St. Laurence High School is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

, STEM-based high school founded in 1961. Located in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago ( la, Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 an ...

, the school is conducted by the

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers ( la, Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. Their first school was opened in Waterford, Ireland, ...

and is named for the Irish Saint Laurence O'Toole. The school is located in the southwest

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Burbank, Illinois Burbank is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 29,439 at the 2020 census. It is located at the southwest edge of the city of Chicago; the Chicago city limit – specifically that of the Ashburn neighborhood &nda ...

, adjacent to the property of the former Queen of Peace High School, a private, all-female Catholic high school that merged with St. Laurence in 2017.

History

St. Laurence High School was founded by the

as a boys' school. With the closure of its neighboring sister school Queen of Peace High School, a girls' school run by the Dominican Sisters, it was announced that St. Laurence would become

from the 2017-2018 academic year onwards and accommodate transferring female students. Due to construction delays on the Queen of Peace High School building, Queen of Peace High School classes were held in the D and E wings of the St. Laurence building for one school year while construction on Queen of Peace High School was completed.

Classes

At the start of the 2013 school year, St. Laurence High School became a

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

school. The school incorporates spirituality and leadership in their STEM program. St. Laurence High School also pioneers "Career Explorer" courses. All classrooms are located on the first floor of the school. Classrooms are divided among four of the five academic wings, labeled A, B, C, D, and E. In 2021, St. Laurence High School began an

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

diploma program, making it one of 37 Illinois high schools to offer the program, as well as one of only three Catholic high schools in the state.

Athletics

St. Laurence High School is a member of the

Chicago Catholic League The Chicago Catholic League (CCL) is a high school athletic conference based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. All of the schools are part of the Illinois High School Association, the governing body for Illinois scholastic sports. While some o ...

(CCL) and the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

(IHSA). St. Laurence sponsors interscholastic teams in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

, cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 wi ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 ...

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 extensively ...

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 events ...

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 Summ ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, which compete in IHSA sponsored state championship tournaments. The school also sponsors an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team. The following teams have finished in the top four at the IHSA state tournament in their respective class. * Baseball: 2nd place (2019), 3rd place (1993, 2017), Semifinalist (1987) * Basketball: 4th place (1976–1977) * Football: Champions (1976–1977), Runner-Up (1979–1980) * Wrestling: Champions (1989–1990)

Notable alumni

Brent Bowers Brent Raymond Bowers (born May 2, 1971) is an American former professional baseball player. Bowers played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1996 season. He also played in the Korea Baseball Organization i ...

: Major League Baseball outfielder with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

* Kevin Bracken: United States team member in

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling (Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mod ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

* Jimmy Dore: Comedian and political commentator * Jim Dwyer: Major League Baseball outfielder with the

1983 World Series The 1983 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1983 season. The 80th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles and the National ...

champion

Tim Grunhard Timothy Gerard Grunhard (born May 17, 1968) is an American football coach and former center. A second-round draft choice in the 1990 NFL Draft for the Kansas City Chiefs, Grunhard went on to play 169 games with Kansas City, the fourth most ever b ...

: NFL All-Pro center with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

* James Hickey: retired United States Army colonel who was involved in the capture of Iraqi dictator

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

in December, 2003 * Daniel Robert Jenky: Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria The Diocese of Peoria ( la, Diœcesis Peoriensis, Peoria, Illinois) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the central Illinois region of the United States. The Diocese of Peoria is a suffragan diocese ...

; rector of the

Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Indiana The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame, Indiana, is a Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1 ...

, at

Notre Dame University The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

; chaplain of Notre Dame's last football team to win a national championship * Tom Kavanagh: head football coach with the 1976 Illinois Class 5A state and 1972-1974 Chicago Prep Bowl championship teams * Kevin J. O'Connor: film and TV actor (''

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Steve Puidokas Steven John Puidokas (April 12, 1955 – August 12, 1994) was an American professional basketball player in Europe. He played college basketball for the Washington State Cougars from 1973 to 1977. He left Washington State as both their all-time ...

: professional basketball player in Europe and Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Hall of Honor member * Stan Smagala: NFL safety with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

Jim Stack Jim Stack is an American basketball executive and former player. He served as general manager of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves from July 9, 2004 to September 26, 2009. Prior to joining the Timberwolves' organization, Stack worked as a scout ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

executive with the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

and

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John Tumpane John Francis Tumpane (born May 4, 1983) is an American Major League Baseball umpire wearing number 74. Umpiring career He made his major league umpiring debut on August 2, 2010. He umpired in six major league games in 2010, and returned in 201 ...

: Major League Baseball umpire *

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: motion picture screenwriter (''

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References

External links

Official websiteSouthtownStar: "A happy state of mind in Burbank"
- Article on 2007 football resurgence of St. Laurence and Reavis {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Laurence High School Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic secondary schools in Illinois Congregation of Christian Brothers secondary schools Boys' schools in the United States Educational institutions established in 1961 Private high schools in Cook County, Illinois Burbank, Illinois 1961 establishments in Illinois