Marist High School (Illinois)
Encyclopedia
Marist High School is a coeducational, college preparatory Roman Catholic secondary school located in the Mount Greenwood
neighborhood of Chicago
, Illinois
. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
. The school was founded by and continues to be affiliated with the Marist Brothers
.
, Brother Rice High School, and St. Laurence High School; the Christian Brothers declined, thus paving the way for the Marist Brothers
to be asked to lead this new school for boys on the Southwest Side.
In the mid 1990s, the school community decided to begin a transition from its original mascot and nickname, "Redskins", to a less controversial one. "RedHawks
" became the new mascot and nickname beginning in the 1997—98 school year. The change in nickname also caused several minor changes in student life, with an example being the change in name of the yearbook from Plainsman to The Lantern.
Starting in 2003, the school launched a multi-year fundraising campaign to advance needed upgrades to the school's physical structure, as well as to provide for the school's financial foundation. technology upgrades, and to continue financial assistance to students.
Seventeen different AP classes are offered in: English Language and Composition
, English Literature and Composition
, Calculus
(both AB and BC), Biology
, Chemistry
, Physics
(C), U.S. History
, European History
, U.S. Government and Politics
, Psychology
, Computer Science
(A & AB), Art History
, Studio Art
, French Language
and Spanish Language
, Spanish Language
(IHSA): basketball
, bowling
, cross country
, golf
, soccer, and track & field, and volleyball
. Boys compete in baseball
, football
, and wrestling
. Girls compete in poms
, cheerleading
, and softball
.
Marist also sponsors boxing
and ice hockey
, though these teams do not compete in state series sponsored by the IHSA.
Marist competes in the East Suburban Catholic Conference
(ESCC). Marist also competes in the largest school classes of the state series sponsored by the IHSA. Known more for academics than athletics, Marist has finished in the top four in several IHSA
sponsored state championship series. Among them:
The varsity wrestling team won twenty-seven consecutive varsity conference titles dating from the 1980–81 season through the 2006–07 season. The school claims this to be an American high school record.
While not sanctioned by the IHSA, Marist won the Kennedy Cup, the oldest hockey prize in Illinois high school hockey, as a part of their Chicago Catholic Hockey League Championships in 1991,1994 and 1995.
became a natural rival.
generally in the autumn (performing pregame, halftime, and postgame shows at home football
games), and as a concert band
for the remainder of the year (highlighted by Christmas and Spring Concerts). The general exception is their annual performance in the Chicago Columbus Day
Parade, the Chicago Thanksgiving
Day Parade, and the Chicago St. Patrick's Day parades.
The band is generally not a competition band, but has seen succeeded enough to perform on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
and to be the featured marching band to open the new Comiskey Park
in 1991.
The Marist band has won numerous honors and awards, and has traveled across the country to perform in parades and shows such as the Tournament of Roses Parade
, the Indianapolis 500
Festival Parade, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade and many other events.
Mount Greenwood, Chicago
Mount Greenwood is one of 77 well-defined Chicago community areas. It is a predominantly Irish-Catholic neighborhood on the Southwest Side of Chicago. It neighbors the Chicago neighborhoods of Beverly and Morgan Park to the east, the suburb of Evergreen Park to the north, the suburb of Oak Lawn...
neighborhood of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
The Archdiocese of Chicago was established as a diocese in 1843 and as an Archdiocese in 1880. It serves more than 2.3 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties in Northeastern Illinois, a geographic area of 1,411 square miles. The Archdiocese is divided into six vicariates and 31 deaneries...
. The school was founded by and continues to be affiliated with the Marist Brothers
Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...
.
History
The school opened on September 9, 1963 with 320 young men enrolled as the charter class. The school would be a male only institution until the 2002—03 school year, when girls were admitted for the first time. The full transition to a coeducational institution was completed in the 2005—06 academic year. Originally, the Christian Brothers of Ireland were asked to open another all-male high school on the land that was to eventually see Marist built, but with three area schools already under their purview, Leo Catholic High SchoolLeo Catholic High School
Leo Catholic High School is an all-male Catholic high school in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and home to a predominantly African–American student body...
