SAINT STANISLAUS KOSTKA CATHOLIC SCHOOL 1255 N. Noble Street Chicago, IL 60622 (773) 278-4560 (school office) (773) 278-9097 (fax) “St. Stan’s K” www.ststansk.com www.amothersplea.org

• State-of-the-art computer lab staffed by a full time computer teacher
• Title I Lab for children at risk
• DePaul affiliated tutoring programs
• Music Program; introduction to musical instruments
• Physical education program
• Additional preschool instructors are available for Spanish and Polish speaking students
• New playground opened in 2004
• Emergency scholarship fund available

Students are encouraged to become involved in extracurricular activities. St. Stanislaus Kostka School offers opportunities for students to develop personal gifts as well as to grow in leadership, responsibility, service, and the ability to work as a team. Extracurricular opportunities include:

• Altar Servers – Grades 4-8 Liturgies
• “The Wildcats” Basketball Teams – for Boys/Girls in Grades 6-8
• Missions – All students take part in Mission Activities through the Propagation of the Faith
• Liturgy – Children learn to take an active part in Liturgy by assisting in the planning of Liturgies and actively participating in them
• Service – Students are taught that they are vital members of the community. As such, they are given opportunities to serve their parish and city civic communities.
• Student Government opportunities
• Annual Science Fair
• Class Field Trips throughout the year
• Cross-Cultural Choir
• Patrol Guards – All eighth graders participate in patrolling

Students who participate in extracurricular activities are expected to be in good academic standing. A student who receives a failing grade is placed on probation until permission to resume the activity is given by the school principal.

The current school building was originally built for high school students in 1959. In 2004, the Big Shoulders Fund generously awarded a $4.5 million grant for major capital improvements, making St. Stanislaus Kostka a “flagship school” within the Archdiocese of Chicago.* In addition, a generous Big Shoulders Patron donated funds to build a playground and state-of-the-art computer lab at the school. Because of its strategic location along the Kennedy Expressway, these improvements symbolize the strong commitment to quality Catholic education by the Big Shoulders Fund and the Archdiocese of Chicago.**

St. Stanislaus Kostka, whose name means glory and honor, is the patron saint of youth. Born in Poland in 1550 to an aristocratic family, Stanislaus was a devout young man who departed home with his brother at the age of 13 to study at the Jesuit College in Vienna. When his parents refused to let him enter the priesthood, Stanislaus secretly traveled 1,000 miles on foot from Vienna to Rome, where he was received into the Jesuit Novitiate. St. Stanislaus died at the age of 18, probably of malaria, shortly before professing his final vows.

In a letter written in 1968, Pope John Paul II wrote that “St. Stanislaus Kostka gives us a deep insight into the full meaning and purpose of our own lives, its real value and worth. His life with its short span of 18 years gives us an excellent example of the following truths:

• First, that man on earth is destined for eternity, that is, he is destined for God as his final end and this goal is worth striving for and enduring all things in order to reach Him.
• Secondly, that every man possesses a dignity which is increased by his nobility of soul and strength of character.”

The Congregation of the Resurrection and the School Sisters of Notre Dame have been responsible for the education of the youth at St. Stanislaus Kostka since the school opened its doors in 1874. The Congregation of the Resurrection is a religious community of priests and brothers that was founded in Paris, France in 1836. The Congregation of the Schools Sisters of Notre Dame is a religious order of women founded in 1597 at Mattaincourt, in the French Province of Lorraine.

Four sisters from the School Sisters of Notre Dame taught 89 students in that first year of the school’s existence in 1874. By 1876 the enrollment had risen to 500. By 1907 there were over 4,000 students taught by a staff of 76 sisters making St. Stanislaus Kostka the largest elementary school in the United States. During its 131 years, St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish has nurtured the vocation to the religious life of 54 young men to the priesthood and nearly 354 young women to the sisterhood. The current pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka is Father Anthony Buś, CR, who was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1984. Sister Susan Marie Curtin has been principal since 1991.