Catholic prep school enrolls first student with Down syndrome

Published: 2006-10-10

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Standing at his locker in a hallway at Mount St. Joseph High School in Baltimore, Ben Stevick attracted the kind of attention that might otherwise be reserved for a quarterback on game day. Just about every guy who passed through the bustling corridor called out to the short-in-stature, 17-year-old sophomore, many of them patting him on the shoulder and one playfully punching him on the arm and yelling, "Yo, Ben, my man, what's up!" The Friday afternoon scene at Mount St. Joseph in late September could have played out in any high school in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. What made it extraordinary is the fact that Stevick has Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes mental retardation. Stevick is the first student with Down syndrome to enroll in a Catholic high school in the Baltimore Archdiocese. His presence at Mount St. Joseph has changed Stevick in significant ways and touched many hearts in the Mount community.

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