Brother Rice’s Mt. Sion program redefines brotherhood and learning

CHICAGO — A South Side all-boys Catholic high school is helping to usher in a new approach to secondary education curriculum.

Brother Rice has opened their doors to kids with special needs to learn alongside the rest of the student body.

The innovative approach to learning is called the Mt. Sion program and has been part of the school’s curriculum since last year.

Matt Prunkle is the dean of student life and director of Mt. Sion.

“The Mt Sion program is a special education inclusion program that works off of students who have special needs through inclusion in classrooms, particularly theology, history and crusader seminar,” he said. “(Students) work with a peer mentor model which is a one-to-one model with classmates of their volunteer. They work as kind of a teacher aide.”

More about the program on the Brother Rice’s website

All of which has been a game changer for the entire student body.

“It’s changed us,” Prunkle said. “We pride ourselves on brotherhood and it strengthens that completely. And it gives it a new definition in terms of what we are doing for the young men who are enrolled in the program. …  It’s more so about what they’re doing for our young men who are already here in the building. It’s absolutely incredible.”

Last Friday night Brother Rice kicked off the season against Valparaiso. 

And leading up to this game, players voted for a teammate who they feel most embodies the four corner stones that is Crusader Football: commitment, accountability, discipline and effort. And with that comes the No. 1 jersey.

Senior King Liggins was nominated but he kept his No. 99 jersey and with the principal’s blessing,  chose to honor his Mt. Sion program partner Park Baudo.

WGN’s Patrick Elwood, a “way back when” graduate of Brother Rice himself, has more and takes us inside the program.