Loyola Catholic School

Loyola Catholic School Loyola
Address
145 Good Counsel Drive Mankato, Minnesota, (Blue Earth County), 56001  United States
Coordinates	44°10′57″N 93°58′34″W / 44.1825°N 93.97611°W / 44.1825; -93.97611Coordinates: 44°10′57″N 93°58′34″W / 44.1825°N 93.97611°W / 44.1825; -93.97611
Information
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1865
President	Bette Blaisdell
Principal	Bette Blaisdell (HS) Sr. Mary Beth Schraml (ES) William Schumacher (MS)
Chaplain	Fr. Tim Biren
Staff	88
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	650  (2008)
Color(s)	Blue and Gold
Team name	Crusaders
Accreditation(s)	North Central Association of Colleges and Schools [1]
Activities Director and Dean of Students	John Landkamer
Website	www.loyolacatholicschool.org

Loyola Catholic School (formerly known as Mankato Area Catholic School), is located in Mankato, Minnesota. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona, the school has two campuses, the Fitzgerald Campus, housing grades four through eight, and the Good Council Campus, which houses grades K-3 and 9-12. The school is also known as MACS, because of its former name, and also by LCS, which is the new official acronym from the new name. Each class averages about 50 people per class. The current principals are Sister Mary Beth Schraml, SSND, who is the elementary principal, Mr. William Schumacher, the intermediate principal, and Mrs. Bette Blaisdell, who is the high school principal and the President of Loyola Catholic School.

Good Counsel Campus

The Good Counsel Campus is located on Good Counsel Hill in Mankato, MN. The hill is located on the eastern side of Mankato, and the water tower on the Hill can be seen from most parts of town. The elementary part of the school is located in a wing of the building, while the high school occupies the rest of the building. One section in the back is rented out by Coughlan Companies, a publishing company in Mankato. There are about fifty students in each class. The curriculum of the school includes four years required of religion and English and three years of math, social studies, and science. The curriculum also requires two years of foreign language (French and Spanish are offered). There are five Advanced Placement (AP) classes offered at LCS. They are AP Calculus, AP Biology, AP Spanish, AP Government, and AP English. All of the AP courses offer students the chance to gain college credit. The high school also is a member of the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL).

Notable alumni

Activities

The school has placed high in many Knowledge Bowl events, including a visit to the 2008 State Meet and a 5th place finish at the 1999 State Meet, and the band has received a Superior rating several times, which is the highest rating for a band in Minnesota. The school has also had much success in the activity of Speech. In the 1980s, the school had many champions in various categories, and in 2011 it had three medalists at the state speech meet: Wes Otto who placed 3rd in the category of Discussion, Stephanie Wolf who placed 2nd in the category of Poetry, and Christine Ohenewah who placed first in the category of Drama, making her the school's most recent two-time state speech champion.(for more information, visit Minnesota High School Speech) and the State Champions of the Division A Minnesota State Knowledge Bowl Meet. For more information on the MACS activities, sponsored by the MSHSL, visit the website below. Also, the school produces one three act play in the fall, usually a musical. 2010's production was "A Tale of Cinderella" staring Riley Buley as the prince, Sarah Weber as Cinderella, Matthew Fink as Cinderella's Father, and Christine Ohenewah as the evil stepmother. 2009's production was Grease. It was performed at the Fitzgerald Campus little theater. Past performances include "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Fiddler on the Roof", and other famous plays and musicals.

Athletics at Loyola are always competitive. Track and Field consistently sends athletes to the state meet year annually. Their last appearance was in 2008 in the mile and two mile. In the mile the Loyola runners were seeded 1-2. Currently three Loyola Alumni are on active Division I NCAA Track and Cross Country rosters. Football's last appearance at state was in the first round of the 2007 season while boy's basketball last season was the 2003-2004 season. In the 2002-2003 season the boy's basketball team set a state record for the best record all time at 32-0; two players from that team played college ball. Bret Brielmaier played for the University of Arizona and Tyler Westman played for South Dakota followed by Saint John's University (Collegeville, MN). The girl's softball team's more recent appearance at the state meet was a third place finish in 2006

The girls softball team continues to be the outstanding sport at Loyola. Having made many state appearances, the most recent was a third place finish in 2006. The last state tournament appearance for football was 2007 and for basketball was the 2003-2004 season. The basketball team won the state tournament with a record of 32-0.

The school has produced one professional athlete. Ben Brielmaier was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent, and played in several leagues including NFL-Europa with the Frankfurt Galaxy, the CFL, and the UFL.

Athletics include:
Boys Fall:
Football
Soccer (co-op with Lake Crystal High School)
Cross-Country
Girls Fall:
Volleyball
Soccer (co-op with Lake Crystal High School)
Cross-Country
Swimming/Diving (co-op with East High School)
Tennis (co-op with East High School)

Boys Winter:
Basketball
Hockey (co-op with East High School)
Swimming/Diving (co-op with East High School)
Skiing (co-op with East and West High Schools)
Wrestling (co-op with St. Clair High School)
Girls Winter:
Basketball
Dance Team
Hockey (co-op with East High School)
Skiing (co-op with East and West High Schools)
Gymnastics (co-op with West High School)

Boys Spring:
Baseball
Track and Field
Tennis (co-op with East High School)
Girls Spring:
Softball
Track and Field

Name

Before the 2005-2006 school year, the school board changed the name from Mankato Area Catholic Schools, which was a district controlling Loyola High School, Fitzgerald Middle School, Holy Rosary Intermediate School, and Notre Dame Elementary, to Mankato Area Catholic School, which combined all of these into one school. In December, 2005, the board changed the name of the school again to Loyola Catholic School because they wanted to have Catholic in the name of every school. The high school is most commonly called Loyola.

The original Loyola High School was located next to Ss Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Mankato, which had been founded by Jesuits. The school was named for Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The Fitzgerald Middle school currently is located near the Ss Peter and Paul Catholic Church. The Good Counsel Academy was located on Good Counsel Hill, the location for the School Sisters of Notre Dame mother house for the province of Mankato. The Academy closed in 1980. The Loyola High school moved to the Good Counsel Hill location.

References

1. ^ NCA-CASI. "NCA-Council on Accreditation and School Improvement". http://www.advanc-ed.org/schools_districts/school_district_listings/?. Retrieved 2009-06-23. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• MACS Website
• MACS page on the MSHSL website
• Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Mankato
• School Sisters of Notre Dame, Mankato Province

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