Cathedral High School (St. Cloud, Minnesota)

Cathedral High School is a Roman Catholic coeducational parochial high school located in St. Cloud, Minnesota. One of the four high schools in the St. Cloud area, as of January 2006 Cathedral enrolls a total of 578 students in grades 9-12; when the attached John XXIII middle school (grades 7-8) is included, the total enrollment is 778. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud.

History

Cathedral High School was established in 1902 when Sister Eleanor Irving, O.S.B. opened a 25-student coeducational school. In 1914, the administration began constructing a new building to house the school. As the school grew, in 1938 another new building (the present-day "Center Building") began construction. In 1947, the school made another addition to its campus by purchasing the "North Building" from adjacent Holy Angels church. This building later became the main Theatre for the school in 1967. Finally, the "South Building" was completed in 1958; shortly thereafter, Cathedral reached its peak enrollment of 1,621 students in 1964.

John XXIII Middle School, named after Roman Catholic Pope John XXIII, was established in 1971 when area Catholic elementary schools, concerned about the education of their 7th and 8th grade students, suggested the upper two grades of their respective schools be consolidated. In 1982 Cathedral High School and John XXIII middle school were fused into one school with one administration.

Campus

The Cathedral High School/John XXIII Middle School campus consists of four buildings: the North Gymnasium, the Center Building, the South Building and the Holy Angels Performing Arts Center (HAPAC). Originally Holy Angels church, the HAPAC was converted into a performing arts center in 1995.

* North Gymnasium: houses the main athletic gymnasium for the schools and includes offices, a classroom, vending machines, locker rooms, and a weightlifting room.
* Center Building: a three-floor building housing lockers for John XXIII Middle School students; the building contains math, art, science, social studies, a computer lab, religion and English classrooms, a smaller gymnasium (primarily used by the middle school), and a science laboratory.
* South Building: a three-floor building primarily used by the high school; the building also contains high school student lockers, math, art, science, social studies, religion and English classrooms, another science laboratory, the cafeteria, the library, and two computer labs.
* Holy Angels Performing Arts Center: the first floor of this building contains the band, choir, and orchestra rehearsal rooms, while the second floor is a large theater for the school's dramatic productions, several school assemblies, and musical concerts.

Although the Center Building is the location for the Middle School lockers and the South Building the location for High School lockers, all students attend classes in both buildings.

The most interesting feature of the school's campus is its tunnel system. All of the buildings are connected by tunnels; in the cold Minnesota winter, the administration does not allow students to pass between classes outdoors. While the tunnels regularly become congested, they serve as the most efficient way to get to class on time during the winter. The tunnel system also serves as a secure way to keep the school safe from possible intruders. In the winter all entrances are closed and locked except the main entrance, which is equipped with a security camera. The tunnels are not always the fastest way to get to classes; the road between the buildings would be much faster if one's class was on the top floor of another building.

Although the school grounds do not contain many athletic venues (no football field, soccer field, swimming pool, baseball/softball diamonds, tennis courts, or track), with the exception of Rau Field which is used primarily for phys. ed classes, Cathedral still has some of the best performing athletes in MN Class A (see Extracurricular Activities below). The school often uses other area high schools' venues or rents public facilities from the city.

Extra-curricular Activities

Cathedral offers over 50 activities for its students, including all major sports and many extracurricular activities such as Knowledge Bowl, Jazz band, National Honor Society, and an annual musical theater production. There is also a CHS fishing club which does both summer and ice fishing events.

Sports teams at Cathedral that are regularly competitive include the baseball team (Minnesota state champions in 1977, 1980, 1988, 2001, 2003 and 2007), boys and girls soccer teams, boys hockey, and the boys and girls cross country running teams (both of which regularly qualify several students for the state meet). The boys cross country team took 1st place at the MN Class A State Tournament in 2005.

Cathedral's home baseball stadiums, Dick Putz Field and Joe Faber Field, are the sites of the Minnesota Class AA State High School Baseball Tournament, held in June.

Cathedral's competitive speech team is considered a strong program, as it boasts an extraordinarily large roster and routinely places students in the annual state competition. Most notably, in 2006, junior students Scott Lenner and Timothy Meyer won the state title in Duo Interpretation, receiving perfect marks in the finals round, and in 2008, eighth grader Jeff Rueter from John XXIII Middle School won the High School competition in Creative Expression.

The Crusaders have won 2 state championships in the High Kick/Precision MSHSL AA Dance Team Tournament. Their first win was in 2005, coming ahead of the Totino-Grace E'Gals. Their most recent championship was in 2008, once again ahead of Totino-Grace.

Cathedral has won the MSHSL-awarded Challenge Cup, an award given to the best-performing school overall in arts and athletics competitions, in 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 for Class A MN high schools.

Curriculum

School statisticsref|statsref|stats2

General

Scholastic achievement

National Merit

From 2000 to 2006, 43 seniors were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program, including 27 commended scholars and 16 finalists.

Trivia

* Film director Stephen Sommers, in his debut film, 1989's "Catch Me If You Can", used Cathedral High School's campus as the setting for many scenes.
* Alumni include Tom Petters, founder of Petters Worldwide Groupe.Kari Petrie, [http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081003/BUSINESS/110030052/-1/RSSTOP The Petters File] , "St. Cloud Times", October 3, 2008, Accessed October 8, 2008.]

External links

* [http://www.chsj23.org Cathedral High School/John XXIII Middle School official website]

Resources

# [http://www.privateschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/14838 Privateschool.com information]
# [http://www.chsj23.org/pdf/Profile%2005-06.pdf Cathedral High School profile]
# [http://www.frostytrees.com/Pictures/Minnesota/StCloud/CHS/CHS1.htm Historic website for Cathedral High School]