I pray that this letter finds you and your family enjoying the blessings of summer days, sunshine and joy. Over the past several months, during the transition of the Schools of St. Benedict becoming St. Benedict Preparatory Schools, the administrative team and faculty have been working hard to revise our school program and course offerings, building on the past years of success and experience. Our mission at St. Benedict Prep High School is to offer a program that prepares all students for success in college, and we have been realigning course programs, creating new courses and developing a set of common high standards that will permeate our school building.  We intend to send the message to our students, “SBPS is special, what is happening here is important, and we will do our best to help you succeed!”

During the past spring, our pastor, Father Beaven asked me to serve as CEO of St. Benedict Preparatory Schools beginning July 1, 2010.  Over the past seven years, I have served as principal of St. Benedict Elementary Schools, and have come to know what parents are looking for in a quality, Catholic college preparatory high school. With the help of our new Head of Secondary Schools, Mrs. Erika Mickelburgh, our Dean/Assistant Head of Secondary Schools, Mr. Paul Piekosz, and our secondary school faculty, we will be able to build on the strong foundation of Catholic college prep success, all the while looking toward the future of education and providing our students with 21^st century skills needed to succeed in college and beyond. This letter will provide an overview of some of the changes coming to St. Benedict Prep High School. I appreciate the time you will give in reading further.

Exciting updates regarding the high school program

First, I would like to provide a little information about our new Head of Secondary Schools, Mrs. Erika Mickelburgh. She has served as both president/principal and principal of St. Gregory High School since 2004.  In that time, she helped to build a talented faculty, designed a “protégé” program and created a nurturing, welcoming and positive school culture. She also has had seven years teaching experience in both middle school and high school levels. Further, she has served in a variety of leadership roles throughout her Catholic school career.  She will bring her creativity, leadership and experience to St. Benedict Prep during a critically important time of change.

Mrs. Mickelburgh will begin her new role here at St. Benedict Prep beginning August 1^st. She will be overseeing the instructional program grades 6-12.  In essence, her main responsibilities will be to oversee students, teachers and instruction – the most important components of our school. During the interim, if you have any questions about registration, course opportunities or other school questions, please do not hesitate to contact either Mr. Piekosz or me.  We will be here most of the summer preparing for a great school year.

Additionally, we have made some changes in our course programs, school calendar, and school schedule in order to reach our mission to provide quality Catholic college prep education.  In short, the following changes have been made:

Additional course offerings and electives

• The implementation of a trimester schedule
• Classes lengthened on a daily basis, and students have 5 courses daily instead of 6 or 7
• Lengthening of the school day by 20 minutes
• Built in advisory/study time for each student on a daily basis

Technology Update

Further, our incoming Freshmen class will all be equipped with laptops to aid in their learning and studies.  We have been using the one-to-one laptop program in the middle school grades (6-8) over the past four years, and now are ready to expand this program to the high school level. As part of the Freshmen experience, each student will take a “Bengal Prep” class during the first trimester in order to learn how to use the computer for study skills, organization and learning. We want our Freshmen to feel well prepared for a high school career of success. Our sophomores through seniors will not be spared of technology, however.  With the help of a large donation from State Farm, we expect that all of our desktop PC’s will be upgraded and we will have additional computers in the classrooms for students to use. Further, we will be investing more in mobile interactive technologies for teacher presentations. We will use the best of learning resources on the Internet to enhance the learning experience of all of our students.

What parents and students need to do now to prepare for school

In order to properly plan for the coming year and schedule students in classes they want, we will be asking students to submit a registration/course sign up form.  Even if students have already completed their registration this past spring, we want students to know that there are many new classes/electives and would like to give them an opportunity to sign up.  In this mailing is an updated course booklet, as well as a sign up sheet needed for each student to complete and return to us.  These forms can be either dropped off at school, mailed or faxed.  You or your child will also be able to download the form off our website and email it back to us. 

Important Dates to Know

July 26-30th                School open for course planning consultation with staff

July 30th                     Course re-registrations due, along with registration paperwork

August 9th                  Junior/Senior schedule change day

August 10th                Freshmen/Sophomore schedule change day

August 11th                Fall Sports Tryouts

August 19th-20th       Freshmen Orientation

August 19th                Freshmen/Transfer Student Parent Meeting

August 23rd-24th       HS Uniform Sale (during school hours)

August 23rd                First Full Day of High School (all medical/vision forms are due)

August 24th                Sports Information Meeting/Fall Sports Registration

Thurs September 9th   St. Benedict Preparatory Schools Ribbon Cutting

Fri September 10th       Pep Rally (1:45 PM in courtyard)

Sat September 11th     St. Benedict Preparatory Schools Kickoff Parent Mixer BBQ 

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact the school office. We are here for you, and for your children. 

Sincerely,

Ms. Rachel Gemo

CEO, St. Benedict Preparatory Schools

Click here to download the overview (list of books/projects).

University of Chicago
Vanderbilt University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Purdue University
Indiana University
Syracuse University
University of Iowa 
Marquette University
University of Missouri
Colgate University
University of Minnesota
University of Hawaii
DePaul University

St. Benedict High School is very proud to recognize its five Illinois State Scholars!

Five current St. Benedict seniors have been honored as 2010 Illinois State Scholars by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. The program recognizes seniors for outstanding academic achievement. ISAC awards the State Scholar distinction based on a combination of SAT I and/or ACT scores and cumulative GPA at the end of their junior year. Only about 10 percent of the state's graduating seniors — from more than 700 high schools in 102 counties — are selected annually.

Congratulations Michelle, Ben, Chelsea, Kristin and Tyrone!