List of Benet Academy alumni

Front entrance to Benet Academy on St. Joseph Circle

Benet Academy (often shortened to "Benet") is a co-educational, college-preparatory Benedictine high school in Lisle, Illinois, United States, overseen by the Diocese of Joliet. Since its founding in 1888, notable alumni have included Olympic athletes, professional American football players, winners of Grammy and Academy Awards, singer David Bickler from Survivor, and a former Illinois Attorney General.

An alumni directory compiled in 1937 reveals that older alumni have included members of the clergy, businessmen, physicians, educators, attorneys, musicians, and journalists.[1] For the 2010–11 school year, 1,333 students were enrolled at Benet.[2]

Most students come from Lisle, Downers Grove, and Naperville,[3] but students expected to graduate in 2013 came from 65 different schools and 34 different municipalities in DuPage and surrounding counties.[4]

Admission is competitive and primarily based on the High School Placement Test, a standardized test by Scholastic Testing Service, taken in January of applicants' eighth grade year (around age 13).[5] The Chicago Sun-Times ranked Benet one of the top ten high schools in the Chicago area in 2003,[3] and in 1999 Benet was one of two high schools in DuPage County, and 100 high schools nationwide, featured as an "Outstanding American High School" by U.S. News & World Report.[6]

Formerly known as the all-boys St. Procopius College and Academy, the school began to offer a remedial course, or a course designed to bring underprepared students to competency, to only two students on March 2, 1887. Enrollment grew to 30 high school students by 1947.[7] The academy began to operate independently from the college in 1957.[8] The all-girls Sacred Heart Academy, founded in 1926, operated nearby.[9] Due to dwindling enrollment and funding, St. Procopius Academy and Sacred Heart Academy merged in 1967 to form Benet Academy.[10]

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
  1. ^ Mizera, Peter F. (1969). Czech Benedictines in America: 1877–1961. Lisle, Illinois: Center for Slav Culture, St. Procopius College. pp. 175–76. OCLC 3379383.
  2. ^ "School Information". Benet Academy. 2011. Archived from the original on May 4, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Grossman, Kate N.; Rossi, Rosalind (March 16, 2003). "At the head of the class: Top high schools' grads prepped for best colleges". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 16.
  4. ^ Peterson, Patricia (2009). "Benet Connections". Benet Connections (Fall 2009). Benet Academy.
  5. ^ Lenz, Linda (October 28, 1986). "Benet gets into the ACT, touts scores". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 40.
  6. ^ Amy Boerema (March 20, 2004). "Retiring principal puts students first". Daily Herald. Arlington Heights, Illinois. p. 1.
  7. ^ Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Illinois (1947). Illinois: a descriptive and historical guide. American guide series. Chicago, IL: AC McClurg. p. 544. ISBN 1-60354-012-1.
  8. ^ Illinois Benedictine College Communication Office (June 1975). "Chronological Development of St. Procopius College/Illinois Benedictine College" (PDF). Illinois Benedictine College Development Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2010. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  9. ^ Čada, Joseph (1964). Czech-American Catholics, 1850–1920. Chicago: Benedictine Abbey Press, under the auspices of the Center for Slav Culture, St. Procopius College, Lisle, Illinois. p. 64. OCLC 1882096.
  10. ^ Pyke, Marni (May 17, 2001). "An artful center Benet will honor supporter at hall dedication". Daily Herald. p. 1.