Santa Catalina School is a private school in Monterey, California, United States, founded by Sister Margaret Thompson and the Dominican Order in 1950. Situated on a 36-acre hacienda-style campus, the Upper School is an all-girls boarding school that also accepts local students. The Lower and Middle School serves both boys and girls (preschool through 8th grade). Students are required to wear uniforms. The school emphasizes building a sense of community that challenges its students mentally and spiritually. Santa Catalina is accredited by the California Association of Independent Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. In addition, the school is associated with the National Association of Independent Schools, the Association of Boarding Schools, National Catholic Educational Association, and the National Coalition of Girls' Schools.

History

Ranch beginnings and religious background

The original Santa Catalina Convent was founded by Sister Marie Geomaere, a Dominican sister, in what is now downtown Monterey in 1850, when Monterey was the capital of California. With the help of Rev. Joseph Alemany, O.P., Bishop of Monterey, she created the first Catholic school in California, excluding mission schools. Students were predominantly daughters of local town residents and of nearby Spanish landowners and classes were taught in Castilian Spanish. In 1854 the school was moved to Benicia, the new state capital, where it was renamed St. Catherine's Academy.

In 1950, Sister Margaret Thompson, Mother General of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, California, decided to reestablish Santa Catalina in Monterey. After buying the 36-acre campus from a local cattle rancher, Col. Harold Mack, the school opened in the fall of 1950, with Sister Mary Kieran as the first principal. Sister Claire and Sister Christine still reside on campus, though both are now retired.

Margaret K. Bradley became Head of School in 2016 upon the retirement of Sister Claire. Margaret Bradley retired in June 2022. Upon her retirement, Dr. Barbara Ostos became the fifth Head of School.

Current statistics

Lower and middle school

Enrollment

There are 238 students in the Lower and Middle School; 61 percent are girls and 39 percent are boys.

  • Pre-K: $14,500
  • Kindergarten: $22,750
  • Grades 1-8: $24,750
  • 42 percent of students receive financial aid.

Upper school

Enrollment, class size, and student-teacher ratio

As of August 2019, there were 216 girls enrolled at Santa Catalina: 113 were boarding students and 103 were day students.

Education and academics

Mission

Santa Catalina Lower and Middle School "encourage[s] each boy and girl to work effectively, to communicate articulately, [and] to approach life with a sense of purpose and competence" and prepares students for secondary schooling.

Santa Catalina School aims to "combine a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, modern educational technology, and solid Christian principles" to prepare its students for college and beyond. The school attempts to develop each girl's abilities and emphasizes balancing intellectual growth with spiritual awareness.

  • 3 years of math, foreign language, religious studies, lab sciences, and arts

Departments

Academics are divided among the following departments: Art, Drama, English, Foreign Language (including French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese), History, Math, Music, Religion, and Science. which provides further college counseling. In addition, approximately 65 colleges and universities from within the United States and abroad send representatives to Catalina to discuss their schools with students throughout the academic year. The average SAT score of students is 1732.

Lower and middle school academics

From kindergarten to fifth grade, students take courses in art, computer studies, language arts, math, music, physical education, religion, science, and social science. Spanish classes are introduced in the 4th grade. In grades 6 – 8, students take classes in art, computer science, English, foreign language (Spanish), history, math, music, physical education, religion, and science.

Faculty and administrators

Despite the school's religious background, the current administrators are laypeople and not affiliated with a religious order.

  • Head of School - Dr. Barbara Ostos,
  • Assistant Head of School for Mission and Identity - John Murphy, Ph.D.
  • Head of Upper School - Julie Lenherr Edson ’88
  • Head of Lower and Middle School, PreK–Grade 8 - Maria Canteli

The Upper School is ranked among the top 20 boarding schools for faculty education because a high percentage of the faculty has advanced degrees. This 10-lane pool is used for physical education classes and the Upper School's swimming and diving and water polo teams. The pool was renovated beginning in 2018 and was unveiled for the second time in the spring of 2019. It is now fully functional.

