SMA Facts
Media Inquiries:
Crystal W. Ghassemi
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
O: 503.721.7715
C: 503.724.8589
E: Crystal.Ghassemi@stmaryspdx.org
- St. Mary’s Academy is an all girls, Catholic high school for young women that provides a challenging college-preporatory education in a learning environment.
- In the heart of downtown Portland, Ore., SMA is located off Southwest Fifth Street near the campus of Portland State University between Mill and Market Streets.
- The mission of St. Mary’s is to educate the whole person by nurturing spirituality, encouraging creativity, promoting justice and inspiring a sense of global interdependence to prepare students for service and leadership.
- St. Mary’s Academy is Oregon’s oldest continuously operating secondary school in the state.
- St. Mary’s Academy is Oregon’s only school to receive three U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools awards.
- The student body at SMA represents a diverse background of young women from over 30 urban, suburban and rural communities in Oregon and southwest Washington.
- With a diverse student body, there is no such thing as a typical St. Mary’s student. Further, students do not wear uniforms and have not since the late 1970s.
- School colors are white and blue and the mascot is a professionally-made eighth note named “Ella.”. The team name is the Blues.