Subiaco Academy

Subiaco Academy
Address
405 North Subiaco Avenue Subiaco , Logan County , Arkansas 72865 United States
Coordinates	35°18′4″N 93°38′0″W
Information
Type	Private, All-Male
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1887
Status	Open
CEEB code	042375
NCES School ID	00047708
Headmaster	Robert A. Loia
Teaching staff	21.0 (on FTE basis)
Grades	7–12
Gender	Male
Enrollment	172 (2009–2010)
Average class size	12
Student to teacher ratio	8.2
Classes offered	11 AP
Color(s)	Blue   Orange
Slogan	America's Best Value in Boarding Schools
Sports	Football, golf, cross country, basketball, soccer, tennis, baseball, track and field
Mascot	Trojan
Team name	Subiaco Trojans
Accreditation	Independent School Association of Central States, Arkansas Nonpublic School Accrediting Association
Newspaper	Periscope
Yearbook	Pax
Graduates	35-45
Academic Dean	Cheryl Goetz
Dean of Men	Greg Timmerman
Admissions Director	Scott Breed
Athletic Director	Tim Tencleve
Website	www.subiacoacademy.us

Subiaco Academy is a male boarding/day school of Catholic tradition, a part of Subiaco Abbey based in Subiaco, Arkansas, United States. Tuition is for grades 7 through 12. It offers preparatory classes with co-curricular activities including sports, arts and music and outdoor activities.

Background

The Academy is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, and the Arkansas Non-public Schools Accrediting Association. The college placement rate for graduates is 100%.

History

The school came into existence as a result of the German migration to the Arkansas River Valley in the 1870s and especially in the 1880s and 1890s. The Little Rock-Fort Smith Railroad Company had thousands of acres of free land in the area. They had resolved to sell this land only to German Catholic settlers if possible. This company approached the Swiss Benedictine Monks in Indiana to send missionaries to Logan County Arkansas in 1878. These monks brought with them their Swiss Benedictine heritage of a monastery school. Until the First World War, numerous additional monks and recruits from Switzerland strengthened this educational tradition.

In 1887 the monks opened a school called St. Benedict's College to educate young men between the ages of 14 and 20 in the basic humanities. There were never more than 20 students in this school and it was terminated in the summer of 1892. The monks reorganized this educational project that summer, and in the fall, the school was reopened as a seminary to train students for the ministry. This school was called The Scholasticate. Modeled upon European "Gymnasium" lines, it consisted mostly of classical languages and musical training. This form of the school reached its peak with some 70 students in 1901 when the institution was largely destroyed by fire.

By the spring of 1902, the school reopened in its present location in a stone building that had already been under construction when the 1901 fire occurred. The name was changed to Subiaco College. This school comprised a six-year program, still modeled on European lines, with three courses of study: classical, scientific, and commercial. By the mid-1920s, enrollment stood at over 200 young men.

In December 1927, the institution was again destroyed by fire, but a primitive school, Subiaco Academy, was reopened in February 1928, in what was left of the Main Building. This school barely survived the Depression Years.

During World War II, enrollment increased, but it was only after 1945 that Subiaco Academy was able to begin expanding its physical plant. In 1952, a classroom building was completed; a fitting campus church was dedicated in 1959; a guest house was opened in 1963; a stadium in 1965; a fieldhouse and dorm building in 1966; a new library in 1967 and the Performing Arts Center in 1978. In the summer of 1992, the old, open dorms of the Main Building became air-conditioned, semi-private rooms. The Health Center, expanded from the old Infirmary, was completed for students and monks in January 1996. In the summer of 1998, the classroom buildings were renovated and air-conditioned; in the summer of 1999, the art building, the student dining room, and the Student Union were renovated and air-conditioned.

In the 1960s, when the vast majority of Subiaco's students were enrolling in college, Subiaco Academy became college prep and was admitted to the North Central Association in 1968.

The earliest administrators and teachers were all Benedictine monks. By the time of the First World War, there were one or two male lay teachers. Hired coaches were added after the mid-1920s. The great number of non-monk staff (teachers and administrators), including female faculty members, came only in the mid-1970s.

Student life

The Academy has a diverse student body attracting international students mainly from South Korea and Mexico. There are also students from Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles, China, Belarus, Spain, Thailand, and Japan. In addition, the Academy attracts students from across the United States.

A wide range of extracurricular activities and services are made available to students at the Academy. Residential Deans are available. Students participate in outdoor sports and excursions. The Academy owns a cabin located on Lake Dardanelle near Russellville, Arkansas. In addition, the academy offers many extracurricular activities such as Quiz Bowl, National Honor Society, clubs, Boy Scouts and Student Government. A student-run cafe is also located on the campus, known as Die Bunkerstube. A recreation room, two TV rooms and athletic facilities, fitness rooms, an outdoor swimming pool and a track are also located at various locations on campus.

Multiple study halls are available to all students. A math lab is hosted on Monday evenings. Additional tutoring services are offered by appointed students.

Religion is an integral part of the student life. There are mandatory classes in Theology for each year spent at Subiaco. Mandatory Masses are held every Sunday and Wednesday morning in the abbey church.

Sports

The Subiaco Academy mascot and athletic emblem is the Trojan with blue and orange serving as the school colors.

For 2012–14, the Subiaco Trojans compete in the 4A Classification from the 4A Region 4 Conference as administered by the Arkansas Activities Association. The Trojans participate in football, golf, cross country, soccer, tennis, and track and feld.

Since 1974 the Subiaco Trojan tennis team has a record of 228 wins, 46 losses and four ties and won nine state 4A tennis titles including 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2008.

Notable alumni

The following are notable people associated with Subiaco Academy. If the person was a Subiaco Academy student, the number in parentheses indicates the year of graduation; if the person was a faculty or staff member, that person's title and years of association are included:

• Billy Bock (1954), college and high school baseball coach; coached four schools to nine state high school baseball championships.
• Frank Stanford (1966), poet
• Harvey Wheeler, author, political scientist, and scholar; best known as co-author of Fail-Safe, 1962, an early cold war novel.

Media references

KNWA-TV, a Fort Smith, Arkansas television station, produced a half-hour report on the history of the Abbey and Academy in March 2009.

External links

• Official website
• Subiaco Academy's History