, Brother Rice High School, and St. Laurence High School; the Christian Brothers declined, thus paving the way for the Marist Brothers
Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...
to be asked to lead this new school for boys on the Southwest Side.
In the mid 1990s, the school community decided to begin a transition from its original mascot and nickname, "Redskins", to a less controversial one. "RedHawks
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
" became the new mascot and nickname beginning in the 1997—98 school year. The change in nickname also caused several minor changes in student life, with an example being the change in name of the yearbook from Plainsman to The Lantern.
Starting in 2003, the school launched a multi-year fundraising campaign to advance needed upgrades to the school's physical structure, as well as to provide for the school's financial foundation. technology upgrades, and to continue financial assistance to students.
Academics
Like many Catholic high schools, students are required to take four years of coursework in Religious Studies. In their fourth year, students may opt out of traditional coursework and fulfill their graduation requirement through work in community service or in peer leadership. In community service, students are assigned to travel off campus to work at a hospital, a work community for adults with developmental disabilities, a grammar school, or other such environment. Peer leadership offers seniors the opportunity to work within a classroom aiding teachers and other students.Seventeen different AP classes are offered in: English Language and Composition
AP English Language and Composition
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program....
, English Literature and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program.-The Course:This course is designated for motivated students with a command of standard English, an...
, Calculus
AP Calculus
Advanced Placement Calculus is used to indicate one of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC....
(both AB and BC), Biology
AP Biology
In the United States, Advanced Placement Biology , is a course and examination offered by the College Board to high school students as an opportunity to earn placement credit for a college-level biology course....
, Chemistry
AP Chemistry
Advanced Placement Chemistry is a course and examination offered by the College Board as a part of the Advanced Placement Program to give American and Canadian high school students the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and earn college-level credit.-The course:AP Chemistry is a course...
, Physics
AP Physics
AP Physics defines three categories of high school physics courses: A, B, and C. Category A refers to general introductory physics courses that are not mathematically rigorous...
(C), U.S. History
AP United States History
Advanced Placement United States History is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program...
, European History
AP European History
Advanced Placement European History is a course and examination offered by the College Board through the Advanced Placement Program...
, U.S. Government and Politics
AP United States Government and Politics
Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics, also known as AP US Gov & Pol, AP US Gov, AP Go Po or AP Gov, is a college-level course and examination offered to high school students through the College Board's Advanced Placement Program...
, Psychology
AP Psychology
The Advanced Placement Psychology course and corresponding exam is part of the College Board's Advanced Placement Program. This course is tailored for students interested in the field of psychology and as an opportunity to earn placement credit or exemption from a college-level psychology course...
, Computer Science
AP Computer Science
Advanced Placement Computer Science is the name of two distinct Advanced Placement courses and examinations offered by the College Board to high school students as an opportunity to earn college credit for a college-level computer science course...
(A & AB), Art History
AP Art History
AP Art History is a course offered in high school through the Advanced Placement Program that gives college level material at the high school level. This class is operated by College Board...
, Studio Art
AP Studio Art
AP Studio Art is a series of Advanced Placement Courses divided into three different categories: AP Studio Art Drawing, AP Studio Art 2D, and AP Studio Art 3D.-The portfolio:...
, French Language
AP French Language
Advanced Placement French Language and Culture is a course offered by the College Board to high school students in the United States as an opportunity to earn placement credit for a college-level French course...
and Spanish Language
AP Spanish Language
Advanced Placement Spanish Language is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program.-The course:...
, Spanish Language
AP Spanish Literature
Advanced Placement Spanish Literature is a high school course and examination offered by the College Board's Advanced Placement Program.-The course:...
Athletics
Marist sponsors the following sports for both boys and girls, all of which are governed by the Illinois High School AssociationIllinois High School Association
The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...
(IHSA): basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, soccer, and track & field, and volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
. Boys compete in baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
, and wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
. Girls compete in poms
Poms
POMS or Poms may refer to:* Pom-pons, a hand-held decoration used in cheerleading or a related sport also called "poms" or "pom-pons"* A slang term for British people...
, cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
, and softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
.
Marist also sponsors boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, though these teams do not compete in state series sponsored by the IHSA.
Marist competes in the East Suburban Catholic Conference
East Suburban Catholic Conference
The East Suburban Catholic Conference is an athletic conference consisting of 13 Catholic high schools in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois . The conference became independent in 1974....
(ESCC). Marist also competes in the largest school classes of the state series sponsored by the IHSA. Known more for academics than athletics, Marist has finished in the top four in several IHSA
Illinois High School Association
The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...
sponsored state championship series. Among them:
- Baseball: State Champions (1977–78); 3rd place (2000–01)
- Basketball (girls): 4th place (2007–08)
- Cross Country (boys): 3rd place (1996–97); 4th place (1982–83, 83–84)
- Football: 2nd place (1986–87, 2009–10)
- Volleyball (boys): State Champions (2001–02) & (2009–10); 4th place (1995–96)
- Volleyball (girls): 4th place (2011-12)
- Wrestling: State Champions (1982–83, 86–87); 2nd place (1996–97); 3rd place (1984–85, 88–89, 90–91)
The varsity wrestling team won twenty-seven consecutive varsity conference titles dating from the 1980–81 season through the 2006–07 season. The school claims this to be an American high school record.
While not sanctioned by the IHSA, Marist won the Kennedy Cup, the oldest hockey prize in Illinois high school hockey, as a part of their Chicago Catholic Hockey League Championships in 1991,1994 and 1995.
Rivalries
Since its founding, Marist has enjoyed a natural rivalry with nearby all-male high school, Brother Rice. While not exclusive to football, the annual game between the two schools is often the most notable event in the rivalry. When Marist became a coeducational school, the local all-female high school in the neighborhood, Mother McAuleyMother McAuley Liberal Arts High School
Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School is an all-girl, Catholic high school located in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois at 3737 West 99th Street. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago...
became a natural rival.
Activities
The Marist band, is somewhat unique in that it is not only an activity, but also an Honors academic class. The band functions as a marching bandMarching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
generally in the autumn (performing pregame, halftime, and postgame shows at home football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
games), and as a concert band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
for the remainder of the year (highlighted by Christmas and Spring Concerts). The general exception is their annual performance in the Chicago Columbus Day
Columbus Day
Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday...
Parade, the Chicago Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
Day Parade, and the Chicago St. Patrick's Day parades.
The band is generally not a competition band, but has seen succeeded enough to perform on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...
and to be the featured marching band to open the new Comiskey Park
U.S. Cellular Field
U.S. Cellular Field is a baseball ballpark in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, it is the home of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball's American League. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at old Comiskey Park...
in 1991.
The Marist band has won numerous honors and awards, and has traveled across the country to perform in parades and shows such as the Tournament of Roses Parade
Tournament of Roses Parade
The Tournament of Roses Parade, better known as the Rose Parade, is "America's New Year Celebration", a festival of flower-covered floats, marching bands, equestrians and a college football game on New Year's Day , produced by the non-profit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association.The annual...
, the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
Festival Parade, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade and many other events.
Notable alumni
- James TyreeJames C. TyreeJames C. Tyree was a Chicago financier who was chairman and chief executive officer of Mesirow Financial since 1994. In 2009, he led a team of investors that took control of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, which he owned until his death.- Early life and education :Tyree grew up in the Beverly...
, CEO and Chairman at Mesirow Financial, Class of 1975. - Dan DoneganDan DoneganDan Donegan is an American musician and guitarist for heavy metal band Disturbed. Donegan began playing guitar as a teenager and eventually formed a band called Vandal, which was an '80s-style hair band...
- Disturbed guitarist, Class of 1986. - Tom GorzelannyTom GorzelannyThomas Stephen Gorzelanny is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Washington Nationals.-Personal life:Tom grew up in Chicago, IL, graduating from Marist High School in 2000...
- Chicago CubsChicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
pitcher, Class of 2000 - Patrick O'Malley - Former Illinois State Senator and gubernatorial candidate 2002