St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School (SAA-SDS) is an independent Catholic school in Memphis, Tennessee, consisting of an all-girls PK2-12th school and an all-boys PK2-8th school. The school is located in the Diocese of Memphis and follows Catholic principles but is not run by the diocese. It was founded by 6 Dominican sisters.
St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School serves girls from pre-kindergarten 2 through twelfth grade, and boys from pre-kindergarten 2 through eighth grade.
St. Agnes Academy was founded by the Dominican Sisters in January 1851 and chartered in January 1852. The founding Sisters were Magdalen Clark, Catherine McCormack, Vincentia Fitzpatrick, Ann Simpson Sr. Lucy Harper, and Emily Thorpe. Sisters Magdalen and Catherine were professed at St. Mary of the Springs, and the other four at St. Catharine, Kentucky. (The Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs and of St. Catharine, Kentucky, eventually merged, along with six other congregations, to become Dominican Sisters of Peace, the congregation that continues to sponsor the school today.) Sr. Catherine died in August and Mother Angela Lynch replaced her with Sr. Frances Conlon.
St. Agnes was situated in what were then the suburbs of Memphis (Vance and Orleans), about a mile and a quarter from Court Square, the center of the city. The doors were opened on February 4, 1851, with 20 boarders and about 15 day students. When the school year ended on July 7, 1851, the enrollment had increased to more than 50, and an addition to the school had been completed. The Dominican Sisters also boarded orphans until 1864, when the Sisters opened St. Peter's Orphanage.
In the fall of 1867 and again in the fall of 1873, Memphis was enveloped by the yellow fever epidemic. During these times, many Dominican Sisters died rendering service to the sick in Memphis. On May 16, 1878, after the yellow fever had faded, the academy caught fire and was reduced to ashes. Another fire in 1900 caused less damage. Neither fire, however, hindered the School's continued operation.
In 1911, two wings were added to the building to accommodate the growing enrollment, a Romanesque Chapel and an auditorium. The community purchased the Porter property on the right side of St. Agnes. On October 5, 1918, the faculty of St. Agnes established the Memphis Conservatory of Music where students could acquire a B.A. degree in music. It became the formal music education center of Memphis for beginning, advanced, and professional students. It was incorporated on August 4, 1923, and eventually formed the Department of Music at St. Agnes College.
In 1922 classes opened at St. Agnes College, the first Catholic women's college in the Diocese of Nashville and in the tri-states. It was the first college in Memphis to offer adult evening courses. It became evident that a separate location from the academy was needed if the college was to grow. To emphasize the distinction between the academy and the college, on January 1, 1939, the name of St. Agnes College was changed to Siena College. The college eventually moved to Poplar Avenue in 1953 and closed in 1972.
After 100 years at Vance and Orleans, St. Agnes Academy moved to its present site on Walnut Grove Road (Barbara Daush Blvd) in 1951. Ground was broken in 1956 for St. Dominic School, an elementary school for boys on the property with St. Agnes. A library/science portable building was added in 1974. A regulation soccer field and a quarter-mile running track were added in 1986.
The campus expanded over the years with the construction of Madonna Hall in 1966, the purchase of portable buildings in 1972, and the completion of an expanded and enhanced campus library in 1988. The Buckman/Davis Building was added to the campus in 1991 as the campus center for science and mathematics. Completing the Early Childhood Center and Tot Lot in 1998 accommodated the earliest grades. The opening of a multipurpose building, Siena Hall, in 1999 allowed the removal of all temporary structures and provided a pedestrian campus.
The "Reaching for the Stars and Suns" campaign created the Veritas Research Center, completed in 2008, which houses a Cybrary, Distance Learning Center, Multi-media Lab, Cyber Café, Senior Lounge, Tech Center, and eight classrooms. The school constructed a new Early Childhood Center in 2009. It is one of 18 schools in the country to be named an Apple Distinguished School.
As of 2013 [update] , the School was operated as one entity by a board of trustees consisting of parents, local leaders, and representatives of the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
On August 5, 2022 St. Agnes-St. Dominic launched the "Go Light the World" campaign which consists of building a new STEM facility to replace the Buckman/Davis building built back in 1991, and a new athletic complex that will consist of a gymnasium that will hold a maximum of 650 seated spectators. The new STEM facility was just recently completed while the new athletic complex still awaits construction and is expected to be finished by the conclusion of the 2024-2025 school year.
The present school offers coeducational early childhood and kindergarten education for boys and girls ages two through five, single-sex classes for girls and boys in grades kindergarten through six, coordinated junior high classes for boys and girls in grades seven and eight, and college preparatory education for girls from grades nine through twelve.
