Saint Benedict at Auburndale
Encyclopedia
St. Benedict at Auburndale High School is a Roman Catholic high school
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis
. The school teaches grades 9–12 in Cordova
, Tennessee
and offers special programs for students requiring special learning programs. The school colors are red and blue. The school mascot is the Eagle.
It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and a charter member of the National Catholic Education Association. The school is located on a forty-seven-acre campus in Cordova, Tennessee.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith sold the Auburndale System to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis in 1988, and St. Benedict at Auburndale opened its doors as a new 4K-12 diocesan school in the fall of 1988. Chris Hardwick of MTV's Singled Out
attended Auburndale School for a few years.
In July, 2004, St. Francis of Assisi Church acquired governance of grades 8 and below and assumed the name of St. Francis of Assisi School. The high school moved into a new campus facility on adjoining property.
Records from previous schools, placement tests, student interviews, and visitations by prospective students are used to evaluate applicants' probabilities for success in the St. Benedict at Auburndale program.
In addition students enjoy extensive facilities for general art, photography, ceramics, and 2D/3D design. The class of 2008 had 4 National Merit Scholarship Finalists and 3 Merit Commended Students.
Notable Alumnus:Greg Donahue class of 2002, resident baller.
team has become a West Tennessee
power. Under first year head coach Steve Heinz, in 2009 the Eagles claimed their first Division II West Tennessee Region title. They also notched a Division II state runner-up title that year. The baseball program has recently graduated several players who have gone on and played, or are playing at the college level.
. Although the team is a young team, in their sixth year, they have already won first in their region for the 2007-2008 season, in which they also went to state semi-finals competition.
teams have had great success, with the girls having five TSSAA Division II championships from the past five years. Also, the boys' 2007-08 season had a regionals win and a runner-up in the championship. Their 2010-11 season also resulted in runner-up trophies for both teams at the state championship. Their coach is Eric Wells and assistant coach is John Cordera.
Saint Benedict also offers its students the opportunity to perform in multiple plays and musicals over the course of the school year. Students from Theater and Show Choir are traditionally expected to audition, but all students are welcome to try out.
During the 2008-09 school year, St. Benedict performed Little Shop of Horrors
, Steel Magnolias
, Twelve Angry Men, and Grease
. In the 2009-2010 school year, they performed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
, The Foreigner
and Singin' in the Rain
.
This years productions will include the drama "Harvey
", "Gwee: an original parody of the popular television show Glee
as the Show Choir performance and "The Sound of Music
" as the Spring Musical which will be reviewed by The Orpheum Theater for possible nominations for the local High School Musical Awards as it was last year.
The Saint Benedict production of Singin' in the Rain was nominated in the local High School Musical awards hosted by The Orpheum Theater for seven awards. They were nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Choreography (Otis Smith), Best Scenic Design, Best Cameo Performance, Best Direction (under Cindy Wells and Bret Bilbrey), Best Actor, and Best Overall Musical.
"The Sound of Music
" will run these dates at the SBA Performing Arts Theatre:
Thursday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 3 at 2:30 p.m.
In past years, students have initiated a Harry Potter Appreciation Club, a Pep Club, a Model UN Club, an Anime Club, an Ecology Club, an Engineering Club, the Reel Society, which is a Film Appreciation Club, and a Computer Club. These groups are open to all students, and are all student-run, with a mandatory teacher sponsor.
Students at SBA have also formed their own Ultimate Frisbee team which plays other local high school teams in the Memphis Frisbee Association. They were undefeated for their first regular season and placed third in the past Habitat for Humanity Frisbee Tournament losing to Alumni of Collierville High School. They placed third in a loss to Houston for third place overall in the league.
