St. Mary's Academy has been awarded the December KATU Super School award and, as an honoree, is in the running to receive a $1,000 KATU Super School Scholarship. Highlighting her experience with St. Mary's community service projects, junior Katie Gunderson nominated the school earlier this year and won the honor with her submission. KATU anchorwoman Deb Knapp traveled to the school on December 15 to present St. Mary's student body with a trophy and experience one of the school's many Christmas service projects - sending supplies and donations for Our Lady Academy, an all-girls school in Mississippi that was destroyed by hurricane Katrina.

"I applaud KATU's program to highlight strong schools and successful educators," says St. Mary's Academy Principal Pat Barr. "I am very proud of the open and gracious hearts of our students, and I appreciate KATU's willingness to honor our girls' commitment to service."

This is the second year that KATU and Oregon College Savings Plan, in conjunction with OppenheimerFunds, has awarded the "Super School" designations. Each year, students from around Oregon and SW Washington can nominate their school and each month, during the school year, the channel picks one school to profile from the nominations received. Students have to fill out a lengthy nomination form found on the KATU website that includes questions about activities that make school special, school spirit, and school awards.

The special aspect of St. Mary's Academy that Katie featured was its commitment to community service. This is very evident by the special service projects in operation at the school this holiday season, which include partnering with Our Lady Academy (OLA), donating to the homeless women and children at Rose Haven community and intervention center, celebrating with the elderly through Northwest Pilot Project, and ringing bells for the Salvation Army.

This holiday season, St. Mary's relationship with OLA is especially unique. As the only all-girls school in Oregon, the student body at St. Mary's feels a special connection to OLA, the only all-girls school in Mississippi. Run by the Sisters of Mercy, OLA serves young women in grades 7-12, with a student body of almost 300. Their school looked out onto the Gulf of Mexico and was destroyed when Hurricane Katrina hit. OLA has many needs for supplies and money and St. Mary's has organized tuition, school supplies, and monetary donations from the student body. In addition, St. Mary's students wrapped gifts at Barnes and Noble for OLA donations and the Campus Ministry and Service team sponsored a movie night, where students brought small "girlie" items for OLA students. Through these efforts, the students at St. Mary's hope to help the Christmas season at OLA become a little brighter.

To view the award presentation, visit: http://www.katu2.com/super_schools/index.cfm

Founded in 1859 by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Academy of Portland, is Oregon’s oldest continuously operating secondary school and one of 716 all-female schools in the country. The student body represents a diverse background of young women from over 30 urban, suburban, and rural communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington. St. Mary’s Academy is distinguished by its development of the whole person, and is the only school in the state to receive three U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools awards.