Student Life
A School of Song, Prayer, and Feasting
A school's culture is the most important and formative force of education it provides. Just as culture originally referred to the soil that brings forth life, we, too, are cultivated as persons and communities through the cultures that ground us.
The St. Jerome Institute is a school of song, of prayer, and of feasting. We delight in competition and play. We courageously take on rigorous studies, and are dedicated to fostering a community of love and friendship. As a Socratic, seminar-based school, our culture is characterized by dialogue and wonder. Most fundamentally, as a school fully infused with the Catholic faith, we understand that the ultimate purpose of our shared work is to lead us ever closer to Christ.
The SJI Student
The SJI student is a passionate young man or woman with the courage to be challenged, the humility to be coached, and the charity to be a good friend. The SJI student enjoys play and competition, feasting and working in the garden. The SJI student has a hunger to seek the truth in every subject.
Our students are living proof that today's young men and women are capable of truly knowing and loving what is good, true, and beautiful. We believe young people are significantly underestimated in today's culture. We believe they are capable of doing great and difficult things, and we believe they can truly rise to St. John Paul II's call to be saints.
A Culture of Learning
Students learn to think more deeply about fundamental questions, to discover the sources of their own preconceived ideas, and to critically evaluate them by encountering these questions in the great tradition of human arts and letters that has shaped our civilization.
In seminar discussions, teachers guide and coach students in respectful debate, clear and logical argument, persuasive rhetoric, and careful questioning. This careful planning maximizes the benefit to students, building confidence through self-expression and peer learning.
Living Our Catholic Faith
At St. Jerome Institute, our Catholic identity permeates every aspect of student life through reverent liturgical celebrations, meaningful service opportunities, and intentional formation. Students develop both a deep understanding of their faith and practical ways to live it in community.
Gymnasium and True Sport
Our Gymnasium class offers the opportunity to follow through on our mission to educate the whole person. At the St. Jerome Institute, we understand that the formation of the human body is integrated with the education of heart and mind.
What is the structure and purpose of the human body? At SJI we believe physical excellence must be a response to this question. Our students will run, crawl, roll, and jump, and grow in heroic, magnanimous spirit as they are challenged in classic exercises. In competitive sports, love, honor and virtue—rather than mere victory—are understood to be the goals of any match.
The Right Technology
THOUGHTFUL INTEGRATION
Modern technology presents us with great opportunities and dangerous distractions. We aim to be prudent in our proper usage of technology in the classroom, utilizing it when it truly enhances learning.
TRADITIONAL METHODS
We give pride of place to tried-and-true practices of taking notes, annotating by hand, and reading from paper copies of books. Technology serves learning, not the reverse.
Clubs & Activities Section
The pursuit of academic excellence is not the entirety of human life in community. By partaking in our extra-curricular activities and clubs, students at St. Jerome Institute are able to engage in activities of leisure for which they share like-minded interest.
Sports & Athletics
- Volleyball and soccer teams
- Gymnasium classes with classic exercises
- Athletic Field Day competitions
- MISAL league seasonal sports
Academic Clubs
- Genesian Players (Shakespeare performances)
- Music and singing together
- Fine Art Studio projects
- Feast Day performances and poetry
Arts & Performance
- Volleyball and soccer teams
- Gymnasium classes with classic exercises
- Athletic Field Day competitions
- MISAL league seasonal sports
