using the company's new hair test for alcohol. At St. Viator, students are notified of their mandatory testing appointments on the morning of the test. At lunchtime, a school official snips off a sample of about 60 hairs from the crown of each chosen student's head. The alcohol test measures ethyl glucuronide, (EtG), to indicate alcohol consumption in the previous three months. The tests take about a week to process and are capable of indicating a minimum average consumption of two to three drinks per week. Students who test positive must attend a meeting with their parents, counselor and the school president. After 90 days the student will be retested, a second positive will result in more serious disciplinary consequences and possible consideration for dismissal from school. Private schools can in general mandate drug and alcohol tests at their own discretion. Academics Saint Viator follows a Christian Catholic Environment. Students are required to take classes from a breadth of areas, including math, English, fine arts, science, social science, and religion; a foreign language is required for a minimum of two years. Instruction in the Spanish, French, Italian and Mandarin Chinese languages is offered. Since 2009, German is no longer offered. 17 Advanced Placement courses are offered in English Language, English Literature, Calculus (AB & BC), Spanish Language and Culture, French Language and Culture, Italian Language and Culture, Chinese Language and Culture, Biology, Chemistry, Physics (C), U.S. History, European History, Human Geography, Computer Science Principles, Statistics and World History The school requires students to complete a fixed number of community service hours in order to graduate. Starting with the class of 2010, students are required to complete 25 community service hours in one year which adds up to 100 service hours for the 4 years. In 2008, Saint Viator was named a blue ribbon school by the U.S. Department of Education. It was one of only three private high schools in the country to be recognized as blue ribbon schools. Again in 2014, the school was recognized as a blue ribbon school. This time around it was only one of six private high schools in the nation and the only high school in the Archdiocese of Chicago to be recognized. Since 1996, numerous students from Saint Viator have achieved a 36 on the American College Test, the ACT. In 2016-17, nine students were named National Merit Commended Scholars, five were named