The mission of St. Matthew Catholic School is to educate a strong, faith-centered community through a commitment to the spiritual, moral, intellectual, social, and physical development of each child.[4]
History
St. Matthew Catholic School opened its doors on August 18, 1993 to just under 400 students and has been open for 30 years with now over 700 students. Bishop Joseph Galante dedicated the school on October 10, 1993 with Sr. Patrice Floyd, IWBS serving as the first principal. From its foundation, St. Matthew has offered a full schedule for students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. As enrollment grew, new classes were added at each grade level. Geneva Salinas has been principal since 2019,[5] and Fr. Dennis Arechiga has been the Pastor for both St. Matthew Parish and the school since 2010. Today, St. Matthew Catholic School has grown to be the largest elementary school in the Archdiocese.[6][7]
St. Matthew has had six principals throughout its history, those being the following: Sr. Patrice Floyd (1993-1994), Curtis Youngman (1994-1996), Cindy Salinas (1996-2004), Alvin Caro (2004-2018), Jennifer Grenardo (2018–2019), and Geneva Salinas (2019–present). The school has also had three pastors throughout its history, those being John Flynn (1993-1998), Michael Yarbrough (1998-2010), and Dennis Arechiga (2010–Present).[8] The current principal, Geneva Salinas holds a bachelor's degree in arts and a master's in education from Our Lady of the Lake University, and she holds a master's degree in Education Administration from Lamar University. She has been a school administrator for eight years and teacher for six years.[9]
During the COVID-19 pandemic the school and church were both closed and the school held online instruction.
School grounds
The school campus includes a library and media center, a science lab, two computer labs, a gymnasium and athletic complex, a music and choir room, and a cafeteria.
St. Matthew's Catholic School received a perfect score during an inspection on October 9, 2014.[10]
Additionally, the school shares Parish facilities with St. Matthew Catholic Church that include the Church itself, the Parish Hall, and the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.
Curriculum and academics
The curriculum includes age-appropriate coursework in the following areas: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Religion, Health, Spanish, Physical Education, Computer Literacy, Art, Band, Choir, and Music.[11]
Technology has an increasingly important role in education at St. Matthew, as indicated by the iPad initiative and the Cardinal Advantage Classroom. The iPad program at St. Matthew, which was launched in 2013, allows for the issue of an Apple iPad to each child in 4th through 8th grade for use both at school and home as a primary learning tool, to be used for note-taking, content creation, project collaboration, individualized assessments and communicating with other students and their instructors. Younger grades use iPads to complete work in the classroom. Similarly, the Cardinal Advantage Classroom is equipped with ceiling-mounted LCD projectors, computers, faculty iPads, and Mimio Teach Systems. Pre-kindergarteners through third-graders can access mobile learning carts that contain a classroom set of iPads loaded with grade-specific educational applications.[12]
St. Matthew offers honors courses and elective programs for Middle School students, and participates in the National Junior Honor Society. Students of all ages can participate in a variety of academic clubs and competitions, including Private School Interscholastic Association (PSIA). PSIA is a statewide competition that motivates students to find new excitement in learning and achieve a higher mastery level. Students compete at three levels including a school competition, district competition, and state.
Additionally St. Matthew requires all students to take part in the Accelerated Reader and Success Maker programs. Honor roll recognition and Accelerated Reader awards are given out quarterly to encourage academic excellence.
Due to the school's affiliation with the Catholic Church, students at St. Matthew are required to undergo sacramental preparation, participate in the Liturgy at weekly Mass, and take an annual course on Catholic theology.
Athletics and extracurricular activities
St. Matthew offers various sports programs, with many of its teams having won district and citywide CYO competitions[13] St. Matthew also offers a selection of extracurricular activities, including but not limited to Chess Club, Scouting, Pep Squad/Cheer, Twirling, Music Lessons, and Hand Bell Choir.
