Chicago school marks decade of changing lives once deemed hopeless

Published: 2005-01-24

CHICAGO (CNS) -- The San Miguel School community is celebrating a decade of transforming young lives, many once tagged as hopeless. The Catholic middle school, which today operates on two campuses, began with a dream and much faith in 1995 in a Chicago area known as the Back of the Yards neighborhood, where only 30 percent of students graduate from high school. "The dream was to provide a human and Christian education for kids who don't have a lot of options," said Brother Ed Siderewicz, a De La Salle Christian Brother and president of San Miguel. His order sponsors the school. Now, more than 87 percent of San Miguel students graduate from high school, Brother Siderewicz said, and in 2002 the first San Miguel students entered college. In that same year, the school opened its second campus, the Gary Comer Campus at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. The campus is named in honor of the founder of Wisconsin-based Lands' End, a merchandiser of apparel and other goods; Comer is San Miguel's leading benefactor.

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