St. Mary's Academy (Portland, Oregon)

Last updated

St. Mary's Academy
St. Mary's Academy in Portland (2014).jpg
Address
St. Mary's Academy (Portland, Oregon)
1615 SW 5th Avenue

Portland
,
Multnomah County
,
Oregon
97201

United States
Coordinates 45°30′45″N122°40′53″W / 45.51250°N 122.68139°W / 45.51250; -122.68139
Information
Type Private, All-Girls
MottoWe Believe [1]
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic
Established1859
PresidentEmily Becker [2]
PrincipalLiane Rae
Faculty67 [3]
Grades 9–12
Enrollment605 (2023-2024)
Average class size21
Student to teacher ratio13:1
Color(s) Blue and white    [2]
Athletics conference OSAA Three Rivers League 6A-5 [2]
MascotBlues [2]
Accreditation Northwest Accreditation Commission [3]
PublicationEscribe Maria (literary magazine), The Ms. Print (student newspaper), and Imprint (alumnae magazine)
Website smapdx.org

St. Mary's Academy is a Roman Catholic all-girls high school located in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded by twelve sisters from the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in 1859. It is an all-girls school with approximately 680 students from northern Oregon and southwestern Washington. Since its founding, over 10,000 women have graduated from St. Mary's Academy, the oldest continuously-operating secondary school in Oregon.

Contents

History

St. Mary's was founded by twelve sisters from the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in 1859, at the request of archbishop François Norbert Blanchet. Only two of the sisters spoke English; the others spoke French. They traveled from Montreal via ship and rail to Fort Vancouver where Blanchet had established a school on property he purchased from Daniel H. Lownsdale in 1857. The property had a two-story house, which became the school. St. Mary's opened in the same location with six female students (three Catholic, two Jewish, one Protestant) on Monday, 7, 1859, 12 days after they reached Portland. [4]

In 1867, the first two graduates received their diplomas. The school had 250 girls in attendance by 1871. In 1889, the Lownsdale house was demolished and a four-story building designed by Otto Kleeman was built. In 1893, St. Mary's received a charter to grant college diplomas. It was the first women's liberal arts college in the Northwest and was known until 1930 as St. Mary's Academy and College. [5] Marylhurst University, originally part of the downtown school, moved out in 1930. [4]

The Kleeman building was inadequate for the students by the 1960s. The school expanded across 5th avenue, one block to the north, building a two-story brick building that is "strictly functional.... [with] no architectural pretensions". The Kleeman building was sold to a developer for $705,000 and demolished in 1970. [4] A public parking lot currently is on that site, although the original stone wall surrounding the building was demolished by the current owner in 2010. The school bought the old PSU postal office in 2013 for $7.6 million to allow the school to expand. [6]

In August 2015, St. Mary's rescinded a job offer it made to Lauren Brown in April to work as a college guidance counselor. School officials said she had told them she intended to enter into a same-sex marriage, while Brown said she asked if doing so would affect her employment. The school quickly rescinded their employment offer, and offered Brown half a year's salary in exchange for not going forward to the media. When Brown rejected the offer and the school's action became public on August 26, Archbishop Alexander Sample supported the school's position. [7] A statement was released by the school to parents and alumnae, stating that the hiring reversal was "due to a conflict with current Catholic teachings regarding same-sex marriage." [8] The next day, the school announced that it was adding sexual orientation to its equal employment opportunity policy. [9] It did not renew its employment offer to Brown, officials said, because another person had already accepted the position. [10]

Academics

In 1984, 1989, and 1998, St. Mary's Academy was honored in the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States. [11] It also received the KATU Super School of the Year Award in 2006.[ citation needed ]

St. Mary's has been accredited through the Northwest Accreditation Commission since 1955. [3]

The school was named an Apple Distinguished School in 2016, the only high school in Oregon to have received the honor.[ citation needed ]

Notable alumnae

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Paul, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

St. Paul or Saint Paul is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. It is named after the Saint Paul Mission founded by Archbishop François Norbert Blanchet, who arrived in the Oregon Country in 1838 to minister to the Catholic inhabitants of French Prairie. The population was 434 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Portland</span> Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, US

The University of Portland (UP) is a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1901 and is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, which also founded UP's sister school, the University of Notre Dame. UP enrolls approximately 3,730 students.

The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary is a teaching religious institute founded at Longueuil, Québec, Canada, in 1843 by Blessed Mother Marie Rose Durocher for the Christian education of young girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marylhurst University</span> Private university in Oregon (1893–2018)

Marylhurst University was a private applied liberal arts and business university in Marylhurst, Oregon. Marylhurst was founded as St. Mary's College in 1893 and run for many years by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The former campus is located about nine miles south of Portland, Oregon on the Willamette River. Although Marylhurst University was a Roman Catholic school, it served students of all faiths and backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon</span> Latin Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Oregon, USA

The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western Oregon in the United States.

