Monte Cassino School is an independent, Benedictine Catholic elementary and middle school located in midtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The school also included a girls' junior college until 1945"Are You An Alumnus or Former Co-Worker of Ours?", St. Joseph Monastery website, archived from the original on August 23, 2007. and a high school until 1986.
History It was founded in 1926 by the Benedictine Sisters as a girls' school and junior college.Dianna Everett, "Junior College Movement" , Oklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (accessed 2012-05-07). In the early 1960s, Monte Cassino terminated its boarding school, and its residence hall became the new home for the sisters of the St. Joseph Monastery."History", St. Joseph Monastery website (accessed 2012-05-07).
When the high school closed a preschool opened and the educational institute adopted co-education for its middle school. At the same time, the neighboring Catholic boys' school, Cascia Hall Preparatory School, began admitting girls in middle school and high school, effectively absorbing Monte Cassino's role as a girls' high school. (The two schools had shared some classes in previous years.)Sarah Plummer, "Cascia Hall celebrates 25 years as coeducational school", Tulsa World, August 24, 2011 (pay site).
Notable alumni Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating attended Monte Cassino and graduated from the middle school in 1958. Actress Jennifer Jones attended Monte Cassino and graduated from the junior college in 1936 before continuing her education at Northwestern University.Paul Green and Robert Osborne, Jennifer Jones: The Life and Films (McFarland, 2011), , pp. 13-15. Excerpts available at Google Books. Actress, model, and former Miss USA titleholder Olivia Jordan attended Monte Cassino and graduated from the middle school in 2003.
Cultural references The school provides a frequent location for the House of Night book series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. "P.C.'s Inspiration" at House of Night official website (accessed 2012-05-07).James D. Watts, Jr., "Casts to debut new novel at Rogers High", Tulsa World, January 2, 2011 (pay site).
References
External links Monte Cassino official website