St. Michaels Academy- Grades K thru 8 Fernandina Beach Florida

St. Michael Academy

228 North Fourth Street

Fernandina Beach, Fl 32034

904- 321-2102

St. Joseph's Academy

THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH

The Sisters of St. Joseph originated in LePuy, France in 1650. Founded by the saintly Bishop Henry de Maupas. The new Congregation was placed under the patronage of St. Joseph who served the Holy Family with such devotion and care.

The Congregation was temporarily disbanded during the French Revolution, sadly five Sisters met death at the guillotine. The Congregation was reorganized in 1807 under the leadership of Mother St. John Fontbonne. In 1836 at the request of Bishop Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, the first Sisters of St. Joseph came to America. It was Bishop Augustine Verot, first Bishop of Florida, who brought the Sisters of St. Joseph to Florida.

After the Civil War, the Bishop, who was then the Bishop of Florida and Georgia found himself confronted with a serious problem. He needed many laborers to help him care for the spiritual and physical needs of the people in his vast dioceses who were suffering the effects of the recent war. He was especially aware of the needs of the newly freed slaves. The Bishop went to his native city of LePuy, France to the Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph seeking aid.

Sister Magdeline in convent yard.

Eight Sisters were chosen to begin the mission work. After an ocean voyage of five weeks the Sisters arrived in the "wilds" of America.

For more than a century the Sisters of St. Joseph have carried their own missionary labor in Florida and recently in Puerto Rico. The Sisters of St. Joseph were heroines in Fernandina Beach even before their academy was built, because of their fight with a yellow fever epidemic in 1877. The battle waged for three weeks. Two of the nuns caught the fever but recovered. Unfortunately, two Sister died battling the disease.

Sister Agnes' Stars, 1907

SAINT JOSEPH'S ACADEMY

At the request of the Bishop of Florida, two nuns arrived in Fernandina in 1871 to help prepare children for their first communions, according to Suzanne Hardee, historian and author.

The Sister's ranks grew to six as the school grew and thrived in a little rented house. The St. Joseph Academy and Convent school was erected between early 1881 and November 1882. The community rallied around the nuns and helped them raise the money to build what was called by the Fernandina newspaper "a very fine building, one that will be an ornament to the town."

The sisters of St. Joseph were revered by everyone for their caring involvement in the community at large. In 1961, the Order of St. Joseph's sold the school to St. Michael's Catholic Church and most of the nuns were transferred to St. Augustine. St. Michael's Church used it for Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, but its life as an academic institution ended in 1971.

In 1997 Father Mark Waters, the pastor for St. Michael's Church undertook the tremendous task of renovating the historic school building. In the fall of 1998 the St. Michael's Academy Preschool opened in a restored building located one block away on Calhoun Street. The Preschool building had been a school run by the Sister's of St. Joseph for African-American students before integration in the 1960s.

In the fall of 1999 St. Michael's Academy opened kindergarten through fourth grade. The St. Michael's Middle school opened in the fall of 2001.

St. Joseph's Academy Chapel

MISSION STATEMENT

Build Faith . . .
St. Michael Academy strives to pass on and deepen faith in our children in
a Christ-centered educational environment.

Build Hearts . . .
St. Michael Academy nurtures love and mutual respect
among students, teachers, parents, and all who support our school
family, in order to spread the message of Jesus Christ in our homes,
our community, and our world.

Build Minds . . .
St. Michael Academy seeks to cultivate the intellectual development of
the minds of our students in accordance with Catholic values and to
create motivated, lifelong learners.

Build Bodies . . .
St. Michael Academy works to promote healthy lifestyle choices and fitness
through health and physical education and to provide opportunities for
physical development through curricular and extra-curricular
physical activities.

GOALS

To develop within the school a religious education program based on theology, scripture and liturgical experience that will help us guide each child in the growth and development of a Christian way of life.
To facilitate the intellectual, physical, emotional and social development of each child according to individual potentialities and the need for a positive self image.
To guide each child to emerge as a self-disciplined, self-reliant, socially conscious witness of Jesus.
To provide appropriate aspects of divergent instructional strategies such as flexible grouping, departmentalized classes and other opportunities for creativity, inquiry and discovery in learning.
To promote an awareness and appreciation of the important role each individual plays as a member of the global community.

PHILOSOPHY OF ST. MICHAEL ACADEMY

We believe that each child, created by God, is both alike and unique from every other human being. This uniqueness affects each child's acceptance and responsibility toward the school community, and it especially influences each one's learning styles.

In the light of similarities and differences among students, we strive to meet the academic needs, to satisfy the interests, and to develop the abilities of each child.

Further and foremost, our school teaches what it means to be a Catholic, to model one's life on Jesus Christ with the duties and responsibilities involved in living out His message, and with the joy and peace that flows from such fidelity.

We believe that the distinctive purpose of St. Michael Academy is to create a Christian Educational Community where human culture and knowledge, enlightened and enlivened by faith, is shared among teachers, students, families and others who are in our global community