If we had a visit from 60 MINUTES’ Mike Wallace and he were doing an interview on Saint Mary’s Academy, it might go something like this�

MW: How are things going at SMA?

SMA: God is great, Mike. Our enrollment is up to 376, we have 132 students who have applied for admission next year, our girls are great and we still have 100% of our graduates being accepted at college. From the Class of 2006 we have 32 students attending Mt. St. Mary’s, 5 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 3 at the University of Notre Dame, 3 at USF, 3 at LMU and the remainder of the students attending many universities in California and throughout the United States. Our college counselor, Kelly Farland, does a marvelous job.

MW: Tell us a little about your history.

SMA: Saint Mary’s Academy began 118 years ago on 21st and Grand and this year celebrates its forty-first year on the Inglewood campus. Since that first school of 50 students, Saint Mary’s has sent over 7,000 women into the world with their high school diplomas, well equipped to live out the dream of the first CSJ community to educate women to “do all of which woman is capable." Each year has brought new challenges but the Sisters of St. Joseph have faithfully supported the dream with resources and personnel. Presently, twelve sisters serve Saint Mary’s in some capacity. Combined, their service to education totals over 614 years. We also have a marvelous lay faculty, many of whom have been at St. Mary’s for over 15 years.

MW: How have things changed since those early days?

SMA: Well, tuition is no longer $5.00 a month; it is $5,200.00 a year. Ethnic makeup of our school is now 44% African American, 32% Hispanic, 21% Multiracial and 3% other.

More than 50% of our students receive tuition assistance, including $42,500 from the Catholic Education Foundation.

MW: What about your finances? How are you doing in that department?

SMA: Thanks to our alumnae, to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, to the generosity of friends, benefactors and foundations, we are in good shape. We recently remodeled our science labs and this summer we will undergo major renovations including: replacement of lighting in the classrooms and halls, painting the hallways and lockers, updating and refurbishing the bathrooms and painting and carpeting the library. We’re also beautifying the grounds with expansion of our rose garden to cover the front of school, planting in the ground the trees that have been in pots for years and erecting a short brick wall on which we will put the names of donors to our “run for the roses". Sister Kathleen Kelly has been very successful in raising over $3 million dollars to make all of these improvements possible, and working with our Director of Facilities and Operations, Lillian Thomas, all things are coming together beautifully.

Of course we would be remiss if we didn’t recognize our accountant, Annie Lam, who, working with our great Board of Directors, keeps us “within budget".

MW: WOW! That sounds great! What are some of the other things of which you are proud?

SMA: Oh, so many things, Mike. During Catholic Schools Week this year, Mary Smiley, our Associate Principal, had a formal assembly to acknowledge the academic achievement of our students. We had 39 students who were on the “Principal’s List" for their having earned a 4.0 GPA. Twenty-two students had First Honors; 42 students had second honors and 156 had shown a marked improvement since their progress report. Many of these students went up one whole grade point average. We also had 20 students who had all “Outstanding" grades in citizenship. These students received certificates not only from our school but also acknowledgement from our State Assemblyman, Curren Price. The Inglewood Chief of Police was present also to congratulate our students.

MW: Anything else?

SMA: Our dance group was chosen to be liturgical dancers at the Black History Month Mass at the Cathedral. They also will be performing at the Anaheim Convention Center for the Youth Mass at the Religious Education Congress and they danced at the BHM Mass at Verbum Dei. They performed at all these events under the direction of Cheryl Lange, a graduate of Saint Mary’s. In addition to their community service projects and working at various non-profit organizations, Saint Mary’s also holds two blood drives a year and per capita they have been more successful than any other school, private or public. I could go on and on but one other thing that makes us very proud is the action of one of our juniors, Leslie Salas, who had her long hair cut so she could make a gift to women with cancer. Is that impressive, or what? And our basketball team is in the CIF Playoffs this year!

MW: Very nice. So academically and socially your students are making great strides. What about their spiritual and athletic development?

SMA: Every morning we begin our day with a student-led prayer. Every class begins with a prayer. We celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Lent and Easter with liturgical celebrations. Our students are very aware of our need to always show respect and reverence for each individual. They work hard at “building up the Kingdom of God’.

And for their physical development we have health fairs sponsored by our Health Careers Program, under the direction of Jeanne Fisher whose first HCP class will be graduating in June.

MW: What is the Health Careers Program?

SMA: The HCP is for those students who are interested in pursuing a career in health care. To enter the program they must have a 3.0 GPA from their elementary school, they must write an essay on why they want to be in the program and commit to after school and weekend activities. Once they are accepted, their science and religion classes are a bit different than their classmates with an emphasis in medicine. In addition to their weekly visits to Centinela Freeman Hospital, they also go to Children’s Hospital, USC (where they met the founder of the “biotic heart surgery") and other hospitals throughout the area. They are praised wherever they go, not only for their deportment but also for their knowledge. We are very proud of Jeanne and her students.

MW: Well, it sounds like Saint Mary’s Academy is alive and well. Any thing else?

SMA: We thank God for His many blessings and we thank Him for all those past, present and future women and men who make it possible...