Two state championships, increased enrollment, growing clubs, new building additions; what more could go right for the Caravan in 2024?
As the year kicked off, athletics picked up right where they left off by crowning the wrestling team with their fifth state championship and basketball with their first trip down state since 1985. Promising new talent in baseball brought a sectional championship, and football got their sixteenth ring in a season of records. While students jam packed the stands for game day, fans near and far could tune into the game via the Caravan Broadcast Network. The success story did not end, as enrollment has increased for two consecutive years, and the recent December entrance exam showed promise of this trend continuing. Probably the most anticipated event, though, was the beginning of construction for a brand new performing arts center, set to be complete early 2025.
By November, the athletics program picked up its thirtieth state championship with a dominant football victory following wrestling’s run. While most schools cannot say they have won multiple state championships in the same year, it was not out of the ordinary for the Caravan.
“There’s a high expectation here,” Athletic Director Phil Segroves said. “I didn’t think we would win two (state championships), but I wasn’t blown away knowing the type of young men that we had playing football and wrestling for us.”
Coach Segroves completed his first full year as Athletic Director while continuing his tenure as the head varsity basketball coach.
“[My favorite moment] was our supersectional win over St. Pat’s,” he said. “I’ve never been to a Mount Carmel basketball game with more fans. It was a tough game though, so to win a super sectional and send our team down state for the first time in 39 years, without a doubt that was my favorite moment.”
Aside from these deep runs, the baseball team also made a strong push in the playoffs, upsetting a top 25 nationally ranked team, Nazareth.
Going into the new year, new lacrosse coach Matt Kelly was hired, as well as new volleyball coach Mary Kate Byrnes. Both have Division-1 and extensive coaching experience, giving players excitement for the upcoming spring seasons.
Athletic success is a given for MC, but new clubs have also reigned supreme within the school community. One cannot talk about extracurriculars without bringing up the Caravan Broadcast Network.
“My goal was to get a lot of kids involved and teach them how to broadcast the games,” senior student-moderator and play-by-play announcer Matt Malloy said. “Then, I had a personal goal of finishing out my senior year the best I could.”
The group gained several new underclassmen who were eager to carry on the club’s recent success, as over 100,000 viewers tuned into Friday night home football games in the fall alone. With this support came better quality streams and opportunities as well.
“The first way we improved was moving into the press box,” Malloy said. “The reason that’s a huge improvement is because there are people that come in for every game and help with cameras and in-game stats. We added that with football, and once football died down, I set my eyes on basketball and thought replay would be nice to have.”
With all these technical improvements, the group had the chance to stream on national television via the Marquee Sports Network for the Joliet Catholic Academy rivalry game. This was definitely a highlight for the club, helping them cap off their best year yet.
Away from the fields and courts, the Admissions team worked diligently in recruiting students under the leadership of Director of Admissions Jeff Stur. Since taking over, Stur has helped the school increase enrollment for two consecutive years, the first time this has happened since the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. However, he looks to make even bigger history with enrollment this year.
“When you look at the trends that we’re looking at right now, we’re on pace to hopefully grow enrollment again this year,” Stur said. “That hasn’t happened since 2005, as there has not been three consecutive years of incoming freshman growth since 2005.”
He attributes this to his hard-working staff.
“Mr. [Noel] Bax, Mrs. [Jennifer] Auguste, and now Mr. [John] O’Connor – we’re all bought into the direction of attracting the best possible kids,” he said. “We believe in it, and we always look for ways to improve. After every event, after every school year, we’re always tossing around ideas of how we can do things differently.”
Stur’s optimism has reached heights after last month’s entrance exam, which hosted 239 test takers. That mark surpasses the number from other exams in the last several years. That is not the only trend regarding the exam.
“What we’ve seen is a pretty significant jump in how many students have tested in a higher national percentile,” he said. “That’s very encouraging to know not only that we increased our numbers, but also that we’re getting some really smart kids, students who have already proven to be at a higher level of class.”
Behind all the scenes, what may be the most promising milestone for the school is not even finished yet.
Construction for the new performing arts center went underway in late summer, and is nearing completion for full-use. This initiative came about to serve the large number of students involved in the arts.
“It’s like giving people the right tools,” principal Scott Tabernacki ’02 said. “You wanna give chefs the right ingredients to cook, and I think that space has what [the students] need to succeed. We have the guitar, we have the architecture, we have the visual and performing arts all coming together. It needs a space like that.”
At the beginning of last year, Mr. Tabernacki had the goal of working harder at shaping the students into leaders. That culture he worked for was certainly noticed, and has epitomized the type of student at MC in 2024.
“It’s structure, call it discipline if you want, but I think it’s really just a belief and value of where you fit in this place that’s Mount Carmel.”
