Mission Statement Draft
4-3-04 update

St. Louis University High School is a Catholic, Jesuit school dedicated to developing our gifts for the service of others.

As a Catholic school, WE SEEK talented young men who reflect the economic, geographic, and social diversity of the area and who find strength, purpose, and dignity both in the pursuit of academic excellence and in the vision and values of Jesus Christ. Thus, spiritual formation will accompany the intellectual, aesthetic, social, and physical formation of our students.

As a Jesuit school that should serve as a sign of Christ�s kingdom of truth, justice, love, and peace,
WE CHALLENGE this group of young men and ourselves to cultivate life-affirming habits and to develop critical minds, generous imaginations, and compassionate hearts.

As a school with a historic and continuing commitment to a rigorous program of academic excellence,
WE STRIVE to encourage among our talented students a devotion to life-long learning.



from Rich Moran on why the word the rigorous should be in our Mision statement.

Colleagues,

I wanted to reply to reservations about the word "rigorous" by suggesting that rigor is a central principle in the long history of Jesuit education. Below you will find some testimony to that effect, just a few quotations from the hundreds of Googled websites that connect Jesuit education to rigorous academic work. Quoted below are but a few. Except for the first two, most are taken from Jesuit high school mission statements. If you want more evidence, Google for "mission statement," "rigorous," and "Jesuit." I wonder if resistance to the term "rigorous" arises not out of a Jesuit context but out of the prevailing American context, which inclines us toward ease and comfort. In any case, I doubt that the term would appear so often in Jesuit high school and university mission statements if it were considered abrasive.

Rich

From the St. Louis University Site
Primary Purpose of Jesuit Education
The Ratio Studiorum, published in 1599, reflected the consensus of Jesuit pedagogues after� fourteen years of collaboration. Far from a finished product, the framers of this document urged ongoing assessment to improve the program of study. Yet the primary purpose of this curriculum was clear and unambiguous: To instill knowledge and love of the creator and redeemer of humanity. They sought to realize this goal through a rigorous intellectual formation designed to transform attitudes and moral choices.

From the Office of the President of Holy Cross University
Translated into educational terms, this means that in everything we do, nothing less than the best will suffice. Jesuit education is rigorous; it is demanding.

St. Joseph University
Our understanding of the centuries old Jesuit educational vision of "concern for the individual student" (cura personalis) establishes effective and rigorous teaching and learning as a primary value.

Loyola High School, (Chicago) "as the nation�s largest Jesuit college preparatory high school � is renowned for its rigorous academic curriculum."

Cheverus High School ACADEMIC Mission
Through the structure of its college preparatory program, Cheverus High School strives to develop the potential of each student, preparing the young person for further education. The faculty structures each course according to disciplined, rigorous standards, requiring serious effort from the students. To challenge gifted students, Cheverus maintains both advanced placement and honors sections in most academic disciplines. For the student of demonstrated need, the school provides study skill development through courses in fundamental college preparatory skills. Cheverus encourages achievement by all its students through a variety of incentives and honors.

Jesuit High Tampa
Curriculum
Jesuit's rigorous college preparatory curriculum is designed to prepare our students for admission to higher education and continuing intellectual, moral, and spiritual development. In the departments of theology, English, foreign language, mathematics, science, social studies, and fine arts, students progress through our various requirements.

Marquette High, Milwaukee
As a college preparatory school, MUHS prepares its graduates to attain mastery in those academic disciplines required for admission and success at colleges and universities throughout the United States. This curriculum demands rigorous preparation in the liberal arts.

Boston College
A good place to begin is Boston College's mission statement, approved by the Board of Trustees in 1996. In 350 words it links religious faith, intellectual inquiry, and the pursuit of a just society. It commits Boston College to fostering the rigorous intellectual development of its students as well as their religious, ethical and personal formation; to producing research that advances understanding and addresses societal needs; and to advancing the dialogue between religious belief and other formative elements of culture.

� Bellarmine High School
Mission Statement
The Jesuit educational tradition fosters rigorous scholarship, cares for the individual person, constantly adapts to new opportunities and challenges, translates values into action, and in all, centers learning on the person and message of Jesus Christ.
  1. Bellarmine is a Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition. Its Mission is to teach students of all faiths as Jesus did, by proclaiming His message within a community with the purpose of translating those values into action.
  2. To this end, Bellarmine provides rigorous programs of excellence that develop and harmonize the intellectual, the spiritual, the emotional and the physical.


Sacred Heart Nativity School
Our Mission
To address the needs of these adolescents, a non-profit religious benefit corporation has been formed to do the following:

�������� Conduct a program that seeks the full spiritual, moral, intellectual, emotional, social and physical development of its students, staff and supporters in line with the Jesuit emblem of Men for Others.
�������� Follow a rigorous academic program that will enable its graduates to succeed in college-preparatory high schools.

From Rockhurst University
First Principles of Catholic Higher Education
As an institution of higher education, each of these Catholic colleges and universities is an academic community which, in a rigorous and critical fashion, assists in the protection and advancement of human dignity and of a cultural heritage through teaching, research, and various services offered to the local, national and international communities.

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