St. Viator High School

St. Viator High School
Address
1213 East Oakton Street Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004 United States
Coordinates	42°05′39″N 87°58′10″W / 42.09423°N 87.96944°W / 42.09423; -87.96944Coordinates: 42°05′39″N 87°58′10″W / 42.09423°N 87.96944°W / 42.09423; -87.96944
Information
Type	Private, Coeducational, secondary, parochial
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Established	1961
Founder	Fr. Louis Querbes
Oversight	Archdiocese of Chicago
President	Brian Liedlich[1]
Chairperson	James Banaszak[2]
Principal	Mrs. Eileen Manno[1]
Staff	118
Grades	9–12
Campus size	1.300 (2012)
Campus type	suburban
Color(s)	navy      white[3]
Fight song	Ye Fighting Men of Viator
Athletics conference	East Suburban Catholic Conference
Mascot	Lion
Team name	Lions
Accreditation	North Central Association of Colleges and Schools[4]
Average ACT scores	26.3
Publication	ROAR (literary magazine)
Newspaper	Viator Voice
Yearbook	Viatome
Tuition	US$12,324[5]
Affiliation	Clerics of Saint Viator
Website	www.saintviator.com

St. Viator High School is a Roman Catholic co-educational secondary school in Arlington Heights, Illinois. It serves as a college preparatory school with students from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Part of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the school is run by the Clerics of Saint Viator.

History

The Archdiocese of Chicago reallocated some land it had already owned — tentatively designated for a future cemetery — for educational purposes, and assigned the Clerics of St. Viator to build and run a boys' secondary school. It opened in 1961 to a small class of freshmen and a few sophomores, graduating its first class in 1965.

Enrollments waxed and waned over the next few decades. Faced with declining numbers in 1987, the choice was made to merge with Sacred Heart of Mary High School of Rolling Meadows, with which St. Viator already had a sister-school relationship.^[6] The merger was effected in the summer of 1987; St. Viator absorbed the faculty, staff, and student body of Sacred Heart beginning with the 1987–88 school year, and admitted a co-educational freshman class (the class of 1991).

The physical plant remained largely unchanged from its original 1961 footprint. A co—educational student population required the construction of a girls' locker room. This kicked off a string of renovations to occur throughout the 1990s, including a renovation of the boys' locker room, the chapel, and science labs. After a major capital campaign, the school constructed a multipurpose athletic addition, and the Boler Center was dedicated in summer of 2005.

Controversy

Since 2007, St. Viator High School has used hair samples to test each of its 1,000 students for drugs in the fall and then conduct random screens during the rest of the school year. Starting in 2013, the school will also test for alcohol. Private schools have broader legal authority to test students for illegal substances than their public counterparts. And while a few area public high schools do conduct drug testing, the practice is limited to teens in sports or other extracurricular activities. Yet even among private schools, testing students' hair for alcohol use appears to be particularly rare. The testing company, Massachusetts-based Psychemedics Corp., said St. Viator is among a handful nationwide using the company's new hair test for alcohol. At St. Viator, students are notified of their mandatory testing appointments on the morning of the test. At lunchtime, a school official snips off a sample of about 60 hairs from the crown of each chosen student's head. The alcohol test measures ethyl glucuronide, or EtG, to indicate alcohol consumption in the previous three months. The tests take about a week to process and are capable of indicating a minimum average consumption of two to three drinks per week. Students who test positive must attend a meeting with their parents, counselor and the school president. After 100 days, the student must pay about $85 for another test, and a second positive could lead to expulsion. Private schools can in general mandate drug and alcohol tests at their own discretion.^[7][8][9]

Academics

St. Viator follows a Christian Catholic Environment. Students are required to take classes from a breadth of areas, including math, English, fine arts, science, social science, and religion; a foreign language is required for a minimum of two years. Instruction in the Spanish, French, Italian and Mandarin Chinese languages is offered. German is no longer offered since 2008.

