Spiritual Life

We promote more than academic excellence – we cultivate personal responsibility, social skills and leadership, balanced with a strong spiritual foundation and a recognition of the need to serve others.

Development of the spiritual life of our students is an important foundation to the mission of our school. Students come to Saint Martin de Porres Academy with a variety of life experiences and emotional needs.

As an independent, faith-based school and member of the NativityMiguel Coalition of schools, we support our students’ spiritual growth as they grapple with important moral and ethical choices.

During the ages of 12-18, many children give in to peer pressure when making decisions that can impact the rest of their lives, and they are often searching for a clear definition of right and wrong.  SMPA is a beacon for our students as they learn the values of respect for others and themselves.

Our students come to us with resilience and grit. We teach them how to hone their skills as they discover and cultivate their unique, God-given gifts and talents. We encourage our students to think beyond themselves through community and extra-curricular activities, and to be leaders in their communities.

Religion Curriculum

Each student studies religion as part of the core academic curriculum. Through this broad-based curriculum, students are challenged to explore their own moral compass and to understand how they, as individuals, fit into society at large.

Students are given opportunities for Christian service and various types of religious experiences including Days of Reflection and Retreats.

Morning Gathering

Morning Gathering is the foundation of the spiritual development of our SMPA community. It is a prayerful time in which we acknowledge and trust in God’s presence with us.

Every component has a significant purpose:

• • Attendance: By name, we publicly and consciously acknowledge the presence and the importance of each student and ask them to respond as being present to God, each other and themselves. It is much more than a convenient means of taking attendance.

• • • Recitation of the Honor Code and Pledge: The Morning Gathering facilitator ensures the quiet transition into this communal sharing in which everyone, student and staff member, promises to live out what it means to be “a child of God”.

• • • • Homily and Communal Prayer: These elements are a focal point of Morning Gathering, a time when we strive to enhance the presence and experience of God in our students’ lives and in the life of our SMPA community. It is a thoughtful and prayerfully prepared presentation that is always spiritually grounded. The homily is expressed in ways that easily resonate with middle school students, followed by a short reflection time before the homilist leads the communal prayer.

• • • • Announcements: Although this is a secondary focus of Morning Gathering, the Announcements period is significant in developing our SMPA family. We teach our students to speak slowly and deliberately and with confidence and conviction when they are making announcements about daily activities.

• • • • Birthday Speeches: Each student and member of the staff gives a 2-minute speech about themselves on their birthday. Through this empowering process, we hold up and celebrate each individual and let them know how important they are as individuals to our community, and how much they are respected and loved.

• • • Meditation: This final component of Morning Gathering is a moment in which we strive to instill in our students the trust that God is always with us.