Learn About the Mission of Catholic Schools to Support Your Child
Want to provide your child with a great private school education? Learn about the mission of Catholic schools to see if our values align with yours for your daughter.
Selecting the right high school for your daughter can be a challenge. Catholic schools make this choice simpler by offering an outstanding education with many long-term benefits for your child that are unavailable at public schools.
However, making a decision about your child’s education often goes beyond just the education offered at a particular school. You want to ensure that a private school’s mission and values align with your beliefs.
Each private school has its own purpose and set of values. St. Agnes Academy has taken the traditional mission of Catholic schools and built upon those ideas to create a well-rounded education centered on faith, truth, and joy.
Learning more about the background of our mission will help you make a great decision about whether to enroll your daughter at our school.
The Mission of a Catholic School in General
Each Catholic school has a slightly different objective for the education they offer, but each mission is built around the mission of the Catholic Church.
Private Catholic schools seek to serve both society and the Catholic community by educating students – whether they are adults or young people – and encouraging those students to contribute in positive ways to society as a whole.
Students attending Catholic schools are encouraged to be caring, active, and compassionate members of their communities, whether it’s the smaller community of their church or town, the larger faith community, the country, or the entire world.
St. Agnes Academy’s Mission Specifically
Our mission statement is, in many ways, similar to the mission of Catholic schools across the country and the world.
St. Agnes is rooted in the Dominican Catholic tradition, which celebrates veritas (or truth). Students receive an exceptional education, transformational experiences, and academic preparation for high school and beyond.
Our school focuses on helping students step forward eagerly, lead with integrity and delight, and support their communities while committing to social justice.
In line with our Dominican values, St. Agnes believes that each student is valuable and unique and that education can develop the whole person. To carry out our mission, we provide students with opportunities to pursue subjects that interest them. We provide a curriculum that sets high goals and standards while working with each student’s individual learning style.
Our teachers engage students’ minds while providing positive feedback in a safe environment. We seek to honor each student’s spiritual autonomy but encourage young women to explore their beliefs and the choices they make within the guidelines of Catholicism.
St. Agnes’ mission is supported by the “grad at grad” statement, which describes what a graduate will embody upon graduation. Each statement further clarifies the school’s mission statement and the goals of the education each student receives.
1. Live in Veritas
Veritas, or truth, is one of the most important words at St. Agnes Academy. The word is a Dominican motto that ties into every educational endeavor at the school. We encourage our students to live in truth in both word and deed.
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2. Recognize Dominican Heritage
The entwining of exemplary education and a focus on the Catholic faith encourages students to recognize their Dominican heritage, witness the Gospel values confirmed by the Holy Spirit, and incorporate faith and prayer into their daily lives.
3. Demonstrate Intellectual Curiosity
Any quality educative process should focus on delving into the subjects and areas students are most fascinated by.
At St. Agnes, we seek to inspire, challenge, and interest our students. Each student engages in projects and classes that intrigue them, which helps develop a lifelong passion for learning and a deep intellectual curiosity.
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4. Embraces Diversity
Jesus Christ was a champion for the marginalized, and we encourage our students to follow in His footsteps. A St. Agnes student is ready to embrace diversity and stand up for the people in her community who need her the most.
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5. Assumes Personal Leadership
Character formation and a foundation of self-respect and confidence are additional essential St. Agnes goals. Each student is asked to make choices that embody empathy and integrity. Students will assume personal leadership and develop leadership skills to serve their communities.
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6. Recognizes an Interconnectedness with Earth
Students who bring love and faith into their lives recognize that they are deeply connected to the Earth and every species on the planet. Students at St. Agnes recognize and embrace their responsibilities to the planet and the global community.
7. Celebrates Life
One of the most vital tenets of Catholic education is the focus on joy. St. Agnes students are optimistic, creative, and hardworking, and they walk forward into their adult lives with a sense of happiness and wonder.
- Who We Are: Watch This Video On Our Creativity
8. Feels a Commitment to Social Justice
Living in truth and acting with compassion means that students also feel a strong need to make a difference in the world. St. Agnes students are encouraged to find ways to serve social justice causes and use their advantages to help those who are less fortunate.
- Who We Are: Watch This Video on Social Justice Warriors
Learn More About the Mission of Catholic Schools
The Catholic Church believes that parents are always a child’s primary educators, so it’s crucial that you choose a school that aligns with your family’s values and the values you hope your daughter will carry forth into her adult life.
St. Agnes’ goal is to create a safe, comfortable, all-girls learning environment that promotes each student’s interests. We help our students focus on their future plans, live in veritas, and carry forward the teachings of the Catholic school community and the Dominican Catholic tradition.
Schedule a campus site visit to learn more about our mission and everything our school has to offer!
