Saint Joseph Academy (Brownsville, Texas)
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Saint Joseph Academy, sometimes referred to as St. Joe or SJA, is a
private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...
conducted by the Marist Brothers of the Schools. It is located in
Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...
, United States, and serves junior high and high school students of the lower Rio Grande Valley and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The school is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville.


History

St. Joseph Academy was founded in 1865 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the downtown area of
Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...
. The school closed and re-opened many times under the Oblates in its earliest years. In 1906, however, the Marist Brothers arrived from
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and re-opened St. Joseph Academy, and it has remained open ever since. Initially, SJA was an all-male elementary school. In 1926 a three-story building was constructed, known as the "Old Saint Joseph", where the International Bank of Commerce now stands in downtown. In 1930, the first high school class graduated from St. Joseph, and by 1940, the Sisters of the Holy Ghost assumed the administration of the elementary school. The new campus, found at 101 St. Joseph Drive in Brownsville, Texas, relocated in 1959 from its historic downtown campus to its current campus on the wooded and picturesque banks of a resaca (a regional Spanish word for oxbow lake), serving boys from 7th to 12th grade. The original site became the parochial school for Sacred Heart Church (established 1912), under the direction of the religious order now known as the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate. The new campus contained many architectural innovations, including separate low-profile classroom buildings centered around a large garden area of native flora, reminiscent of Mexican Alameda Central urban parks; unique offset vents and jalousie windows designed to maximize the cooling effect of southerly breezes; and the gymnasium with its award-winning design (highly unusual at the time) by which the entire weight of the structure is supported by four curved roof beams that meet at the center of the building. The school was all-male until 1970, when Saint Joseph became co-educational and admitted its first female students into the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. In 1998, the school switched from now-defunct TCIL to TAPPS, and by 2004, the construction of the new administration and middle school buildings began. On October 27, 2005, the buildings' dedication took place in the middle school gymnasium. On 8 April 2008, the Mexican pop group RBD played at a private concert in Saint Joseph Academy's gymnasium after several students won a competition sponsored by Verizon Wireless. By June 2012, the whole campus in SJA had
wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks, and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables int ...
connection.


Mission statement

St. Joseph Academy, conducted by the Marist Brothers with the mission to serve the children of the lower portion of the Rio Grande Valley, is dedicated to provide a "religious and moral formation" and a college preparatory education under the tradition of the
Roman Catholic Church 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 ...
. According to the official page of the school, the SJA endeavors to form students that will succeed in their university studies, understand and love
Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
, and participate in the mission of the Church, including Catholic social teaching on the preferential option for the poor. Every year, about 100 students and more than a dozen faculty members travel to several rural communities to do community services and conduct religious classes. The school also has a community service requirement for each student during the school year, and that chore is set up by the religion professors. In the early 2000s, the missions program at St. Joseph travelled to Tula, Tamaulipas every year; in 2012, they traveled to a Native American reservation near Gallup, New Mexico on a 10-day trip.


Athletics

At a high school level, SJA has
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
,
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 ...
,
cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...
, dance team, cross country,
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
,
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
,
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 ...
,
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
,
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
, 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 ...
. In junior high, which is only from seventh to eighth grade, basketball, football, cross country, track and field and
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 ...
are available. In 2021, the boys' cross country team won second place in the TAPPS State Meet in the 5A division. The team was coached by Teddy Lopez along with Mike Schlater and Louie Tijerina. This team was led by Pedro Cardenas and was made up of the district winning team Alejandro Ramirez, Jorge Albores, Juan Gonzalez, Mauricio Gonzalez, and Julio Cesar Silguero.


Communities represented

Students attending Saint Joseph Academy come from the following communities in the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan area. ;Cities in Mexico * Matamoros, Tamaulipas ;Cities in the U.S. (Texas)


Notable alumni

* James Carlos Blake — prize-winning author of novels, novellas, short stories, and essays; current member of the Texas Institute of Letters * Joey Fischer — senior student murdered in 1993; part of a murder case that brought national attention * Buddy Garcia — appointed to the Railroad Commission of Texas by Governor Rick Perry on April 12, 2012 * Tony Garza
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
Ambassador to
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, former
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
Secretary of State * Fernando de Leon — Mexican-born American businessman, investor and philanthropist * Bianca Marroquín — Mexican
musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...
and
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
actress; first Latina to play in a starring role on Broadway * Jose Rolando Olvera Jr.
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
District Judge United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas * Federico Peña — U.S. Secretary of Transportation (1993–1997); U.S. Secretary of Energy (1997–1998); first Hispanic mayor of Denver, CO * Robert Rodriguez — emergency physician at the San Francisco General Hospital; professor of emergency medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine; member of the COVID-19 Advisory Board of U.S. president Joe Biden * Rudy Ruiz — Award-winning Latino author, entrepreneur and advocate * Julian Schnabel — "neo-expressionist" painter;
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-nominated, Golden Globe winner; director of '' The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'' * Filemon Vela Jr.
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
U.S. Representative for 34th congressional district since 2013


See also

* List of Marist Brothers schools


References


External links


Saint Joseph Academy website
{{authority control Marist Brothers schools Private middle schools in Texas Catholic secondary schools in Texas Education in Brownsville, Texas High schools in Cameron County, Texas