Cor Jesu Academy is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for young women located in Affton,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis The Archdiocese of St. Louis ( la, Archidiœcesis Sancti Ludovici) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that covers the City of St. Louis and the Missouri counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Perr ...

. It was founded in 1956 by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart.

History

Originally located in the Italian Hill district of St. Louis, its first principal was Sr. Anita Marie Giampetro. Cor Jesu moved to its present location on Gravois Road in

Affton, Missouri Affton is a census-designated place (CDP) in south St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, near St. Louis. The population was 20,417 at the 2020 United States Census. Geography Affton is located at 38°33'4" North, 90°19'25" West (38.5510 ...

in 1965. An expanded Library-Fine Arts Center was completed in 1987. In 2005, expansion was completed with a new front entrance and courtyard, along with a new building called Clelian Hall. The library and broadcast studio were renovated in the summer of 2012. In the fall of 2012, 10 acres of land were purchased in auction by Cor Jesu. This land increased the campus size to a total of 29 acres, and was the first addition to the property since 2008, when the 6 acres in front of the newly acquired land was purchased. On top of this land, construction management company S. M. Wilson & Co built a $8.9 million dollar gymnasium. This gym added a new student commons, four new classrooms, offices, locker rooms, and a dance studio. This project added 40,000 square feet to the building's footprint. During a June 9–17, 2012, tour in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, the Cor Jesu Academy choir performed for

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

during the June 13 papal audience and was the principal choir for a Mass at the Altar of the Chair in

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

, singing the liturgy for the feast of the Sacred Heart at Santa Croce. It also presented a formal concert at St. Ignatius Church in

and sang at a liturgy at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.

Academics

Cor Jesu is well regarded for its academics. In order to be considered for admission to the school, students must score in the eighty-fifth percentile or above in a standardized test such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. In addition to its college preparatory courses, Cor Jesu offers Advanced College Credit courses to juniors and seniors in conjunction with St. Louis University and

University of Missouri–St. Louis The University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) is a public research university in St. Louis, Missouri. Established in 1963, it is one of four universities in the University of Missouri System and its newest. Located on the former grounds of Bel ...

along with Advanced Placement courses in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, French,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, Math, and

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

. Cor Jesu students average a score of 29 on the ACT, nine points above the national average. According to ''St Louis Magazine'', the average score of 29 was the highest for an all-girls Catholic High School. Cor Jesu consistently has among the highest ACT scores in St Louis. Since the 2000-2001 school year, Cor Jesu has had 21

National Merit Finalists The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

and 45 National Merit Commended Students. Ninety-nine percent of Cor Jesu students continue on to

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

studies. Cor Jesu has been accredited by the

North Central Association The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...

since 1971. In 1990-91, Cor Jesu was named a

Blue Ribbon School of Excellence The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

by the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

Athletics

Sports programs for students at Cor Jesu include: cross country,

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

, and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

in the fall;

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

, and

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

in the winter; and soccer,

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

, and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

in the spring. The school has won state championships in several sports, and were in 2012 the Midwest field hockey champions, state champions in soccer, and also national high school champions in racquetball.

State championships

*Basketball: 1995 *Field hockey: 1982, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012 *Lacrosse: 2016 *Racquetball: 2007, 2008, 2011-2016, 2021 *Soccer: 1985, 2012 *Softball: 1989 *Swim and Dive: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 *Volleyball: 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2021

National championships

*Racquetball: 2007 *Racquetball: 2009 *Racquetball: 2011 *Racquetball: 2012

Notable alumnae

Ann Wagner Ann Louise Wagner (née Trousdale, September 13, 1962) is an American politician and diplomat serving as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 2nd congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, she was the United States ambassador t ...

, Republican US Representative from Missouri, 2nd District *

Niele Ivey Niele Deirdre Jamillah Viveca Ivey (born September 24, 1977) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team. She is a former Women's National Basketball Association (WNB ...

, former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) player, head coach for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball The Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The program currently competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Divisio ...

* Heather Maclean, author and founder of Little Laureate * Victoria Recaño, television correspondent for The Insider * Laura Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia

Notes and references

External links

Cor Jesu Academy
{{authority control Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis Educational institutions established in 1956 Girls' schools in Missouri Roman Catholic secondary schools in St. Louis County, Missouri 1956 establishments in Missouri