St. Catherine’s Academy is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

internship

military school A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

located in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

. It was founded in 1889 by The

Dominican Sisters The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

Mission San José Mission San José may refer to: *Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California * Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood * Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California *Mission San José ...

. The school offers an academic program for boys in kindergarten through eighth grade, as well as military structure and leadership training. The school is open to both resident and day students.

History

St. Catherine’s Academy was founded by Mother Pia Backes, the foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. The school was dedicated on March 19, 1889, and opened on March 22, 1889, as an academy for girls and a parochial school for local families. St. Catherine’s also spent time as an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

and a school for boys before becoming a military school in the 1920s. The name was changed to St. Catherine's Military School and later St. Catherine's Military Academy. In August 2007, the academy began using its original name, St. Catherine's Academy. The Dominican Sisters continue to be a presence on campus. Today, sisters hold positions in administration, resident care and teaching.

Campus

St. Catherine’s Academy has an campus in Anaheim, California, two miles (3 km) from

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

. Resident cadets stay in one of four dormitories. The school’s chapel is the St.

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

Chapel. Decorated by the artist Jan Henryk de Rosen, it is dedicated to the memory of Captain William Maguire, the cadets' chaplain in the 1950s. Maguire was a United States Navy Chaplain to the Pacific Fleet during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

, preparing to celebrate

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

when the Japanese attacked.

Accreditations and memberships

*Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) *National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) *Catholic Boarding Schools Associations (CBSA) *Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States (AMCSUS) *

International Boys' Schools Coalition The International Boys' Schools Coalition (IBSC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of all-boys schools dedicated to the education of boys, to the professional development of their educators, and to the advancement of educational institution ...

(IBSC)

Academics

St. Catherine’s academics adhere to the standards of both the State of California and the Diocese of Orange.

Military tradition

The military program begins for students in second grade. Cadets participate in drill training each afternoon. The military department also takes cadets to a one-week leadership camp at

Camp San Luis Obispo Camp San Luis Obispo is the original home of the California Army National Guard. It served as an Infantry Division Camp and Cantonment Area for the United States Army during World War II. History Camp San Luis Obispo, formerly called Camp Merri ...

each summer.

Extracurricular activities

St. Catherine’s competes in the Parochial Athletic League (PAL) in three sports:

flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. The sport has a strong amateur following ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. The school has won championships in all three sports (basketball — 2006-2007; flag football — 2003-2004; volleyball — 2001-2002). The music program is among the oldest ongoing programs in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

, with over 70 years in existence. In addition to weekly music classes, students can take individual guitar and piano lessons. The school’s band, The Marching Knights, participates in local parades and concerts.Instruments and Fine Arts
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Popular culture

St Catherine's Academy was used for exterior shots in the 1955 movie ''

The Private War of Major Benson ''The Private War of Major Benson'' is 1955 comedy film starring Charlton Heston, Julie Adams, Sal Mineo and Tim Hovey, about a tough-talking U.S. Army officer who must shape up the JROTC program at Sheridan Academy, a Catholic boys' military a ...

'', where cadets filled every role other than the principal roles, including all of the extras as well as many other, insignificant parts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Catherine's Academy Educational institutions established in 1889 Boarding schools in California Catholic boarding schools in the United States Catholic elementary schools in California Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange Education in Orange County, California Military schools in the United States Dominican schools in the United States 1889 establishments in California