St. Joseph's Catholic School (Greenville, South Carolina)

St. Joseph's Catholic School
Address
100 St. Joseph's Drive Greenville , South Carolina 29607 United States
Coordinates	34°48′38″N 82°20′22″W
Information
School type	Private, Coeducational Private
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1993
Chairperson	Margaret Ann Moon
Headmaster	Keith F. Kiser
Grades	6th–12th
Gender	Girls and boys
Enrollment	284 (High school) 255 (Middle school)
Campus size	36 acres (15 ha)
Color(s)	Royal Blue and White
Mascot	Knights
Accreditation	South Carolina Public School League 1A
Director of Admissions	Barbara McGrath
Athletic Director	R.J. Beach
Website	http://www.sjcatholicschool.org/

St. Joseph’s Catholic School is a school located in Greenville, South Carolina. It is one of several Catholic high schools in the upstate of South Carolina, and also happens to be one of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the United States. It is a private, Roman Catholic, co-educational, college-preparatory day school. St. Joseph’s is both recognized and approved by and within the Diocese of Charleston. St. Joseph’s has over 600 students, all throughout grades 6-12. It is accredited by the South Carolina Independent School Association, and is also a member of the South Carolina High School League. The campus is 36 acres, and includes a baseball field, a softball field, two tennis courts, a football/soccer field, and a school gymnasium. The high school is a co-educational program, however the middle school has single-gender classes. Students attending St. Joseph’s are required to wear a uniform. The Catholic traditions are celebrated at St. Joseph’s, including daily prayer and the celebration of the Mass. St. Joseph's Catholic School has a 100% college-acceptance rate.

History

St. Joseph’s was founded in 1993, when nine people came together to create the school. They started off their first year with a class of thirteen 9th graders and began with a donation of $800. The first thirteen students went to school with a complete college preparatory education, got to attend a P.E. class with the help of the local YMCA, and also attended Mass every week. In January 1994, St. Joseph’s relocated to a campus that was 16,000 square feet. Later that year in May, St. Joseph’s received full accreditation from the South Carolina Independent School Association. Later in the year 47 students were attending the school, and a 10th grade class was added. In the year of 1995 the school’s Math team won the statewide Math competition for their division, which had a big impact on the school’s achievements and future ambitions. By September 1996, St. Joseph’s had a full four-year high school program and nearly ten years later in 2005 a middle school wing was added. Later in November, the first on-campus gym was built. To add to the continuation of growth at St. Joseph’s, in 2008, the campus was expanded once again with extensions to the middle school, fine arts and athletic departments. The school continues to grow, with a recent extension of the Middle school, adding two more floors in the Middle School wing.

Curriculum

St. Joseph’s offers a traditional liberal arts curriculum, including the arts, humanities, sciences, and courses of instruction in Catholic theology. They also offer a middle school curriculum created to prepare middle school students for the college-preparatory curriculum in the high school.

St. Thomas Aquinas Program

St. Joseph’s also offers help to students that might be struggling with keeping up. Because of the rigorous curriculum offered at St. Joseph’s, students are offered help from the St. Thomas Aquinas program. Students use one period of class in their day to spend time with some teachers and get help any of the subjects needed.

Class Ratio

The average class size at St. Josephs is about 19 students. The ratio of faculty to student is 13:1.

School Day

The school calendar goes by semesters, and in each of the semesters there are two quarters. Typically school goes from late August until the very beginning of June, and on a normal week of school goes Monday thru Friday. Class begins at 8:00am and goes until 3:00pm. However, Wednesdays are short days meaning they begin at the normal time but end at 1:15pm. On these days students only attend four of their classes, when on a normal school day they would attend seven. Every Wednesday the classes schedule rotates, where the student attends the first four classes of the day on a Wednesday called an Alpha day, and on the other Wednesday the student would attend the last three classes of the day, called an Omega day. These terms come from the Greek alphabet, Alpha meaning first and Omega meaning last.

Course Requirements

St. Joseph’s offers a college-preparatory curriculum, where most of the academic courses in can be taken at three different levels. These levels are as follows: college preparatory (CP), honors, and advanced placement (AP). To graduate from St. Joseph’s students are required to receive a certain amount of credits for each of the 10 areas of learning. The graduation requirements are presented below.

Theology: 4.0

English: 4.0

Mathematics: 4.0

Science: 3.0

Social Studies: 3.0

Foreign Language: 3.0

Physical Education/Health: 1.0

Computer: 0.5

Fine Arts: 1.0

Academic Electives: 2.0

Total: 25.5 hours

Uniforms

The students at St. Joseph’s are expected to maintain a clean, professional look while attending school. There are two styles of uniform that the students are required to wear. They are the dress uniform, and the casual uniform. The high school and the middle school uniform are also different designs. The uniforms consist of a plaid kilt and either a dress shirt, or for high school students a polo shirt. On dress days students are required to wear a different uniform, consisting of a blazer, dress shoes, and for the girls Knee socks. The middle school uniforms are different from the high school uniforms.

Co-Curricular Activities

St. Joseph’s has a broad selection of co-curricular activities, many of which are incorporated with academics, athletics, or the fine arts. The selection offered are as follows:

Academic and Enrichment

Academic Team/Quiz Bowl, Junior Classical League, Literary Magazine, Mathematics Team, Youth In Government, Book Club, Chess Club, Giovent Studentesca (GS), Student Youth, Lego Robotics, Newspaper, Photography Club, and Running Club.

Fine Arts

Band Ensemble, Chorus, Drama and Stage Crew, Dance, Middle School Dance Team, Strings Ensemble, and Theatre Production.

Leadership and Service

Bleeding Hearts Club, Campus Ministry, El Salvador Mission Team, Foreign Language Honor Society, French Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America, Gala Service Club, Guild of St. Martha, Guild of St. Stephen, History Honors Society, International Thespian Honor Society, Junior Classical League Honor Society, Letterman's Club, Middle School Council, National Art Honors Society, English Honors Society, National Math Honor Society, National Honor Society, Rosary Club, Science National Honors Society, Senior Senate, Spanish Honor Society, Student Athletic Training, Student Council, Tri-M Music Honor Society, and Women's Leadership Club.

Athletics

Offered in the Fall: Varsity Cheerleading (Girls), JV and Varsity Cross Country, Varsity Golf, Varsity Swimming, JV and Varsity Tennis (Girls), Middle School, JV, and Varsity Volleyball, Intramural (Grades 6-8) Flag Football, and Intramural Volleyball. Offered in the Winter: Middle School, JV, and Varsity Basketball, Varsity Cheerleading (Girls), Middle School and Varsity Wrestling, and Intramural Basketball. Offered in the Spring: Varsity Lacrosse, JV and Varsity Soccer, JV and Varsity Softball, JV and Varsity Baseball, JV and Varsity Golf, JV and Varsity Tennis (Boys), Varsity Track and Field, and Intramural Soccer.