Saint Benedict's Preparatory School is a college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey, United States. It is an all-boys secondary school located on a 12 acres (4.9 ha) urban campus serving students in seventh through twelfth grades. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1990.
Established in 1868 by the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey, the school is guided by the sixth century Rule of Saint Benedict. It has been a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark for over 130 years. It serves students from Newark and its neighboring communities; students come from 100 towns and about 215 schools. More than 60 are from 23 other countries.
As of the 2013-14 school year, the school had an enrollment of 550 students and 33.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 16.4:1.
Starting in the 2017-18 school year, the former St. Mary School will operate within St. Benedict's. Classes for kindergarten though sixth grade will be co-ed and grades 7 and 8 will be segregated by sex, while the high school program will remain all boys.
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History
The school was closed for the 1972-73 school year. Since its re-opening in 1973, the headmaster has been Fr. Edwin D. Leahy, O.S.B, who graduated from St. Benedict's in 1963.
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Academic year and leadership
St. Benedict's school year differs from most high schools. The school year is divided into three "phases"; Summer phase, Fall/Winter phase and Spring phase. During Summer phase the whole student body of St. Benedict's gathers for a five-week session of half-day classes during August. For the members of the Freshman class, the session begins with the five-day overnight. The Freshman class is divided into 18 groups of about eight students each, with an older student acting as counselor for the week, preferably a sophomore or junior student. Meals are taken "family style" in the dining room as each student takes a turn being the waiter for his color group, setting the table, serving the food, and clearing up afterward. Freshmen meet faculty members and older students, discover Benedict's history and traditions and learn the school songs. At the end of the week the students will be verbally quizzed on the school's history by current faculty, leaders, and alumni. The amount of questions depends solely on who the person is, and passing will result in the students earning his colors (Garnet & Gray).
During the fall/winter phase students have regular school days with classes beginning at 7:50 and daily convocation in the Shanley Gym at 7:50 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday is an early dismissal at 2:15pm. On Thursday school begins with convocation at 7:50 followed by Mass (Catholic church service) for one of the four sections of the school. The sections alternate turns going to Mass each week approximately attending Mass once a month. During convocation, prayers are said and songs are sung with the whole community present. At the end of convocation there is a brief time period in which the entire community takes part in sharing announcements with the rest of the school body. These announcements are about upcoming events, results from past events, meetings for leadership, opportunities for extra help, and things that the community is either doing well with or needs to improve on.
Spring phase ends the academic year. Students choose projects to work on for four weeks such as community service, US history, Gardening, Dancing, Music Production, Photography, Journalism, Finance, Acting, Physics, Intense Exercising, karate, and cooking.
Freshmen don't have a choice. At the end of the Freshmen Year, Freshmen spend a week together. They sleep in tents. Freshman team members take turns cooking for one another, preparing food they have carried on their backs. The Backpacking Project is a five-day trek over 50 miles (80 km) of the Appalachian Trail in the mountains of western New Jersey. Freshmen form themselves into 16 teams of eight members each and elect a leader. Upon selecting a leader they also make decisions for the rest of available positions, which are the camping specialists(2), the cooks (2), the first aid person (1), the nature specialist (1), the navigator (1) and the Captain. Four such teams make a "company" that is led by specially trained older students, first-aiders, and adults. Three weeks of intense training precede the week on the trail. Bringing back old history the transfer students no longer have choice as they too have to walk the trail.
St. Benedict's is divided into 18 groups of about 20 to 30 members each. Each group, named after successful Benedict's alumnus meets daily, competes in events, academics, attendance, and plays an active role in running the school. Each group elects a student Group Leader and Assistant Leaders and works closely with its faculty advisers. The school is run by group of eight distinctive seniors.The Senior Group leader, four section leaders, a freshman leader, a transfer leader and a seventh and eighth grade leader. They work together daily in leading the school and enforcing rules.
Athletics
The Saint Benedict's Prep School Gray Bees compete in 12 interscholastic sports: water polo, cross country running, soccer, swimming, fencing, wrestling, basketball, indoor track, crew, golf, baseball, outdoor track. The school has produced several notable athletes including an Olympic gold medalist.
Saint Benedict's basketball team, coached by Mark Taylor since 2011, consistently ranks as one of the top high-school basketball teams in the United States among USA Today High School Boys' Basketball Super 25. and is part of what The New York Times calls the "NBA pipeline". In 2013, the basketball team was ranked 5th in ESPN's top 25, losing to Montverde Academy in the ESPN Rise National Championship.
