It is named after Saint Bénilde Romançon and Saint Margaret of Scotland. Benilde-St. Margaret's was originally a secondary school formed by a merger in 1974 between St. Margaret's Academy, a Catholic secondary school for girls in Minneapolis, and Benilde High School, a Catholic secondary school for boys in St. Louis Park. Its present building was originally that of Benilde High School.
St. Margaret's Academy
St. Margaret's was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1907 as St. Margaret's Academy. The campus for this all-girls school was located near the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis and included two mansions and a carriage house that had been built in the 1880s. By 1959 the old school had become inadequate in size - for every 100 girls accepted, about 200 were turned away. The Sisters of St. Joseph, who had anticipated such a problem, had purchased twenty-eight acres, and by 1960 a new school was built on Upton Avenue, near the Eloise Butler Wildflower Gardens and Wirth Park.
Both schools operated independently until the 1970s, at which time enrollment began to decline and costs began to escalate. In 1974, the St. Margaret's facility was sold to the Minneapolis school system, and the merged Benilde-St. Margaret's School opened its door at the former Benilde High School site. One hundred ninety students graduated in its first class. The school has undergone two major additions since the merger; a new gym in 1986, along with a new chapel, theatre, arts center, and classroom wing in 2001.
Academics
Junior High School
In 1989, a junior high was added, and one hundred seventh- and eighth-graders were enrolled in the first year. Students receive laptops in order to do their work over the school year. As a "school within a school," the junior high exists to help seventh and eighth grade students develop their potential and make a successful transition from elementary to high school. The junior faculty and staff foster decision-making and responsibility in a nurturing atmosphere, and they provide a variety of spiritual, academic, and extracurricular opportunities for student involvement. The Junior High is in the same building as the high school.
Engineering Program
Benilde is extremely fortunate to have one of the top engineering programs in the state. Each year, juniors and seniors in the program compete in RoboCup Rescue Simulation. BSM is the only high school in the world to do so.
Activities
The school competes in the Metro West Conference in the Minnesota State High School League. The school's newspaper is the Knight Errant.The Knight Errant has won several awards and the website, bsmknighterrant.org, in 2009 received one of seven National Pace Maker Awards for progressive journalism. Speech is also quite popular, with 100 students participating in the season of 2009–2010.
