Track, A Track, and Honors. There are some classes that are special to St. Laurence including: Leadership Class, Weight Lifting, Anatomy, Drafting, Journalism, Sociology, Accounting, Personal Law, and Chicago History. The majority of the students are in the middle ground A Track classes. The students enrolled in the Honors level are given an extra .5 added to their GPA. In a 2005-06 Helm article explained that the differences of the A Track and Honors level is large and growing and that students believe that it wasn't fair that you can get all "A"s in an A Track class and have a 4.5 GPA whereas all "B"s in a Honors class would only yield a 4.0 GPA. There are very few A.P. classes, but many of the classes that an Honors student takes will have given them enough information to take the A.P. test confidently.

[edit] Athletics

The St. Laurence Gym proudly displays all the victories in its short history. St. Laurence's football team has won state, and most recently won their division, and moved up in their division. St. Laurence presently is giving an effort to return the school's athletic program to that of its "glory days". This has had some success thanks to Athletic Director Grannan.

BASEBALL

  • Catholic League Champions 1967, 79, 82, 84, 88, 90, 93, 94, 06
  • I.H.S.A. Regional Champions 1978, 82, 87, 93, 06
  • I.H.S.A. Sectional Champions 1987, 93
  • I.H.S.A. Sectionals-2nd Place 1978
  • I.H.S.A. State Semi-Finalists 1987
  • 3rd in State 1993
  • Summer League State Champions 1981

BASKETBALL

  • Catholic League Champions 1967, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, ’80
  • I.H.S.A. Regional Champions 1975, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 85, 90, 98, 03
  • I.H.S.A. Sectional Champions 1977, 2003
  • I.H.S.A. Sectionals-2nd Pl. 1976, 79, 80, 82
  • 4th in State 1977

BOWLING

  • Catholic League Champions 1978, 86, 88, 89, 97, 98, 99
  • I.H.S.A. Sectional CHampions 2004
  • 3rd in State 1999

CROSS COUNTRY

  • Catholic League Champions 1968, 83, 86, 89
  • I.H.S.A. Regional Champions 1983
  • I.H.S.A. Sectional Qualifiers 1976, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 97, 98, 99, 00, 01, 02, 03, 05
  • I.H.S.A. State Finalists 1983, 89
  • I.H.S.A. Individual Regional Champions 05: Emmanuel Gonzalez

FOOTBALL

  • Catholic League Champions 1972, 73, 74, 76, 77, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87
  • Chicago Prep Bowl Champions 1972, 73, 74, 78
  • I.H.S.A. Quarterfinalists 1984, 86
  • I.H.S.A. Semi-Finalists 1977
  • I.H.S.A. Runners-Up 1979
  • I.H.S.A. Class 5A State Champions 1976

GOLF

  • I.H.S.A. Regional Champions 1979, 80, 82, 91
  • I.H.S.A. Sectional Champions 1982
  • I.H.S.A. State Finals-14th Place 1982

HOCKEY

  • Catholic League Champions 1966, 67, 88, 92
  • Kennedy Cup Champions 1967, 83
  • State Sectional Champions 1979
  • State Quarter-Finalists 1983, 86, 88
  • State Semi-Finalists 2000
  • 2nd in State 1981
  • State Champions 2004

SOCCER

  • Catholic League Champions 1984
  • I.H.S.A. Regional Champions 1988, 89

SWIMMING

  • I.H.S.A. Sectional Champions 1986
  • I.H.S.A. Sectionals-2nd place 1984, 85

TENNIS

  • Catholic League Champions 1967, 68, 69, 75, 97, 98
  • I.H.S.A. Sectional Champions 1985

WATER POLO

  • Catholic League Champions 1987
  • State Champs 1987
  • 3rd in State 1980

WRESTLING

  • Catholic League Champions 1971, 74, 76, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 90
  • I.H.S.A. Regional Champions 1982, 83, 85, 86, 90
  • I.H.S.A. Sectional Champions 1983, 90
  • I.H.S.A. Class AA State Champions 1990
  • State Meet Team Qualifier 1983,1980

[edit] Rivalry

St. Laurence's most notable rival is Brother Rice, which is also operated by the Christian Brothers. Also St. Rita is also a noted rival. Though Reavis is also in Burbank, they are not in the same conference (Reavis being a public high school) and rarely face one another; when the two schools do meet in a sport, it is known as "The Battle For Burbank".

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Trivia

  • Jenny McCarthy was once a cheerleader for the school while attending Mother McAuley, and can be found in 1990's yearbooks.
  • It is stated in the school's handbook that the school has been denoted the title "College Prep" but does not use it.
  • In early yearbooks the school's city address reads Oak Lawn, as Burbank was not incorporated until 1970.
  • The Viking used in most of the school's various spirit items is the same as the Minnesota Vikings' logo.
  • In the 2005-06 school year the library caught fire in the early morning and all students had to be rushed to their sister school Queen of Peace, which was was celebrating "Harmony Day".
  • In sister school Queen of Peace's early years, they had to use the St. Laurence building to attend class.
  • St. Laurence has won many swimming and water polo titles, yet the school itself has no pool.
  • Col. James Hickey (class of 1978) was one of the men involved in the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in December 2003.
  • The early editions of the school's newspaper, The Helm, were only one to two pages long and were printed with a mimeograph, a hand-cranked printer.

[edit] External links

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