Benilde st margarets

Benilde-St. Margaret's

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.

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. 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

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)

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
ACT	23.1	22.4	21.1
ACT Writing Test	8.2	7.7	N/A
ACT English/Writing	25.1	22.2	N/A
SAT Critical Reading	581	591	N/A
SAT Math	579	600	N/A
SAT Writing	514	574	N/A

Junior High School

In 1989, a junior high was added, and one hundred seventh- and eighth-graders were enrolled in the first year. Students receive laptops in order to do their work over the school year here. The principal of the Junior High is Dr. Carol McNamara.

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

David Rogalski, is a competitive professional fisherman receiving mild recognition throughout the midwest and Canada.
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 One For The Team.

Activities

The school competes in the North Suburban Conference, in the Minnesota State High School League. Previously, it competed in the now-defunct Metro Alliance. 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	4	1985, 1999, 2004, 2008
	Hockey, Boys	2	1999, 2001
	Basketball, Girls	1	2006
	Basketball, Boys	1	2008
Spring	Golf, Boys	1	2003
Spring	Lacrosse, Boys	1	2007
Total		18

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
Spring	Track & Field, Boys	4	2000, 2000, 2001, 2001
Total		18