Major Majerus Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 high bred, affluent...didn't apply to SLUH when I went there. There were kids from so many different parishes, including the east side and Jefferson county. It was a real melting pot. If you could pass the exam to get in, and wanted to go, a way would be found. A guy who later became a great friend of mine worked in the cafeteria for 4 years. No money in that family. Some sons of well known and/or well to do families attended, but they sure didn't define the student body. I would suspect that SLUH still draws predominately from the city and inner suburbs while perhaps DeSmet is getting the students with more suburban demographics. OK, where did you go to HS - let us make some unfounded statements about it... :+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_arete Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 to see this exciting prospect from DeSmet this year. Maybe Leonard will return DeSmet to their previous glory. As for the other arguments, you've gotten your wish. I think it has ended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_arete Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 DeSmet, Country Day and CBC are all wonderful melting pots...silly me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 The area that DeSmet draws the most students from? Not Ladue. Not Clayton. Not Frontenac. Not Town and Country. Not Chesterfield or Wildwood or Creve Coeur. Not Webster. The area that DeSmet draws the most students from is South County. That is a FACT. I don't know how you define melting pot. If it is black and white, then I guess you are correct, DeSmet is predominantly white. But it is not predominantly rich. It is frustrating to see a school get an inaccurate label. As a graduate of DeSmet and someone whose parents made huge sacrifices so that I could attend, I resent the tone of your comments. I'm sure the same goes for students at CBC, SLUH and Vianney. I don't know enough about the secular schools like Burroughs and MICDS to comment so I will not submit an opinion on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 jalensdad, you have a great perspective on what these young men should and shouldnt do. little jalen is a lucky guy. i look forward to his billiken days! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 aj, i dont know about the st louis private schools, but i do know about belleville althoff since my son just graduated from there. as unca stated about slu, if a young student wants to attend, every effort is investigated to get that student in the school. there is a summer work program, there are numerous sponsorship grants, etc. and amazingly to me, few of these situations were used by "athletes" to beat the system. most went to the truly deserving kids that just needed a way. the cross section of race at althoff was very mixed, but i can say after watching my son's class grow for four years, i have no doubt that the kids that attended that would have been at madison, or lovejoy or east st louis or cahokia prospered from the physical surroundings, the dedication of the faculty and peer friendships and relationships they developed over those four years. i know it cant possibly be true, but of the 200+ kids in his class, i seriously dont know of any "bad apples" in the class. whatever sacrifice the needy young men and women had to make to go to that school as opposed to the public school in those depressed cities was a sacrifice that i would bet those parents and students would agree was well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_arete Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 my statement inferring that DeSmet's population was mostly affluent. Talked with a friend, who is a DeSmet alum, and he confirmed what AlumniFan stated. Please accept my apology if I offended anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 AJ, Not offended, just giving the facts. Private schools are more diverse economically than you think. I think it is great Leonard is a high profile African American athlete at DeSmet. Personally he could be blue, green whatever, don't care. Let's see, Andy Henderson, mid 80's running back, superstar, Von Scales, an old friend of mind, terrific undersized forward in mid 80's and great guy like Andy are only a few in major sports. What I like most is he is good kid by all accounts the most important thing. AJ, I would be happy to discuss any other examples on another thread at another time or other location. Al Hebron, former standout Priory footballer class of 90, former Holy Cross College runninng back, and Kenny Barry former Priory rb and U of Notre Dame rb, both african American, Al being a long time friend of mine that I played sports with could tell you all kinds of stories of their experience at Priory and in college 1-AA and 1A. You would be enlightened I think. I agree with Alumnifan and DeSmet Billiken on here. Private school sports success is cyclical. DeSmet never really has a "bad" team in too many things, so they always seem to be good at something. Their most successful teams in past 20-30 years are hoops and hockey, with soccer probably next. But always competitive in most sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tseugnekillib Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Just curious, what is the approximate enrollment of DeSmet, CBC, SLUH, Chaminade, Vianney, St. Mary's, etc. I am somewhat familiar with co-ed Belleville Althoff Catholic. Total co-ed enrollment is in the 670-700 range. (broy, please correct me if I'm wrong.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 I know I could have looked this up but didn't. I do know DeSmet's well. DeSmet was always 600-700 kids up until 5-8 years ago. 800 would have been a lot. This was up until early mid 1990's. In late 1990's DeSmet has increased its enrollment dramatically and leveled it out at over 1000. SLUH has similar enrollment size as DeSmet. DeSmet's long time principal wanted more dollars...the school has dramatically upgraded outdated academic and athletic facilities with this $$, as well as other areas, teacher salary increases etc...My friends who still teach there think size needs to go down considerably, too many now. I asked them and they tell me the quality of student is the same as 90's 80's etc...no better no worse. Type of student similar as well. These are young teachers and old teachers saying this. When I graduated I had 249 in my freshman class, and graduated with 189. It is much bigger now. I had an older brother who had 168 in his class. DeSmet has finally gotten out of the "red" after decades of debt as a "newer" school in past decades and finally reached a point where sons of alums are old enough to attend regularly. I know Vianney and St. Mary's are smaller. Chaminade has increased enrollment in past decade, and CBC....I would be interested to see what they want with their new location size wise. In other cities, schools similar to DeSmet are equal in size or bigger. I have been to a lot of places and St. Louis area has an amazing per capita amount of private, if not single sexed Catholic schools. DeSmet says they will not go co-ed ever...unlike other cities, like Chicago's Loyola or Fenwick which went co-ed in mid 90's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 One thing I would add, is that in the past, not recent past...the 90's 80's 70's...DeSmet would always play large schools, mostly schools with much larger enrollment year in and year out, something I always thought was a good thing. I liked the days when DeSmet football played East St. Louis and Sumner back to back to start their football season, when those schools were king. Some of those other smaller St. Louis side private ones like Priory or something ...will have 50 boys or so total in graduating class, probably a little bit more now.... John Burroughs similar, ....Country Day small but a bit bigger than those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 CBC's student body came from the same sources as SLUH's when I was there; DeSmet didn't exist, and CD is a different story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 My freshman class in '59 was 230; only 207 graduated, and a very few of those were transfers in. Most of the others flunked out, and two died. New freshman classes are about 250 I understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Unca, your class shows 206 grads; mine ('76) had only 189 (we were the smallest class in a very long time, owing to statistical anomaly in the amount of substance abuse and blowing up of bathroom stalls with priests still in them); '03 had 246. As for enrollments, DeSmet, owing to the long-time subsidation by its big brother and lower general academic standards in comparison, is now the largest independent private secondary school in town with 1,235 students; SLUH has 1,053; CBC has 1,010 and Chaminade has 860, but that includes 7-8. MICDS has 581 M/F; Burroughs has 595 M/F 7-12. Priory has 391 7-12. And yes, I was kidding about the subsidation and academic standards. Except if AlumniFan and Scrivener's kid are reading this. (I must admit to enjoying the bit about being "high-bred and affluent," though. That's much better than "boorish," although occasionally synonomous.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidlee Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 It is my understanding that next year's CBC freshman class should be a little over 300 students. I assume their overall enrollment will go up a little over the next few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Majerus Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 206? Oops, I'm going to get out my diploma and make sure it's not blank... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Please tell me that you didn't go to that 2:30 geek school of the "U" High. It would explain a lot...chuckle chuckle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 My stock (and completely true) answer to "the St. Louis question" is that I attended Trinity High School in Louisville, KY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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