City: Cordova, TN

Category: Education

Telephone: (901) 388-7321

Address: 2100 Germantown Parkway

Description: St. Benedict started as a private school in 1966, founded by Stanley and Alice Smith, and was known as the Auburndale School System. They sold the 22-acre campus in 1988 to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, which gave the school its current name. It serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade. St. Benedict is a college-prep school with a total enrollment of about 1,025, including 400 in the high school. The school emphasizes honors and advanced-placement coursework, along with foreign language, music, art, and computer instruction. Virtually all of St. Benedict’s graduates are accepted to college. In 2004 the school merged with St. Francis of Assisi Parish, adding 26 acres to its campus. This allows for significant growth in the size of the student body at the elementary school and the high school.