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute has about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They also started many education and health care facilities around the world.
St. Mary's Springs Academy is a Catholic, private, coeducational system serving grades 3-year-old preschool through high school in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, associated with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. It was founded by the Sisters of Saint Agnes in 1909.
Saint Dominic Academy (SDA) is a private college-preparatory for girls in seventh through twelfth grades, located in Jersey City, in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school, which is situated within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, and is administered by the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, New Jersey, has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1991.
Saint Martin's Catholic Academy is a coeducational 11-16 Roman Catholic secondary school located in Stoke Golding, near to Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. It is part of the Diocese of Nottingham, and is built on the same grounds as the former Dominican nunnery.
East Memphis is a region of Memphis, Tennessee with several defined and informal subdivisions and neighborhoods such as Colonial Acres, White Station-Yates, Sherwood Forest, Normal Station, High Point Terrace, Belle Meade, Normandy Meadows, St. Nick, Pleasant Acres, Balmoral, and Ridgeway. The general boundaries are informal:
St. Mary's Dominican High School, or simply Dominican High School, is an all-girls private Catholic high school in New Orleans, Louisiana, sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
Dominic College is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, day school, located in Glenorchy, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Mount St. Dominic Academy is a four-year Catholic college preparatory school for young women located in Caldwell, in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades. The school was founded in 1892 by the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell. It is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.
St. Agnes Academic High School is a former all-girls, private, Roman Catholic high school in Queens, New York. It was located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, and was established in 1908 by the Sisters of St. Dominic.
Siena College was a private, Catholic college located in Memphis, Tennessee. It was established by Dominican nuns in 1922 as St. Agnes College, the first Catholic women's college in the Diocese of Nashville and in the Memphis metro area.
St. Catherine’s Academy is a Catholic school with a military tradition located in Anaheim, California. It was founded in 1889 by The Dominican Sisters of Mission San José. The school offers an academic program for boys in transitional kindergarten (preschool) through eighth grade, as well as military structure and leadership training. The school is open to both resident and day students.
Siena College of Taytay, also referred to by its acronym SCT, is a private, non-profit Catholic basic and higher education institution run by the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Taytay, Rizal, Philippines. It was named St. Catherine Academy at foundation in 1957 by the Dominican Sisters of Siena and it is one of six Dominican educational institutions in the Philippines. Its sister schools are Siena College of Quezon City, Siena College of San Jose, Siena College of Hermosa, and Siena College of Tigaon.
Saint Dominic Academy is a Catholic grammar school and high school located on two sites: in Lewiston, Maine, and Auburn, Maine. Both sites are in the Diocese of Portland. The Lewiston campus is for grades Pre-K to 5 while the Auburn campus is for Grades 6 to 12.
St. Catherine of Siena School in Vallejo, California is a Catholic school in the Diocese of Sacramento. The school has nine classes: kindergarten to junior high school. Although St Catherine is a private Catholic school, it accepts applications for all students regardless of parish or religious affiliations. Its kindergarten is full day for entire school year. The school also offers pre-kindergarten and after school programs.
The Dominican Order was first established in the United States by Edward Fenwick in the early 19th century. The first Dominican institution in the United States was the Province of Saint Joseph, which was established in 1805. Additionally, there have been numerous institutes of Dominican Sisters and Nuns.
Notre Dame - Siena School of Marbel is a Catholic institution in Koronadal City run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena. ND-SSM has been a member of the Notre Dame Educational Association, a group of Notre Dame Schools in the Philippines under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Dominican Sisters of Peace is a congregation of Dominican Sisters of apostolic life, founded on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009, from the union of seven former Dominican foundations. With general offices in Columbus, Ohio, the congregation holds legal incorporation in the state of Kentucky, home of the founding community of earliest historical origin. In 2012, following a vote by their General Chapter, the Dominican sisters of Catherine de' Ricci became the eighth foundation to join the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
Dominican School Manila, founded in 1958, is a private Catholic basic education institution run by the Congregation of the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic in Sampaloc, Manila, Philippines. The school is located near the University of Santo Tomas. DSM is also one of the schools, colleges and universities that opened its door to the Senior High School enrollees in 2016. These students were assisted by the Voucher Program of the Department of Education and the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE).
Santa Catalina College is a Roman Catholic, private institution that serves coeducational basic and higher education administered by the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, a religious congregation affiliated with the Dominican Order located in Sampaloc, Manila. It was originally established by the Siena Sisters in 1706.