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Externado San Jose is a
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Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
primary and secondary school located in
San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...
,
El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
. The institution began in 1921 as San Jose Seminary to which "outsiders" were later admitted. When the seminarians moved to a new facility the remaining school became an "externado". The school was founded and is run by the
Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
. In 2015 Externado was ranked fourth among 440 schools in El Salvador by the
University of El Salvador The University of El Salvador (UES) is the oldest and the most prominent university institution in El Salvador. It serves as the national university of the country. The main campus, Ciudad Universitaria, is located in the capital of San Salvador ...
on the basis of test scores, and had a larger enrollment than the first three schools combined.


Brief history

In 1921 the Jesuits founded San José School seminary school, in the center of San Salvador next to San José Church (later destroyed by fire). Later "outsiders" not contemplating the priesthood were admitted for baccalaureate studies. to the school, which included boarding and day students. Years later the seminarians moved to the new seminary of San José de la Montaña. Those remaining justified the name "externs" or San Jose Externado. In the 1940s work began on a new school with more adequate facilities on the outskirts of San Salvador, the school's present location. Four Jesuit brothers from the Basque area of Spain did much of the construction at 25 North or "university" Avenue. The primary division moved there in 1954 and the secondary school in 1955. In 1963 the chapel of St. Ignatius of Loyola was built with a capacity for a thousand people. In 1956 the night school, Loyola Academy, was founded to tend to the needs of workers and employees. In 1972 an evening shift was added, to better serve the poor. In 1978, co-education was introduced. On 10 October 10, 1986, the San Salvador earthquake critically damaged the three-story building, and it had to be demolished. While new facilities were being constructed the primary school met in the chapel and the Baccalaureate at
Central American University Central American University may refer to: *Central American University, Managua *Central American University, San Salvador José Simeón Cañas Central American University (), also known as UCA El Salvador, is a private Catholic university with ...
(UCA). In 1988 the new and current facilities were opened, with financial help from Jesuits provinces outside El Salvador.


Mission

San Jose is academically selective; its students have ranked highest in the Learning and Academic Aptitude Test scores (PAES) since its inception in 1997. Externado San José was long considered a school for the elites, but after the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
and the Conference of Latin American Bishops at Medellin in the 1960s, the Jesuits and staff determined to make education more accessible to the poor. They initiated a sliding scale for tuition, based on family income. No longer seen as elitist, the school nonetheless has maintained high admission and academic performance standards. For secondary students, low grades and/or demerits in personal conduct can lead to expulsion. At the same time, Christian Formation courses took on the goal of forming men and women devoted to serving their society. This included some elements of Liberation Theology which would bridge the deep social divide in El Salvador. At the time, many upscale families withdrew their children from the school, and six Jesuits at their sister school UCA would become
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
s for their open opposition to the elitist government. Externado San José still operates with this system of differentiated quotas, and remains
coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
. Its graduates include many prominent Salvadoreans, among them former presidents Armando Calderón Sol and
Mauricio Funes Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena (18 October 1959 – 21 January 2025) was a Salvadoran politician and journalist who served as the 79th president of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. Funes won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of t ...
, and the internationally acclaimed poet
Roque Dalton Roque Antonio Dalton García (14 May 1935 – 10 May 1975), known professionally as Roque Dalton, was a Salvadoran poet, essayist, journalist, political activist, and intellectual. He is considered one of Latin America's most compelling poets ...
.


Academics

The last year of preschool and nine years of primary school meet from 7:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Besides usual subjects children receive classes in Christian formation, sports, music, crafts, English (from second grade), and chess (from third grade). This is followed by two years of Baccalaureate meeting from 7:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. From grade seven on, group work and creativity are promoted along with various forms of research, fostering development in the group and emotional maturity. These programs are supplemented by physical education, Christian training, computer skills, and study skills. The Evening Shift covers grades 4 through 9, with a school day from 1:00 to 6:15 p.m. Many, but not all, students in this shift receive financial assistance according to their family's proven need.


Facilities

The school campus occupies about 19 acres in the middle of San Salvador. It includes six blocks for classrooms plus laboratories for physics, chemistry, and biology, two computer rooms, two projection rooms, and rooms for music, crafts, and chess. The school library contains about 25,000 volumes and includes a separate reading room and group work room. St. Ignatius of Loyola Chapel seats a thousand people and Mary Queen of Peace Chapel holds fifty. There is an auditorium seating seven hundred people and another seating two hundred. Sports facilities include a 25-meter swimming pool, soccer fields including one regulation and surrounded by a track, three volleyball courts, and three basketball courts.


Symbols

The flowering staff in the upper left symbolizes
Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...
and several volcanoes in the upper right symbolize Jesuit work in the Central American Province. The lower left has the coat of arms of
Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...
, founder of the Jesuits, and the bottom right has the letters " AMDG" taken from the Latin for the Ignatian motto, "To the greater glory of God." The parrot is the mascot of the school, usually portrayed by a cute rendering of a parakeet, a very common bird in Central America.


Pastoral department

In line with the Jesuit objective of training men and women for others, throughout the year various activities are carried out such as coexistence, retreats, Christian formation classes, and community celebrations (
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
,
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
,
Confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...
s...). To encounter people who live in poverty and are marginalized in the country, regular visits are arranged to institutions for children, for young people, and for the elderly, people who are often at risk, abused, or deprived of their basic needs; this is followed by group reflection. The school is a part of the Ignatians for Haiti drive among Jesuit schools in Latin America.


Culture and communications

The Department of Communications and Cultural Activities (DECOMACCU) offers three programs which run throughout the year. ''Periqueando'' newsletter is produced for elementary (K – 6) and ''Perquiting'' for secondary (7 – 11) students. Student activities of a cultural, athletic, pastoral, or social nature are covered. Festivals and cultural contests discover, promote, and reward the creative and artistic talents of students, through writing (composition, poetry, and narrative), speaking (oratory and declamation), and performing (music, drawing, theater, and dance). Their best literary efforts are published in ''Green Letter Anthology'', which can be viewed online. Occasionally cultural events are staged within the school, featuring prominent artistic groups.


Sports

Students in ninth grade through high school take physical education, which teaches swimming,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
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 Summ ...
,
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
, and fitness. Intramural tournaments are also conducted for students from first grade through high school, in soccer, swimming, volleyball, basketball,
kickball Kickball (also known as soccer baseball in most of Canada and football rounders in the United Kingdom) is a team sport and league game, similar to baseball. Like baseball, it is a safe haven game in which one team tries to score by having it ...
, and
track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
. The more skilled students compete at various levels in interscholastic sports in basketball, as well as in soccer and volleyball which also have national championships.


See also

*
Education in El Salvador Education in El Salvador is regulated by the country's Ministry of EducationMINED. El Salvador consists of the following levels of education: * ''Primary education, Basic Education'' divided into three ''cycles'' of three grades each: ** 1st Cyc ...
* List of Jesuit schools


Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Externado San Jose Jesuit secondary schools in El Salvador Jesuit primary schools in El Salvador Schools in San Salvador Educational institutions established in 1921 1921 establishments in El Salvador