Carmel Catholic High School

Carmel Catholic High School is a private college preparatory and secondary school for young men and women in grades 9 through 12. Carmel Catholic provides a quality Catholic education and is committed to meeting the academic, physical, social and spiritual needs of the students it serves. At the core of Carmel Catholic are an abiding commitment to community service and a deep respect for all people.

Carmel Catholic High School empowers students to be reflective thinkers, grateful stewards, and responsible leaders as an expression of faith. Carmel Catholic High School’s identity is rooted in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ as reflected in Catholic tradition, and lived in the charisms of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Order of the Carmelites.

The Carmel Catholic High School community encompasses students, families, alumni, faculty, staff, friends of Carmel, and members of our founding orders. Community is a way of life that calls us to identify, to live, and to grow together as members of Christ’s Body in order to build God’s Kingdom.

BVMs say of community: “BVM Spirituality is marked by its origins as a circle of friends committed to one another and to mission. There is a genuine acceptance of one another and of diversity." Community is also a charism of the Carmelite Order and is woven into the Rule of St. Albert. Carmelites understand community to be a “connection with one another...it is a lived experience, practiced day in and day out.”

Carmel Catholic High School’s academic program fosters each student’s development as a reflective thinker, a person who can look critically at culture and the world and make just decisions rooted in virtue. Each student is nurtured and formed in faith to realize his or her potential, to prepare for success in college and beyond, and above all, to ultimately work toward the good of society.

This Carmel value is grounded directly in a core value of the BVMs namely, education. Of this core value the BVMs say: “Through education, we recognize our gifts and develop our potential, and draw these out in others. We recognize our interdependence and become whole and integrated.”

The mission of Carmel Catholic High School challenges us to be grateful stewards of the legacy of our founding orders. This is why service and justice are at the heart of Carmel values. Our call to serve is rooted in the principles of Catholic social teaching, namely the promotion of the dignity of human life and recognition of all people as brothers and sisters in Christ.

This call animates the Carmel Catholic Christian Service Program and enlivens our relationships with others. Both the BVMs and the Carmelites focus on justice and service to others. According to St. Therese of Lisieux, Carmelite Saint and Doctor of the Church, “Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.”

The school counseling department at Carmel Catholic High School is dedicated to developing a supportive program which promotes student achievement within the Carmel community. Our school counseling department is driven by student data and based on standards in academic, career and personal/social development to promote and enhance the learning process for our students. Carmel’s school counseling program is a collaborative effort between the student, school counselor, parents and other educators to create an environment that promotes student success. School counselors focus their skills, time and energy on direct and indirect services to their students by identifying individual student goals aligned with Carmel’s mission and spiritual growth. School counselors help students develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary for future plans involving college graduation and career readiness.

Carmel Catholic offers driver’s education through Fresh Green Light, an Illinois DMV Certified Driver Education Program. The basic program meets all of the Illinois DMV requirements for issuance of a driver’s license and includes eight hours of private, behind-the-wheel lessons, and 30 hours of classroom instruction taught at Carmel Catholic.