Lenihan’s Neighborhood structure allows students to have all the opportunities of a large school with all the benefits of small learning communities.

Lenihan is divided into five distinct neighborhoods, which consist of five or six classrooms in one section of the building. Students are able to stay in the same neighborhood for both years, as well as have the same teachers.

By having the same teacher and same core neighborhood for two years, students are able to build strong and extended relationships with their peers and educators. By the second year students are familiar with their teachers and their classroom expectations, meaning less time re-teaching and more time tackling new material.

The result is students with tremendous academic and social growth.

Neighborhoods as described by neighborhood students of the 2006-07 school year:

Route 66

"The first graduating class from the Lenihan Catholic High School was in 1966. We decided to call our neighborhood Route 66 in honor of these graduates."

Mathias Clement Cove

"Mathias Clement Lenihan created Lenihan, so it was kind of obvious to put that in first. Now, we'd have to think of a last name. We thought of cove and canyon, and cove sounded a lot more tropical. We had to think hard about it and we are glad it won a lot of votes!"

Lion's Lane

"Lenny the Lion is our school mascot. We thought it would be fitting to represent him as part of our school. As students of Lenihan we are all proud to be Lions."

Robinson's Pride Parkway

"Dr. Bill Robinson was the principal at Lenihan when it closed as a middle school in 1990. Students and staff were very proud of Lenihan Middle School and it was called the Pride School."

Kremer's Corner

"Patrick Kremer was an English teacher and assistant principal at the original Lenihan Junior High School. He is now Associate Superintendent and will retire this year. Mr. Kremer spent a lot of time speaking to community groups about our need for more space in the schools and how important it was to reorganize our grade structure. We wanted to honor him for the great job he has done as teacher, principal, and associate superintendent in the Marshalltown schools."