Loyola Catholic School is located in

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Minnesota, and the 5th-largest outside of the Minnea ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. The school is part of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and serves students in PreK-

Grade 12 Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

History

The first

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 ...

school in

was started at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in 1865. Other elementary schools in

/ North Mankato were founded at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in 1925, St. John The Baptist Catholic Church in 1942, and St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in 1958. The first Catholic high school in Mankato was founded as Loyola High School in 1908. In addition, Good Counsel Academy was opened as a boarding school for girls in 1912. In 1969, all 7th and 8th grade students at Catholic elementary schools were consolidated at Edmund Fitzgerald Middle School in Mankato. Loyola High School moved to its current campus on

Good Counsel Hill Good Counsel Hill is a notable location in Mankato, Minnesota. This hill is located off US Highway 14 and is home to Loyola Catholic School and a motherhouse for the School Sisters of Notre Dame School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide relig ...

in 1982 after Good Counsel Academy closed two years earlier. All schools incorporated together in 1990, and this organization was named Loyola Catholic School in 2006. In 2005, all students in grade 4 and grade 5 were moved to the Fitzgerald campus to join grades 6-8 who were already at that campus. In 2017, Loyola closed the Fitzgerald Campus and moved all students to the Good Counsel Campus.

Good Counsel Campus

The Good Counsel Campus is located on

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. There are about twenty students in each class. The curriculum of the school includes four years required of religion, math and English and three years of social studies, and science. The curriculum also requires two years of foreign language ( French and

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 ...

are offered). There are four Advanced Placement (AP) classes offered at Loyola Catholic School. They are AP Calculus, AP Biology, 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 The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is a voluntary, non-profit association for the support and governance of interscholastic activities at high schools in Minnesota, United States. The association supports interscholastic athletics an ...

(MSHSL).

Activities

The school won the 2009

Minnesota State Knowledge Bowl Meet The Minnesota State Knowledge Bowl Meet is an annual, two-day academic quiz competition sponsored by the Minnesota Service Cooperatives, which is Minnesota's governing body of Knowledge Bowl Knowledge Bowl is the name for several interdiscipli ...

, qualified for the 2008 State Meet and placed 5th at the 1999 State Meet. In 2009, Loyola produced the state champions of the Division A

. Also, the school produces one three-act play in the fall, usually a musical. Past performances include "

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' is a 1967 musical with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner and (in a 1999 revision) Andrew Lippa. It is based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip ''Peanuts''. The musical ...

", "

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Thi ...

," "

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

", and other notable plays and musicals. Athletics at Loyola are always competitive. Track and Field consistently sends athletes to the state meet 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 boys' basketball last season was the 2003-2004 season. In the 2002-2003 season the boys' 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 girls' 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 The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

as an undrafted free agent, and played in several leagues including NFL-Europa with the Frankfurt Galaxy, the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

, and the UFL. Athletics include:
Boys Fall:
Football (co-op with St. Clair High School)
Soccer (co-op with Lake Crystal High School)
Cross-Country (co-op with Cleveland High School)
Girls Fall:
Volleyball
Soccer (co-op with Lake Crystal High School)
Cross-Country (co-op with Cleveland High School)
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 (co-op with Cleveland High School)
Tennis (co-op with East High School)
Girls Spring:
Softball
Track and Field (co-op with Cleveland High School)

Name

Before the 2005–06 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 Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. The school was named for Saint

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, Society of Jesus, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spain, Spanish Catholic ...

. The Fitzgerald Middle school currently is located near the Ss Peter and Paul Catholic Church. The Good Counsel Academy was located on

, the location for the

School Sisters of Notre Dame School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide religious institute of Roman Catholic sisters founded in Bavaria in 1833 and devoted to primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and mi ...

mother house for the province of Mankato. The Academy closed in 1980. The Loyola High school moved to the

location.

Notable alumni

* John Bessler, author * Ben Brielmaier, former NFL offensive lineman * Bret Brielmaier, assistant coach for the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

* William (Bill) Bresnan, Founder Bresnan Communications

References

External links

Loyola Catholic School WebsiteLoyola Catholic School page on the MSHSL websiteSaints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in MankatoSchool Sisters of Notre Dame, Mankato Province
{{authority control Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester Catholic secondary schools in Minnesota Schools in Blue Earth County, Minnesota Educational institutions established in 1865 Mankato, Minnesota 1865 establishments in Minnesota