14 Advanced Placement courses are offered in English Language, English Literature, Calculus (AB & BC), Spanish Language, French Language, Biology, Chemistry, Physics (C), U.S. History, European History, Human Geography, and World History^[10]

The school requires students to complete a fixed number of community service hours in order to graduate. Starting with the class of 2010, students are required to complete 25 community service hours in one year which adds up to 100 service hours for the 4 years.^[11]

In 2008, St. Viator was named a blue ribbon school by the U.S. Department of Education.^[12] It was one of only three private high schools in the country to be recognized as blue ribbon schools. Again in 2014, the school was recognized as a blue ribbon school.^[13] This time around it was only one of six private high schools in the nation and the only high school in the Archdiocese of Chicago to be recognized. Since 1996, three students from Saint Viator have achieved a 36 on the American College Test, the ACT. In 2014, eight students were named National Merit Commended Scholars and two were named National Merit Semi-Finalists.

Extracurricular activities

Saint Viator offers various academic and leadership societies, such as National Honor Society, Ambassador's Club, Justice League, Math Club, Anime Club, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Yearbook, Viator Voice (newspaper), Recycling Corps, Link Crew, Tech Crew and Student Council; foreign language clubs; and Scholastic Bowl. There are also many performing ensembles offered: the Winter Musical (established in 1967), the Fall Play, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Musical Pit Orchestra, Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Music Ministry, and Orchesis.

Athletics

For most sports, St. Viator plays in the East Suburban Catholic Conference; for swimming and water polo, the Metro Catholic Aquatic Conference; and for lacrosse, the East Suburban Catholic Conference of the Illinois High School Lacrosse Association. The St. Viator varsity hockey team plays in both the Chicago Catholic Hockey League and the Scholastic Hockey League. Saint Viator's athletics have been a very prosperous school in some of their athletic teams. Taking top 3 almost every year in their conference. Soccer is one of these teams being one of few schools with the highest number of state appearances.

The following teams have placed in the top four of their respective sports in state tournaments sponsored by the Illinois High School Association:^[14]

• Baseball: State Champions (2017); 2nd place (1964–65)
• Golf (boys): 3rd place (1983–84); 2nd place (2006–07); State Champions (2007–08, 2008-09, 2009-10)
• Soccer (boys): 4th place (2014–15); 3rd place (2013–14); 4th place (2001–02); 3rd place (1996–97, 1997–98, 2004–05); 2nd place (2000–01); State Champions (2003–04, 2009–10)
• Soccer (girls): 2nd place (2009-10),State Champions (2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05);
• Swimming & Diving (boys): 4th place (1973–74)
• Water Polo (boys): 4th place (2001–02)
• Varsity Hockey: 2nd place (1978–1979, 1988–1989, & 2011–2012)

Notable alumni

• Brett Basanez (class of 2001) — record-breaking quarterback for Northwestern University; formerly of the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears ^[15][16]
• Rob Eiter (class of 1985) — 1996 Olympic wrestler^[17]
• Ryan Flood (class of 2006) – Member of the United States Equestrian Olympic team.
• Jim Fruchterman (class of 1976) — engineer and social entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Benetech, a Silicon Valley nonprofit technology company that develops software applications to address unmet needs of users in the social sector.^[18][19]
• Natasha Korecki (class of 1992) — Chicago Sun-Times reporter who has covered high-profile criminal trials.
• Ted Nugent (class of 1967) — rock star of The Amboy Dukes and Damn Yankees as well as an accomplished solo career. Best known for conservative and pro-hunting views^[20]
• Jarrett Payton (class of 1999) — CFL running back for the Montreal Alouettes, media personality and son of Walter Payton^[21]
• Jonathan Spector (class of 2004) soccer player, defender for Orlando City SC (Major League Soccer) & U. S. national team^[22][23]
• Brian Stack (class of 1982) — performer and writer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien^[24]
• Emmett Cleary (class of 2008) — offensive tackle for the New York Giants of the National Football League.^[25][26][27]

Notable staff

• Ron Feiereisel was a former professional basketball player for the Minneapolis Lakers. In between coaching jobs at DePaul University, he was the school's first basketball coach.^[28]

References

External links

• Official website
• Alumni network on Egonest
• Chicago Tribune story on the 2011 Senior Prank