St Aidan's Catholic Academy is a Roman Catholic boys' secondary school and sixth form with academy status, situated in the Ashbrooke area of Sunderland. It caters for boys from ages 11 to 18, providing GCSE and A Level and BTEC qualifications as part of its teaching programme. The school was founded by the Christian Brothers, and is coupled with St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy, its sister school which is located nearby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Norbert Blanchet</span> French Canadian-born missionary priest and prelate

François Norbert Blanchet was a French Canadian-born missionary priest and prelate of the Catholic Church who was instrumental in establishing the Catholic Church presence in the Pacific Northwest. He was one of the first Catholic priests to arrive in what was then known as the Oregon Country and subsequently became the first bishop and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oregon City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's School (Medford, Oregon)</span> Catholic high school in Oregon, USA

St. Mary's School is a coeducational, independent Roman Catholic college preparatory school in Medford, Oregon within the Archdiocese of Portland. St. Mary’s School was founded in 1865 as a boarding and day school to serve pioneering families throughout southern Oregon and northern California. Today, it provides a college preparatory curriculum for students in grades 5-12. The 24-acre campus is located in east Medford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blanchet Catholic School</span> Private, coeducational school in Salem, Marion County, Oregon, United States

Blanchet Catholic School (BCS) is a private Catholic high school and middle school in Salem, Oregon, United States. Blanchet's school colors are royal blue and white.

The Benedictine Sisters of St. Walburg Monastery is a Roman Catholic congregation of women. whose motherhouse, St. Walburg Monastery, is located at Villa Madonna, in Villa Hills, Kentucky. It was founded in 1859 by three sisters of the Benedictine congregation of Mount St. Benedict Monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania, who came to Covington to teach the German-speaking children of St. Joseph's parish. They became an independent congregation in 1867. Villa Madonna Academy, a private, Roman Catholic K-12 school is an integral part of the sisters' ministry in Kentucky. Besides operating the Academy, the sisters taught in parish schools and staffed St. John's Orphanage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Paul Roman Catholic Church (St. Paul, Oregon)</span> Historic church in Oregon, United States

St. Paul Roman Catholic Church in St. Paul, Oregon, United States, was the first church in Oregon to be built with bricks when it was constructed in 1846. It is the oldest brick building in the Pacific Northwest. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustin-Magloire Blanchet</span> French Canadian prelate

Augustin Magloire Alexandre Blanchet was a French Canadian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the now-defunct Diocese of Walla Walla and of the Diocese of Nesqually in present-day Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Joseph's Catholic Church (Salem, Oregon)</span> Church in Oregon, United States

St. Joseph's is the oldest Catholic parish in Salem, Oregon. It currently serves some 3,500 families and conducts services in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Latin. The parish school staff has been recognized for excellence in education as recently as 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon</span>

The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon, formerly known as the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, is a Catholic religious congregation founded in 1886 in the U.S. state of Oregon. The sisters' convent is located in Beaverton and they are independent from the Archdiocese of Portland.

Mary F. Sammons is an American businesswoman who was the chairperson and CEO of Rite Aid. She was formerly the president and CEO of Fred Meyer.

Otto Karl Kleemann, frequently alternatively spelled Otto Kleeman, was an American architect in Portland, Oregon. His work included the design for Portland's Hotel Arminius and St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church and Rectory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verboort, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Verboort is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located approximately two miles northeast of Forest Grove, one mile east of Oregon Route 47 in the Tualatin Valley. The community is part of the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Steiner</span> American prelate of the Catholic Church (born 1936)

Kenneth Donald Steiner is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon from 1978 to 2011.

Blanchet House is a non-profit social services organization located in Portland, Oregon providing meals, transitional shelter, drug and alcohol recovery programs, and support services to those struggling with homelessness and addiction. As a House of Hospitality, Blanchet House offers hot meals without question six days a week, three times a day. Blanchet House was founded in 1952 by a group of University of Portland students encouraged by their priest to "get out in the streets and help."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoa Nguyen (politician)</span> American politician

Hoa H. Nguyen is an American politician serving as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives for the 48th district. Elected in November 2022, she assumed office on January 9, 2023.

References

  1. ↑ "Mission Statement - St. Mary's Academy". www.stmaryspdx.org. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "St. Mary's Academy". Oregon School Activities Association . Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 http://www.northwestaccreditation.org/schools/Oregon.pdf%5B%5D
  4. 1 2 3 Snyder, Eugene E. (1991). Portland Potpourri. Portland, Oregon: Binford & Mort. pp. 73–79. ISBN   0-8323-0493-X.
  5. ↑ Bunting, Robert. "St. Mary's Academy". The Oregon Encyclopedia. The Oregon Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  6. ↑ Culverwell, Wendy (September 27, 2013). "St. Mary's completes $7.6M land purchase". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  7. ↑ Mesh, Aaron. "Vow of Silence - St. Mary's Academy hired a rising star. She says they fired her for being gay". Willamette Week. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  8. ↑ Manning, Rob. "Same-Sex Marriage Concerns Lead To Hiring Reversal At Portland Catholic School". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Important announcement from St. Mary's Academy President Christina Friedhoff and the Board of Directors". St. Mary's Academy. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ Manning, Rob; Sepulvado, John (August 27, 2015). "St. Mary's Academy Stuck Between Church Doctrine, Community Outrage". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  11. ↑ Archived: Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF)
  12. ↑ "2003 St. Mary's Academy Awards Recipients". St. Mary's Academy. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Oregon Folk Are Screen Stars; Portland Training Is Valuable". The Oregon Daily Journal . Portland, Oregon. June 6, 1920 – via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  14. ↑ "The High School Years". Karen Gaffney Foundation. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  15. ↑ "School Notes". Portland Tribune. Pamplin Media Group. April 4, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Judi Meredith Nelson (1936-2014)". The Oregonian. May 9–11, 2014. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
  17. ↑ Nguyen, Zac. "Hoa Nguyen, Oregon State House District 48". PIVOT - The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Mary Sammons to step down as Rite Aid CEO, will stay chair". USA Today . Associated Press . Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Basketball player creates a league of her own". Portland Tribune. Pamplin Media Group. June 18, 2007. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.