In 2015 the St. Matthew Catholic School Chess Team participated to the 4th Rackspace Scholastic Chess Tournament,[14] winning first place in the Primary K-3 U400, Elementary K-5 U400 and Primary K-12 categories U600.[15]
In 2015 the San Antonio's Children Museum held a Grand Opening Gala Student Art Contest and one of the three winners in the "Private Schools" category was a St. Matthew Catholic School student, who presented a project called "Building with Scraps."[16]
Charity
Among many charitable initiatives during the school year, St. Matthew Catholic School student council members conduct an annual canned food drive for the community food pantry at St. Vincent de Paul, collecting carts and containers of canned and boxed goods.[17]
In 2015 during "The Big Give SA," a 24-hour online giving event involving hundreds of nonprofit organizations in San Antonio, St. Matthew Catholic School received the second highest number of unique donors.[18][19]
St. Matthew Catholic School students actively support disaster relief initiatives. For example, in 2005 they supported Hurricane Katrina efforts by donating supplies to Operation Ryan's Hope, a local relief drive, inspired by a St. Matthew Catholic School second-grader who told his mother: "God is always looking out for me, and now I want to help God take care others."[20] In 2010, to help raise funds for the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, the St. Matthew Catholic School and Girl Scout Troop 223 held a “Hearts and Hats for Haiti” drive.[21]
San Antonio, officially the City of San Antonio, is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio, the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 2.6 million people in the 2020 US census. It is the most populous city in and the county seat of Bexar County. The city is the seventh-most populous in the United States, the second-largest in the Southern United States, and the second-most populous in Texas after Houston.
Strake Jesuit College Preparatory is a Jesuit, college-preparatory school for boys, grades 9–12, in the Chinatown area and in the Greater Sharpstown district of Houston, Texas, United States. It is near Alief.
Saint Xavier High School is a private, college-preparatory high school just outside the Cincinnati city limits, in the Finneytown neighborhood of Springfield Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The independent, non-diocesan school is operated by the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus as one of four all-male Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Aside from colleges and universities, St. Xavier is the second-largest private school in Ohio and one of the 100 largest schools in the state, with 1,366 enrolled students as of the 2022–23 school year.
Saint Sebastian's School is an independent, all-boys Catholic secondary day school located in Needham, Massachusetts. The school enrolls around 380 boys in grades 7–12.
Central Catholic High School is a Catholic, all-male, non-boarding college preparatory school located in the River North District of Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio.
Providence Catholic School is a Catholic, college preparatory school for girls in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. It is accredited by the Texas Catholic Conference Education Department and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of The College Board. It is a member of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio.
St. Augustine High School is a private, Catholic, all-boys high school run by the Josephites in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was founded in 1951 and includes grades 8 through 12.
St. Pius X High School is a Dominican, Catholic co-educational secondary school in Houston, Texas. St. Pius X High School, informally known as St. Pius or SPX, enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and is administered by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
St. Pius X - St. Matthias Academy is a coeducational private, Catholic high school for grades 9–12 located in Downey, California. It is operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Western Catholic Educational Association
Antonian College Preparatory High School is an co-educational Catholic high school for students grades 9 through 12. It is located in Castle Hills, Texas and is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio. It was founded by the Archdiocese in 1964 as an all-male Catholic high school run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The school was listed on the Cardinal Newman Society's Catholic High School Honor Roll top 50 list in 2010 and has been recognized as a National Blue Ribbon school.
Incarnate Word High School is a private, Roman Catholic, all-girls high school in Midtown San Antonio, Texas, United States established in 1881. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio and is a division of the University of the Incarnate Word.
St. Anthony Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school located in the Monte Vista Historic District in Midtown San Antonio, Texas, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio.
Mount Carmel High School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in Houston, Texas, United States. Founded in 1956 by the Carmelite order, Mount Carmel was the first Houston area Catholic high school established east of downtown and the first to serve greater Southeast Houston. From 1986 to 2008, it was administered by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
St. Gerard Catholic High School was a private Catholic high school in San Antonio, Texas. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio. St. Gerard was established in 1927 and closed in 2022.
John Paul II High School is a private Roman Catholic college preparatory high school in Schertz, Texas. It is operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio.
Saint John Paul II Catholic School is a Catholic private school for grades Pre-K through 8th grade in western Houston, Texas. The school is within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. As of 2008 it serves over 700 students.
St. John the Baptist Catholic School, formerly Holy Child Parochial School (1963–2005), is a private Catholic school in San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is owned and administered by the Archdiocese of Manila, under the Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association System, run by the St. John the Baptist Parish, the parish priest and the school director.
St. Francis Academy was an all-girls' Catholic senior high school in southern San Antonio, Texas.
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.
