Saint Benedict's Preparatory School


Saint Benedict's Preparatory School is a college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey, United States. It is a K-12 school located on a urban campus; it serves all genders for K-6 and boys only for 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.
As of the 2013-14 school year, the school had an enrollment of 550 students and 33.6 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 16.4:1. The school's enrollment was 13.1% White, 51.3% Black, 33.8% Hispanic, 0.2% Asian and 1.6% two or more races. 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.
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.

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.

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.
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 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 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, the cooks, the first aid person, the nature specialist, the navigator 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.
The Benedict News student newspaper 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. 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, 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