The following is from the Saint Benedict at Auburndale Student Handbook:
"We are not immune. Our school is not and our students are not. And all that’s out there in the world scares us more than we’d like to admit. We at St. Benedict at Auburndale are participating in this drug testing program for one PRIMARY purpose … to provide our students with yet one more reason they can draw upon when faced with choosing for or against drugs. Some are able to make that choice on their own without any fear at all of social pressure or peer ramifications. But some are not. And we hope that this program will ease their decision-making."
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....
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis
Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tennessee. It was founded on June 20, 1970, when Pope Paul VI removed the counties in the state west of the Tennessee River from the Diocese of Nashville, which, prior to that time, encompassed the entire state.The diocese is...
. The school teaches grades 9–12 in Cordova
Cordova, Tennessee
Cordova is a community in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. Cordova lies on Memphis' northeast side, north of Germantown, and northwest of Collierville....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and offers special programs for students requiring special learning programs. The school colors are red and blue. The school mascot is the Eagle.
It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and a charter member of the National Catholic Education Association. The school is located on a forty-seven-acre campus in Cordova, Tennessee.
History
The school was founded in 1966 as The Auburndale School System by Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Smith. The Smiths had long been interested in developing an academic environment where children with disabilities could be educated on the same campus.Mr. and Mrs. Smith sold the Auburndale System to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis in 1988, and St. Benedict at Auburndale opened its doors as a new 4K-12 diocesan school in the fall of 1988. Chris Hardwick of MTV's Singled Out
Singled Out
Singled Out was a game show that ran on MTV from 1995-1998. Each episode featured a group of 50 men and a group of 50 women competing for a date with one main contestant of the opposite sex.The original hosts were Chris Hardwick and Jenny McCarthy...
attended Auburndale School for a few years.
In July, 2004, St. Francis of Assisi Church acquired governance of grades 8 and below and assumed the name of St. Francis of Assisi School. The high school moved into a new campus facility on adjoining property.
Records from previous schools, placement tests, student interviews, and visitations by prospective students are used to evaluate applicants' probabilities for success in the St. Benedict at Auburndale program.
Academics
Saint Benedict offers a wide variety of honors classes and ten Advanced Placement courses. AP courses include Calculus, Statistics, American Government, Economics, English Literature, English Composition, Modern European History, World History, and United States History.In addition students enjoy extensive facilities for general art, photography, ceramics, and 2D/3D design. The class of 2008 had 4 National Merit Scholarship Finalists and 3 Merit Commended Students.
Notable Alumnus:Greg Donahue class of 2002, resident baller.
Knowledge Bowl
The Saint Benedict Knowledge Bowl Team has enjoyed great success over the last three years (2006–2008). The team has made it to the finals of the WREG-TV Knowledge Bowl competition the last three years. The team has won over $54,000 in scholarships in their three year run. In February 2008, the team won the University of Mississippi Academic Invitational Tournament beating out 63 teams from Tennessee and Mississippi. Last year, the Knowledge Bowl team won the WREG-TV Knowledge Bowl competition again.Baseball
The Eagles baseballBaseball
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...
team has become a West Tennessee
West Tennessee
West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the State of Tennessee. Of the three, it is the one that is most sharply defined geographically. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River on the west and the Tennessee River on the east...
power. Under first year head coach Steve Heinz, in 2009 the Eagles claimed their first Division II West Tennessee Region title. They also notched a Division II state runner-up title that year. The baseball program has recently graduated several players who have gone on and played, or are playing at the college level.
Lacrosse
A major part of the Saint Benedict family of extra curricular is lacrosseLacrosse
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...
. Although the team is a young team, in their sixth year, they have already won first in their region for the 2007-2008 season, in which they also went to state semi-finals competition.
Bowling
The SBA bowlingBowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
teams have had great success, with the girls having five TSSAA Division II championships from the past five years. Also, the boys' 2007-08 season had a regionals win and a runner-up in the championship. Their 2010-11 season also resulted in runner-up trophies for both teams at the state championship. Their coach is Eric Wells and assistant coach is John Cordera.