The 2006 boys' soccer team finished the season with a 20-0 record, and was ranked first in the nation in the NSCAA/adidas National Rankings. A 4-1 win against the Pennington School in the 2011 Prep A championship gave St. Benedict's a perfect 24-0 season, its 23rd consecutive Prep A title and its seventh spot as the top-ranked high school soccer team in the nation by ESPN/Rise, having previously been recognized as national champion in 1990, 1997-98, 2001, 2005-06 and repeating in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. Numerous alumni of the soccer program have become world-renowned players.
Extracurricular activities
St. Benedict's has a music, and a visual arts program.
Its Drama Guild has traveled to England, Ireland and Bolivia.
The band has participated in local and national shows, including competitions in Boston and Montreal.
The Benedict News is nationally recognized among student newspapers. It has won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association gold medal three times, in 2005, 2006 and again in 2008. The school literary magazine, The Kayrix is published every year during spring phase.
The 520 is a student-run maintenance corporation. The goal of the corporation is to cost-effectively support the maintenance needs of the school while enhancing the environment, and providing students with the opportunity to develop skills and earn a competitive income. The corporation was established in 1998.
Publicity
The history of the school is related in Thomas A. McCabe's Miracle on High Street (New York: Fordham University Press, 2010). On March 20, 2016, the school was featured in a segment of "60 Minutes".
Documentary
The critically acclaimed documentary about Newark Abbey and Saint Benedict's Prep, The Rule (2014), by Emmy-nominated, Newark-based filmmakers Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno, was released theatrically, broadcast nationally on PBS, and was screened by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans at the U.S. Department of Education. The film premiered at the 2014 Montclair Film Festival.
Notables
Notable alumni
- Juan Agudelo (born 1992), soccer player for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer.
- A.J. Calloway (born 1974), American television personality
- Gregg Berhalter (born 1973), professional soccer coach; spent fifteen years playing in Europe; 2011 Major League Soccer champion with Los Angeles Galaxy; member of 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup teams.
- Isaiah Briscoe (born 1996), basketball player for the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team who transferred out after his sophomore year.
- Jonathan Capehart (born 1967), journalist and television personality who writes the PostPartisan blog for The Washington Post.
- Peter A. Carlesimo (1915-2003), basketball coach.
- Ownie Carroll (1902-1975), Major League Baseball pitcher who played nine seasons in the majors, from 1925 to 1934.
- Edward Cheserek (born 1994), runner for the University of Oregon who won the 2013 NCAA cross country championship and track and field championship.
- George Thomas Coker (born 1943), United States Navy aviator who was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.
- John J. Degnan (born 1944), Attorney General of New Jersey, 1978-1981, vice chairman and chief operating officer of The Chubb Corporation.
- James Delany (born 1948), commissioner of the Big Ten Conference.
- Tyler Ennis (born 1994), basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Gabriel Ferrari (born 1988), professional football striker.
- John Joseph Gibbons (born 1924), federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and partner at the Gibbons P.C. law firm.
- Cullen Jones (born 1984), Gold Medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay.
- G. Gordon Liddy (born 1930), central figure in the Watergate scandal, mastermind of the break into Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building in 1972.
- Scott Machado (born 1990), basketball player who plays for BC Kalev/Cramo in Estonia.
- Mpho Moloi (born 1983), drafted by the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer in 2006 and won the MLS Championship with them.
- Xavier Munford (born 1992), professional basketball player for the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League.
- Kevin O'Connor (born 1968; class of 1986), host of This Old House.
- Tab Ramos (born 1966), former professional soccer midfielder who has been inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
- Claudio Reyna (born 1973), soccer midfielder; two-time Parade Magazine High School Player of the Year; three-time First Team All American at University of Virginia; College Player of the Century; played for Manchester City in England, Rangers F.C. in Scotland and Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls; member of 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics, 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup teams; National Soccer Hall of Fame
- Zack Rosen (born 1989), All-American basketball player at Penn who plays for Maccabi Ashdod in Israel.
- Samardo Samuels (born 1989), power forward/center who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and currently plays for Olimpia Milano.
- Chris Smith (born 1987), basketball player for Hapoel Galil Elyon of the Israeli Liga Leumit
- J. R. Smith (born 1985), professional basketball player who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
- Corey Stokes (born 1988), Villanova shooting guard who was selected to compete in the McDonald's All-American Game.
- Walt Szot (1920-1981), football tackle who played five seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers.
- Lance Thomas (born 1988), former Duke basketball player and member of the 2010 NCAA Championship team and currently plays for the New York Knicks.
- Petter Villegas (born 1975), soccer winger, who plays for the Puerto Rico Islanders and the Puerto Rico national football team.
Notable faculty
- Ernest Blood (1872-1955), basketball coach who led St. Benedict's Prep to a 421-128 record and five state championships from 1925 to 1950.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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