  • Bedford Family Gymnasium Complex

Located next to the pool, the gym houses basketball and volleyball courts, bleachers, and dressing room facilities. PE classes and Upper and Lower School basketball and volleyball teams use the facility. The gym overlooks the pool and a regulation size softball and soccer field, which is encircled by an all-weather track. In addition, the gym is adjacent to 6 regulation size tennis courts, including one lighted court with stadium seating. Today the chapel is used for weekly morning prayer offered for all students and faculty, weekly masses for resident students, on-campus faculty, and the public, as well as special events.

  • Santo Domingo Hall

This building includes the student health center and the dining hall. Although their vegetarian and vegan options are often limited to the daily salad bar.

  • Sister Mary Kieran Memorial Library

Finished in 1967, the library holds about 34,000 volumes, 40 in-house periodicals, 500 media items, online databases, and 30 computers for students and teachers. It is used by both Upper and Lower Schools. The library staff are inconstant, and although the library is the only place with low volume and adequate couch space, rules constitute no napping.

  • Sister Carlotta Performing Arts Center

The Performing Arts Center is a 500-seat, state of the art theater that is used for Lower School Spring and Christmas concerts, various recitals, and three Upper School performances every academic year.

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|+ Seasonal athletic teams

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|+ Seasonal athletic teams

  • Dance: Dance classes are offered in ballet technique, jazz, contemporary, and musical-theater tap.
  • Lower and Middle School - The entire Lower and Middle School is involved in one community service project each month.

Student clubs

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|+ Student clubs

! Academic / school support !! Activism !! Entertainment !! Sports / outdoors !! Social !! Student government (all students are elected to these positions)

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| Spanish Club || Amnesty International || Accents (advanced dance club) || Fencing Club || Back to Basics (cooking and sewing club) || Student / Faculty Senate

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| French Club || Community Service Club || ECCO! (A Capella Group) || Fit Club || Dumbledore's Army (Harry Potter enthusiasts) || Resident Council

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| PEMDAS (Math Club and Peer Tutoring) || Operation Smile || Lamplighter (student newspaper issued 7 times a year) || Journey: Jump Outside Until Real Nature Experiences You (outdoor club) || Fashion Club || Day Student Council

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| Admission Tour Guides and Class Guides || Pax Christi || MOSAIC (literary magazine) || Scuba Club || Great Indulgences (art, literature, and film club) || Prefects

|-

| Big / Little Sisters (seniors who help freshman ease into their first year) || R4: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore (environmental club) || Reverb (singing and songwriting club) || Geocachers || Knit Wits (knitting club) ||

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| Catalinan (Yearbook)|| Model UN / UN Student Alliance || || || Tokyo Drift (Japanese club) ||

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| STAR (Student - alumni organization) || Animal Welfare || || || ||

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Notable alumnae

  • Kathleen Brown, 1994 California gubernatorial candidate; daughter of former Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown; sister of former California Governor Jerry Brown
  • Maryedith Burrell, film and television producer, writer, actress and documentarian
  • Angelique Cabral, actress, star of CBS's Life in Pieces
  • Ninive Clements Calegari, educator and co-founder of 826 Valencia, The Teacher Salary Project and Enterprise for Youth
  • Leslie Cockburn, journalist, producer, director, writer; co-producer of The Peacemaker with George Clooney
  • Claire Coffee, actress, star of NBC's Grimm
  • Abigail Folger, coffee heiress, civil rights activist
  • Sharon Gless, actress, best known for 1980s crime drama Cagney and Lacey
  • Jennifer Grant, actress, daughter of Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon
  • Patricia Hearst, newspaper heiress, former member of Symbionese Liberation Army
  • Dakota Johnson, actress, best known for her role in the Fifty Shades franchise (attended one year)
  • Jessica Koehne, nanoscientist at NASA
  • Monica C. Lozano, publisher and CEO of the Spanish language La Opinión newspaper in Los Angeles
  • Brita Sigourney, three time Olympian and 2018 Bronze medalist in her specialty of skiing
  • Kathleen Sullivan, first woman anchor at CNN

References

  • The Association of Boarding Schools profile