Theater productions
The SBA Theatre Department offer students many different ways to express themselves, either on stage or off. They produce three shows each year - a comedy or drama, the Show Choir Musical, and the Spring Musical. Any SBA student can try out for the productions except the Show Choir Musical, which is put on by the Celebration Show Choir class. Students can participate in all aspects of the theatre including acting, singing, directing, managing, working back stage, lighting, sound, set and prop building, costume making, public relations, and more. All of the technical areas of our productions are worked on and managed by SBA students.Saint Benedict also offers its students the opportunity to perform in multiple plays and musicals over the course of the school year. Students from Theater and Show Choir are traditionally expected to audition, but all students are welcome to try out.
During the 2008-09 school year, St. Benedict performed Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...
, Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
, Twelve Angry Men, and Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
. In the 2009-2010 school year, they performed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels may refer to:*Dirty Rotten Scoundrels , 1988 film starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine*Dirty Rotten Scoundrels , Broadway musical based on the 1988 film...
, The Foreigner
The Foreigner (play)
The Foreigner is a play by Larry Shue.Set in a resort-style fishing lodge in rural Georgia, the comedy revolves around two of its guests, Englishman Charlie Baker and Staff Sergeant Froggy LeSueur. Charlie is so pathologically shy that he is unable to speak...
and Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain (musical)
Singin' in the Rain is a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Arthur Freed, and music by Nacio Herb Brown.Adapted from the 1952 movie of the same name, the plot closely adheres to the original...
.
This years productions will include the drama "Harvey
Harvey (play)
Harvey is a 1944 play by American playwright Mary Chase. Produced by Brock Pemberton and directed by Antoinette Perry, the play premiered on 1 November 1944 at the 48th Street Theatre on Broadway where it was staged for 1,775 performances before closing on January 15, 1949. The original production...
", "Gwee: an original parody of the popular television show Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
as the Show Choir performance and "The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
" as the Spring Musical which will be reviewed by The Orpheum Theater for possible nominations for the local High School Musical Awards as it was last year.
The Saint Benedict production of Singin' in the Rain was nominated in the local High School Musical awards hosted by The Orpheum Theater for seven awards. They were nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Choreography (Otis Smith), Best Scenic Design, Best Cameo Performance, Best Direction (under Cindy Wells and Bret Bilbrey), Best Actor, and Best Overall Musical.
"The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
" will run these dates at the SBA Performing Arts Theatre:
Thursday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 3 at 2:30 p.m.
Clubs and groups
Students at St. Benedict are encouraged to express their individualtiy and interests in a variety of clubs on campus. St. Benedict boasts special groups for language honor societies, literary analysis, film appreciation, and many others besides.In past years, students have initiated a Harry Potter Appreciation Club, a Pep Club, a Model UN Club, an Anime Club, an Ecology Club, an Engineering Club, the Reel Society, which is a Film Appreciation Club, and a Computer Club. These groups are open to all students, and are all student-run, with a mandatory teacher sponsor.
Students at SBA have also formed their own Ultimate Frisbee team which plays other local high school teams in the Memphis Frisbee Association. They were undefeated for their first regular season and placed third in the past Habitat for Humanity Frisbee Tournament losing to Alumni of Collierville High School. They placed third in a loss to Houston for third place overall in the league.
Drug Testing
Saint Benedict at Auburndale (SBA) drugs tests every student at least once a year with a sample of a students hair. The testing started during the 2003-2004 school year.The following is from the Saint Benedict at Auburndale Student Handbook:
"We are not immune. Our school is not and our students are not. And all that’s out there in the world scares us more than we’d like to admit. We at St. Benedict at Auburndale are participating in this drug testing program for one PRIMARY purpose … to provide our students with yet one more reason they can draw upon when faced with choosing for or against drugs. Some are able to make that choice on their own without any fear at all of social pressure or peer ramifications. But some are not. And we hope that this program will ease their decision-making."