BENEDICTINE ACADEMY

Benedictine Academy was a Catholic parochial, college preparatory high school serving young women in ninth through twelfth grades in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. Opened in 1915 by the Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth, Saint Walburga Monastery, it operated under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. The school closed at the end of the 2019–20 school year due to declining enrollment, having had 174 students in 2014–15 and 127 in 2019–20. It was accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission since 1996. The student body included White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students, and the faculty comprised Benedictine Sisters, other religious, and lay teachers, 70% of whom held advanced degrees. In June 2011, the school won a Jefferson Award for Public Service for anti-bullying and anti-human-trafficking programs. Its athletic teams, the Green Bees, competed in the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, and the girls' spring track team won the Non-Public B state championship in 2010. Notable alumnae included Lauren H. Carson, Arline M. Friscia, and Virginia Long. The school site was later purchased by the Elizabeth Public Schools in 2022 for $5.5 million.