Accessibility Statement and Support Skip to Main Content Skip to Footer
Atchison, Kansas

St. Joseph of Cupertino Program

Mission

The St. Joseph of Cupertino Program welcomes individuals with intellectual disabilities into Benedictine’s community of faith and scholarship in order to support their intellectual, personal, and spiritual growth and witness to the unique value and infinite worth of every human being.

Overview

Benedictine College is an academic community sponsored by the monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey and the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery. Heir to the 1500 years of Benedictine dedication to learning, its mission as a Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts, residential college is the education of men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.

The St. Joseph of Cupertino (SJC) Program provides individuals with intellectual disabilities access to and inclusion in the Benedictine College student experience, an environment rich in opportunities for intellectual, personal, and spiritual growth. SJC students live, study, and pray alongside their peers in day-to-day life with minimal outside support for four academic years. Through living in the residence halls, auditing classes, participating in community life, and engaging in practicums, SJC students work incrementally towards their unique individual goals.

Benedictine students, faculty, and staff also benefit from the SJC Program, which gives them the opportunity to experience individuals with intellectual disabilities as invaluable members of the community. As a result, all in the Benedictine College community will develop a fuller sense of the inherent dignity and worth that God has bestowed on every human person. This, in turn, will prompt them to be zealous in fostering and recognizing the dignity of each person in their respective families, communities, and spheres of influence, leading to a wider transformation of culture.  After successfully completing the program, SJC students receive a Certificate of Completion and participate in the College’s Commencement Exercises.

Admission Process

  1. Initial interest conversation with SJC Program Director, applicant, and/or applicant’s parent(s) or support person(s). This will be via phone or video chat.
  2. Submit application (link provided by Program Director) and ensure receipt of recommendations. Priority deadline: January 31. Final deadline: April 1.
  3. Completed applications will be reviewed by the SJC Program Director and Vice Provost.
  4. If selected, the applicant will participate in a two-day admissions interview on campus. This will include an interview with the applicant, an interview with the applicant’s parent(s) or support person(s), a class visit, and an independent overnight stay in a residence hall with a student host. Final deadline for interview: April 20.
  5. Admissions interview documentation will be reviewed by the Internal Advisory Council.
  6. The SJC Program Director will notify applicants of the admission decision via email by February 15 or within approximately 2 weeks after their admissions interview, whichever is later. A maximum of 2 students will be admitted each year. Emails about admissions decisions will not include an explanation of the decision.
  7. Admitted students must submit the Acceptance Response Form by April 1 or within 30 days of receiving their acceptance email, whichever is later.

Patron Saint

St. Joseph was born in 1603 at Cupertino, Italy. Joseph was said to be slow to learn and absent-minded. He asked to become a Franciscan, but they initially would not accept him. He was finally accepted to work as a servant at the Franciscan monastery, taking care of the horses. Eventually he was invited to enter the Franciscan order and study for the priesthood. Although he was a good and holy friar, he had a difficult time with studies. During his seminary exams, the examiner happened to ask him to explain the only thing he knew well, and so he passed his exams and was ordained a deacon, and later a priest. The Holy Spirit worked many amazing miracles through St. Joseph.

Pope Clement XIII canonized him in 1767. He is the patron saint of individuals with learning disabilities. Source

Contact

Contact Meredith Doyle, SJC Program Director, for more information.