Nazareth Academy (La Grange Park, Illinois)
Encyclopedia
Nazareth Academy is a Roman Catholic college-preparatory
high school
located in LaGrange Park, Illinois, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
. It was founded in 1900 by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
at the school while others were only day students. In 1901, a new building was constructed. In 1903, the first two students of Nazareth graduated and enrollment had risen to 48 girls. At the same time, a boy’s only school was opened across the street from Nazareth. In 1926, the Sisters decided to restrict enrollment to high school students only. In 1936, Nazareth was accredited by the North Central Association for the first time. In 1950 there were 500 students and in an effort to house all the students, a new building was constructed; by 1958, there were 1,319 students. In 1963, the boarding school was forced to close in an effort to make room for more classrooms to accommodate the growing number of students. Soon after, in 1974, enrollment had decreased so greatly that the Sisters were forced to sell their building to the town and relocated to its current residence on Ogden Avenue
. In 1977, with only 498 students were enrolled at Nazareth, the Sisters opened the school to boys, making it a coed school for the first time. Since then, many buildings and facilities have been added to the campus, including a gym and a football
and soccer field.
Recently, Nazareth has been working on adding many additions to the school in an effort to keep up with the growing number of students. Among the additions are a baseball field, a new entrance hall, a legacy garden, and last fall the new dining hall was opened. The main athletic field, used for both football and soccer, now has a FieldTurf
surface. In the spring of 2008, the school also added a new auditorium.
The school offers Advanced placement courses in: English Language, English Literature, Spanish Language
, French Language
, Calculus (AB & BC)
, Computer Science (A & AB)
, Biology
, Physics (B)
, and U.S. History.
The Foreign Language Department offers study Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Students studying German have the opportunity to earn credit by spending a month in Germany, and in turn hosting a German student for two weeks, with credit being based on a ten page report submitted by the student.
As a part of the religious study component of the graduation requirement, students must complete ten hours of ommunity service as a sophomore. Juniors must complete an additional ten hours of service, in addition to attending a two day retreat.
(ESCC), and compete in state tournaments sponsored by the Illinois High School Association
(IHSA).
The school sponsors interscholastic teams for men and women in basketball
, cross country
, golf
, soccer, tennis
, track & field, and volleyball
. Men may also compete in baseball
and football
. Women may also compete in cheerleading
and softball
. While not sponsored by the IHSA or ESCC, the school also sponsors an ice hockey
team for men. Women may also compete in lacrosse
as a JV sport, and pom-pon
s.
Students participate in a mandatory retreat as juniors, and may also participate in a Kairos retreat
as seniors.
Students may also help in planning liturgy
celebrations throughout the year, as well as becoming extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to assist during these services.
Service is encouraged through many extracurricular activities, though other opportunities (such as volunteering time at soup kitchen
s and homeless shelter
s) are also made available to students. Students are required to complete 20 hours of community service as a graduation requirement.
Virginia C. Bulat
(class of 1956), author and historian, history of Illinois
and Cook County, Illinois
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
located in LaGrange Park, Illinois, 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...
. It was founded in 1900 by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
History
After relocating to Chicago, the Sisters of St. Joseph were encouraged to settle in LaGrange Park and open a school. In 1900, they founded Nazareth Academy in a remodeled house located at 120 N. Spring. There were 14 students, all girls, ranging from the ages of 5 to 14. Some students boardedBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
at the school while others were only day students. In 1901, a new building was constructed. In 1903, the first two students of Nazareth graduated and enrollment had risen to 48 girls. At the same time, a boy’s only school was opened across the street from Nazareth. In 1926, the Sisters decided to restrict enrollment to high school students only. In 1936, Nazareth was accredited by the North Central Association for the first time. In 1950 there were 500 students and in an effort to house all the students, a new building was constructed; by 1958, there were 1,319 students. In 1963, the boarding school was forced to close in an effort to make room for more classrooms to accommodate the growing number of students. Soon after, in 1974, enrollment had decreased so greatly that the Sisters were forced to sell their building to the town and relocated to its current residence on Ogden Avenue
U.S. Route 34
U.S. Route 34 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 1,122 miles from north-central Colorado to the western suburbs of Chicago. Through Rocky Mountain National Park it is known as the Trail Ridge Road where it reaches 12,183 ft , making it the highest paved through highway in...
. In 1977, with only 498 students were enrolled at Nazareth, the Sisters opened the school to boys, making it a coed school for the first time. Since then, many buildings and facilities have been added to the campus, including a gym and a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and soccer field.
Recently, Nazareth has been working on adding many additions to the school in an effort to keep up with the growing number of students. Among the additions are a baseball field, a new entrance hall, a legacy garden, and last fall the new dining hall was opened. The main athletic field, used for both football and soccer, now has a FieldTurf
FieldTurf
FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...
surface. In the spring of 2008, the school also added a new auditorium.
Academics
The focus of the school's academic program is on college preparatory.The school offers Advanced placement courses in: English Language, English Literature, 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:...
, 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...
, Calculus (AB & BC)
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....
, Computer Science (A & AB)
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...
, 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....
, Physics (B)
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...
, and U.S. History.
The Foreign Language Department offers study Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Students studying German have the opportunity to earn credit by spending a month in Germany, and in turn hosting a German student for two weeks, with credit being based on a ten page report submitted by the student.
As a part of the religious study component of the graduation requirement, students must complete ten hours of ommunity service as a sophomore. Juniors must complete an additional ten hours of service, in addition to attending a two day retreat.
Athletics
The Nazareth Academy Roadrunners are full members of the East Suburban Catholic ConferenceEast 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), and compete in state tournaments sponsored by the Illinois High School Association
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...
(IHSA).
The school sponsors interscholastic teams for men and women in 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...
, 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, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, 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...
. Men may also 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...
and 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....
. Women may also compete in 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...
. While not sponsored by the IHSA or ESCC, the school also sponsors an 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...
team for men. Women may also compete in lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
as a JV sport, and pom-pon
Pom-pon
A pom-pon is a fluffy, decorative ball or tuft. Pom-pons may come in many colors, sizes, and varieties and are made from a wide array of materials, including wool, cotton, paper, plastic, and occasionally feathers....
s.
Campus Ministry
Campus ministry focuses on three areas: service, liturgies, and retreats.Students participate in a mandatory retreat as juniors, and may also participate in a Kairos retreat
Kairos retreat
Kairos, adapted to mean "God's time", is a Christian retreat program for high school and college students that takes place around the world.The retreat is a four day, three night residential retreat, that provide participants the chance to contemplate God's role in their lives.-Process:The retreat...
as seniors.
Students may also help in planning liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
celebrations throughout the year, as well as becoming extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to assist during these services.
Service is encouraged through many extracurricular activities, though other opportunities (such as volunteering time at soup kitchen
Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups...
s and homeless shelter
Homeless shelter
Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people which seek to protect vulnerable populations from the often devastating effects of homelessness while simultaneously reducing the environmental impact on the community...
s) are also made available to students. Students are required to complete 20 hours of community service as a graduation requirement.
Notable Alumni/ae
Author:Virginia C. Bulat
Virginia C. Bulat
Virginia Catherine Bulat, the pen and maiden name of Virginia Bulat Carroll , was an independent scholar and historian of local Illinois history...
(class of 1956), author and historian, history of Illinois
History of Illinois
The history of Illinois may be defined by several broad historical periods, namely, the pre-Columbian period, the Era of European Exploration and Colonization, its development as part of the American frontier, and finally, its growth into one of the most populous and economically powerful states of...
and Cook County, Illinois
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...