The Freshman Year at St. Benedict's Prep is an intense and demanding 11-month
program designed to prepare a young man to be successful in his high school years.
SUMMER PHASE
The whole student body of St. Benedict's gathers for a five-week session of half-day classes
during July. For the members of the Freshman Class, the session begins with
the five-day Overnight. The 140 Freshmen from 40 or more towns, 60 or more schools, and many different
racial and economic backgrounds begin the challenge of discovering the unity that will
characterize their class for the next four — years and beyond.
The Freshman Class is divided into 18 "colors" of about eight students each,
with an older student acting as counselor for the week. Meals are taken "family style"
in the dining room as each student takes a turn being the waiter for his color, setting the table, serving the
food, and clearing up afterward. A full day of academic classes, homework, and physical education ends with
a well-deserved rest on the floor of Shanley gymnasium in sleeping bags. Food is plentiful
and high in quality. Getting to know the other Freshmen, learning to work with each other,
and developing unity in order to meet the week's demands are the essential part of the
program. Freshmen meet faculty members and older students, discover Benedict's proud history
and traditions, learn the school songs, and enjoy the good feeling that comes from a hard
job well done in the company of good friends.
LIFESTYLE
Freshmen soon find that much study is necessary to do well in classes, and much practice
is necessary to do well in athletics, drama, or other school activities.
Nonessential habits like
watching television, talking on the telephone, or "hanging out on the corner with the guys"
simply get in the way of success in school. Even jobs are
a distraction for most students.
Eating a good breakfast and a healthy lunch and getting plenty of sleep and some vigorous exercise
are important ingredients to success. Intelligence, native ability, and good skills are not nearly as
important as the ability to work hard every day, be on time for every class, and never miss a day
of school. These are the ingredients for success at
St. Benedict's — in the classroom, on the stage,
on the playing field. For many Freshmen, this represents a difficult adjustment of values and a
considerable change from their former habits.
BACKPACKING PROJECT
At the end of the Freshmen Year, during May, Freshmen once again spend an entire week together. This
time there is no comfortable gym floor to sleep on —
students are in tents. And there is no professional
cook to attend to their needs. Freshman team members take turns cooking for one another, preparing food they have
carried on their backs. The Backpacking Project is a
five-day trek over 50 miles of the Appalachian Trail
in the mountains of western New Jersey.
Freshmen form themselves into 16 teams of eight members each and elect a leader from among themselves. Four
such teams make a "company" that is led by specially trained older students,
first-aiders, and adults. Three weeks of intense training precede the week on the trail
so that Freshmen are prepared for whatever might happen during their adventure. It turns out
that hiking for a week is not hard at all, but being with your friends night and day is not
so easy to do!
As the Freshmen arrive at the Delaware Water Gap and cross the bridge to meet the buses at
Route 80, five tiring days and 50 long miles from High Point State Park, their adventure of Freshman
Year has ended.
Admissions Office
St. Benedict’s Preparatory School
520 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard
Newark, NJ 07102-1314
973-792-5744
dlamourt@sbp.org
