BENILDE-ST. MARGARET'S

:''For other schools of a similar name, see St Margaret's School (disambiguation).''
'Benilde-St. Margaret's School', named after Saint Bénilde Romançon and Saint Margaret of Scotland, is a Catholic, co-educational private school for grades 7-12 located in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, that draws its over one thousand students from throughout the Twin Cities Metro Area. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Contents
History
St. Margaret's Academy
Benilde High School
Merger
Academics
Class of 2007 Statistics
Junior High School
Laptop program
The Community of Benilde-St. Margaret's
Little Knights
Notable alumni
Activities
References
External links

History


Benilde-St. Margaret's School was originally a secondary school formed by a merger in the 1970s between St. Margaret's Academy, a Catholic secondary school for girls in Minneapolis, and Benilde High School, a Catholic secondary school for boys in St. Louis Park. Its present building was originally that of Benilde High School.
St. Margaret's Academy

St. Margaret's was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1907 as St. Margaret’s Academy[1]. The campus for this all-girls school was located near the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis and included two mansions and a carriage house that had been built in the 1880s. By 1959 the old school had become inadequate in size - for every 100 girls accepted, about 200 were turned away. The Sisters of St. Joseph, who had anticipated such a problem, had purchased twenty-eight acres, and by 1960 a new school was built on Upton Avenue, near the Eloise Butler Wildflower Gardens and Wirth Park.
Benilde High School

The Christian Brothers, under the direction of Brother Mark Sullivan, built a boys' school in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park in 1956 due to the fact that De La Salle (the first all-boys Catholic high school in the west metro) was full.
Merger

Both schools operated independently until the 1970s, at which time enrollment began to decline and costs began to escalate. In 1974, the St. Margaret’s facility was sold to the Minneapolis school system, and the merged Benilde-St. Margaret's School opened its door at the former Benilde High School site. One hundred ninety students graduated in its first class.
The school has undergone two major additions since the merger; a new gym in 1986, along with a new chapel, theatre, arts center, and classroom wing in 2001.
Academics

Presently, Benilde-St. Margaret's students excel at college entrance exams.
BSM Class of 2006 Statistics
 'BSM Average''MN Average''National Average'
ACT23.122.421.1
ACT Writing Test8.27.7N/A
ACT English/Writing25.122.2N/A
SAT Critical Reading581591N/A
SAT Math579600N/A
SAT Writing514574N/A

Class of 2007 Statistics

Currently, the only information regarding the Benilde-St. Margaret's Class of 2007 is valedictorians and salutatorian.
The Class of 2007 will be represented by a record-number eight valedictorians. These students, with a 4.0 grade point average, are Nora Hughes, Megan Kelly, Erika Lantz, Ryan Myers, Bo Mlnarik, Jesse Vallera, Caitlin Wahl and Lauren Walsh. The salutatorian this year is Elliot Musilek [2].
Junior High School

In 1989, a junior high was added, and one hundred seventh- and eighth-graders were enrolled in the first year. The principal of the Junior High is Dr. Carol McNamara.
Laptop program

In 2006, Benilde-St. Margaret's Junior High got a laptop initiative that gave every 7th and 8th grader an Apple MacBook for academic use. In addition to the MacBooks for the students, every teacher in the school, both Junior High and Senior High, received a MacBook as well. SmartBoards were part of the additions over the summer of 2006.
The Community of Benilde-St. Margaret's

Benilde-St. Margaret's Community Video
Little Knights

BSM opened its doors to the children of faculty and staff members in the form of an on-site daycare center. Housed in the North building of BSM, Little Knights is a great way for parents that are teachers at BSM to not be far from their kids. Little Knights is for children through the age of 4, or preschool.

Notable alumni



Sean Lumpkin, was an NFL football player. Lumpkin played football for the University of Minnesota after graduating from BSM and was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1992. Lumpkin played five years for the Saints and appeared in 47 total NFL games.

Devean George, is a professional basketball player. George signed with the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent in August, 2006. George was previously with the Los Angeles Lakers where he was a member of three NBA championship teams.

Ian Wexler, is a professional soccer player with Langfordton in Ireland. He played collegiately at Providence College in Providence, RI. He captained the Red Knights to the 2000 Minnesota Class A state soccer championship.

Andrew Alberts, is a professional ice hockey defenseman who currently plays for the Boston Bruins of the NHL. He helped the Red Knights win the 1999 Minnesota Class A state hockey championship. Alberts played collegiately at Boston College from 2001-2005.

Ian Anderson, is a musician. He started and runs the Minneapolis-based record label Afternoon Records, as well as the bands Aneuretical and 1 For The Team.

Activities


The school competes in the North Suburban Conference, in the Minnesota State High School League. In recent years, the school has had a variety of successes in athletics and academic competitions, and recently, the MSHSL recognized BSM for having the highest student parcipation in activities for a school its size. For a complete listing of accomplishments in a particular activity, see the Trophy Case. The school's newspaper is the ''Knight Errant'' and its TV broadcast is ''Knightline News''.
Team State Championships
Season Sport Number of Championships Year
Fall Soccer, Boys 4 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006
Winter Alpine Skiing, Boys 1 2004
Alpine Skiing, Girls 1 2000
Hockey, Girls 2 2002, 2004
Dance Team, Girls 3 1985, 1999, 2004
Hockey, Boys 2 1999, 2001
Basketball, Girls 1 2006
Spring Golf, Boys 1 2003
Lacrosse, Boys12007
'Total' 16

Individual State Championships
Season Sport Number of Championships Year
Fall Swimming & Diving, Girls 10 1978, 1978, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2002, 2003, 2003, 2004, 2004
Tennis, Girls 1 2005
Cross Country, Boys 2 1999, 2000
Spring Golf, Boys 1 2003
Track & Field, Boys 4 2000, 2000, 2001, 2001
'Total' 18

References


1. Benilde-St. Margaret's School Homepage, History of Benilde-St.Margaret's
2. Benilde-St. Margaret's School Homepage, Valedictorians and Salutatorian Announced

External links



Benilde-St. Margaret's Official Website

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