School News

Freshman Odessa Abeles is an accomplished equestrian, earning a place in several events at the upcoming State Championship for Oregon High School Equestrian.

Raising over a million dollars to support St. Mary's Academy, the 34th annual auction this past weekend was a huge success. 

Only at St. Mary’s Academy does a young woman hold every student leadership position.  Only at St. Mary’s is a woman the captain of every sports team, the lead role in every theatrical production and every musical performance.  Only at St. Mary’s does a woman hold every role on the robotics, mock trial and Science Olympiad teams.  Only at St. Mary’s Academy, is women’s leadership part of the DNA.  This is the foundation on which our school was built 162 years ago and continues to anchor our mission today.

St. Mary's Academy sophomore Celine Glavan will attend the Jersey College for Girls summer LEAP program in England as part of a small cohort of international students. 

The Rose Festival is a time-honored Portland tradition and St. Mary’s has been part of that legacy from very early days. One of the first Rose Festival Princesses was a St. Mary’s student. This year, the Princess representing St. Mary’s is senior Paige Kehrli.

The St. Mary's Alpine Ski team has a lot to celebrate. After an undefeated season finishing first place in the Mt. Hood League and coming home with the league trophy, SMA racers individually commanded the league podium by dominating four of the top five positions individually for varsity women—Senior, Payton Bogatin came in 1^st, Junior, Evie Kim in 2^nd, Junior, Aspen Hand in 4^th and Freshman, Renate Becker in 5^th. Senior, Ava Houtman also delivered a top 10 league finish in overall points.

It is with heavy hearts we share the passing of Sister Joan Berger, alumna from the class of 1950 and former teacher and administrator at St. Mary’s Academy.  Leadership comes in many forms, and Sister Joan led through her spirit of generosity. 

On Saturday, February 26, SMA had several student musicians perform and compete in the Oregon Music Educators Association District 15 Solo & Ensemble Contest at Mountainside High School in Beaverton. The entire SMA community is so very proud of all the instrumentalists and vocalists who performed beautifully and with skill. 

St. Mary’s Academy has been running Encounter retreats for over forty years. Many Catholic high- schools across the county offer retreat experience like our Encounter, but SMA has taken the model and adapted it to perfectly hold tradition and community for SMA culture. Encounter is a three-day, two-night experience off-campus which allows students the opportunity to not only “check-out” from their busy lives for this time, but also to enter into sacred time, a version of sabbath or communion, with one-another.

T.I.E.S. (Teaching, Integrating and Exploring Science) is a program started twenty-five years ago by alumna Maggie Gardner ’98 while she was a junior at St Mary’s. Today, T.I.E.S. is a class at St. Mary's that meets once a week, Wednesdays after school. SMA students (T.I.E.S. mentors) plan fun science activities related to a particular topic (this year topics include Chemistry, Engineering / Computer Science, Forensics, & Life Science).