Beyond the Books: Clubs, Sports, Service and More
While solid academic instruction is integral to every Catholic high school education, it’s only part of the story. Forming well-rounded, broad-minded leaders also means offering a vast array of extracurricular opportunities that will capture their imaginations, challenge them and lead them to a deeper understanding of who they are.
Here are just a few examples of the hundreds of amazing, “beyond-the-books” learning that takes place at Catholic high schools of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
— Every year, the students of Divine Saviors Holy Angels (DSHA) High School choose an Advent and Lenten school-wide service project. Their Advent project focuses on a local need, while the Lenten project tackles a global issue. This Lent, a team of student campus ministers led the effort to raise $22,000 to construct a maternity ward in Ghana.
— The theater program at Dominican High School doesn’t just produce on-stage excellence in acting and music (their 2019 production of “Newsies” nabbed 23 Jerry Award nominations, recognizing excellence in high school theater). Their stage crew fosters an environment of teamwork and collaboration, and imparts real-life skills that students take into adulthood.
— Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Milwaukee is known as a “school that works” — and for good reason. Students at Cristo Rey participate in an impressive array of corporate work-study jobs that not only help to offset the cost of their education but prepare them for successful careers. Work-study jobs take place in collaboration with partners that include Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, Harley-Davidson and Kohl’s.
— Get your student clubbing! (No, not that kind). Do you have a budding Latinist on your hands? Marquette University High School offers a Latin club as part of its co-curricular opportunities. Love anime? Pius XI High School has an anime club. St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Kenosha offers a knitting club, meteorology club and stock market club (to name just a few). St. Joan Antida High School has clubs that specialize in peer mediation, photography and so much more.
— Catholic Central High School in Burlington has earned 51 State Championship titles and 88 Conference Championship titles for sports. Their athletic offerings include football, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, soccer and track and field.
— St. Catherine’s High School in Racine is well-known for their stellar boys basketball program, which achieved numerous State Championship titles under legendary coach Bob Letsch. Last year, the school nabbed its first State Championship title in football.
— A significant part of a young man’s education at Marquette University High School (MUHS) revolves around the Jesuit ideal of becoming “a man for others.” To that end, MUHS students must rack up 141 hours of community service throughout their high school career. The culmination of this experience is the Senior Shared Life project, where students are released from school for two weeks to work on a community service project. Since the project began in 1972, more than 10,000 students have provided nearly 500,000 hours of service at more than 70 sites.
Contact a Catholic high school near you to learn more about extra-curricular activity offerings.