Marmion Academy welcomes girls as students for first time ever

AURORA, Ill. (WLS) -- Marmion Academy kicked off an historic academic year by welcoming girls for the first time to campus in its nearly century-old history.

"I'm really nervous," freshman Aaliyah Wiley said. "I'm so nervous right now."

First day jitters has an entirely new meaning at Marmion Academy in Aurora for these female students.

"I just hope for a good, smooth day," Violet Muetze said.

They are among the first to attend the former boys-only private high school now turning coed.

"We have had our girls at various schools, so we tried out a lot of high schools. But once this came up, there was no question about it that this is where she was going to be," Brandi and James Muetze said.

Welcomed by their new classmates with a round of applause, warm handshakes and smiles, 45 freshmen and sophomore girls walked through the front doors Monday.

Marmion is a Catholic-Benedictine college prep school founded in 1933.

James Muetze's father graduated from the school.

He and his wife Brandi said they always intended for Violet's younger brother to attend. Now, she also gets the opportunity.

"It's emotional, proud and exciting," Brandi and James Muetze said.

"We've been thinking about it for years, and we just saw several years ago, looking into the future and looking at the request of alumni over the years who have had daughters who they wanted to see educated. We saw for sustainability of the long run, this is going to be an important factor," Abbot Joel Rippinger,
Marmion Academy chancellor, said.

The school has been working hard to build an entire girls' athletic program virtually overnight.

Everything from hiring coaches, uniforms, equipment, schedules, facilities, locker rooms and transportation to recruit student athletes and build a culture for entirely new teams.

"I was nervous, but also excited because the athletics and the education, because it's really good education and it's faith-based and the shooting team, because I want to try out for that," Muetze said.

Violet said they had a volleyball camp over the summer, and everyone on the team is already so close.

"It feels really good. Everyone here is so nice," Wiley said. "Coach Megan is the best and coach Murray is the best too for basketball so they're very, very welcoming."

Wiley is stoked to join both the volleyball and basketball teams.

"It feels crazy like every time I go to a store and I'm wearing my Marmion shirt, there will be people asking me, 'Oh Marmion is going go coed,' and I say yes the first girls in 100 years and they say that's pretty cool. I'm like proud to say that I'm going to be the first girl of 2030. Yeah I'm so excited," Wiley said.

Marmion expects to have seven girls sports this year. But as enrollment grows, they hope to add more teams in the future.