PHILOSOPHY
Saint Mary's High School is a Roman Catholic, Diocesan, co-educational high school serving the greater Phoenix area. It is a multicultural, centrally-located school that offers a traditional setting with a primary emphasis on the spiritual, academic, social, and personal growth of each Knight/Lady Knight. Special attention is given to all types of learners with an emphasis placed on students preparing for a college/university post-secondary experience.

Saint Mary’s places Jesus Christ at the center of the educational process and acknowledges responsibility to help prepare students of varying levels to meet the spiritual, intellectual, and social challenges of life. Saint Mary’s believes that students should become contributing members of a faith community and live out their faith by promoting moral values, fostering lifelong service, and instilling knowledge of the truths of the Catholic faith while integrating their faith with all that is taught and experienced at Saint Mary's. Each Saint Mary's student should strive to be a model of Christian love and service and should focus on strengthening his/her values of honesty, decency, and integrity.

Because each student must be able to make informed decisions and to live according to Catholic principles, Saint Mary’s encourages self-discipline, self-respect, respect for others, and growth in learning so that Knights/Lady Knights will be able to deal with everyday issues.

Saint Mary’s High School, as an academic community, has a responsibility to facilitate learning for all students. Because each Knight/Lady Knight needs to acquire knowledge and skills for today while preparing for tomorrow, the staff will strive to provide opportunities and high expectations for learning. The staff believes that graduates of Saint Mary's High School must be prepared for continuing education with a high level of thinking skills.

Knights/Lady Knights and their parents/guardians must be willing to accept and to support the mission statement, the expected schoolwide learning results, the core philosophies, the six traits, and all other ideals at all times under all circumstances if that Knight/Lady Knight desires to attend Saint Mary’s High School.

EXPECTED SCHOOLWIDE LEARNING RESULTS
All students will strive to be...
• Followers of Christ’s Gospel with a deep commitment to the Catholic faith and respectful of other faiths.
• Leaders, independent thinkers, and problem solvers.
• Academically prepared to meet the challenges of an ever changing world.
• Able to work cooperatively and effectively with others.
• Actively involved at school and in the larger community.
• Self-disciplined and able to make well-balanced life choices reflective of Catholic values and teachings.

CORE PHILOSOPHIES
• Students shall strive to grow spiritually, academically, socially, and personally.
• Students have the right to learn, and teachers have the right to teach; therefore, no student should keep students from learning or teachers from teaching.
• Students need to be respectful of themselves, others, and their school at all times.
• Students are responsible for the decisions they make. Students should enjoy the experience of making an appropriate decision and should accept the consequences of making an inappropriate decision.

SIX TRAITS OF A KNIGHT/LADY KNIGHT
The six qualities of a Knight/Lady Knight are reverence, studiousness, respect, courtesy, loyalty, and obedience. These qualities should mark student conduct in the classrooms, on the school grounds, in the athletic arena, at all co-curricular school functions, at home, and in the community.

Reverence: Reverence is that feeling of profound respect, awe, and love which all students should direct toward God. At Saint Mary’s, this should be foremost in the mind and attitude of each Knight/Lady Knight.

Studiousness: The primary purpose of any school is to develop the intellect. Each Knight/Lady Knight should express a great devotion to gaining knowledge in order to develop the talents given to him/her by God. Academic learning should always take priority over all co-curricular activities. The highest level of honesty and integrity must characterize the relationship between the teacher and student. When a teacher gives a student an assignment (homework/paper/project/etc.) or when a teacher gives an exam/quiz, he/she is building the framework for the student’s learning. When a Knight/Lady Knight adheres to all of the student academic responsibilities, the greatest opportunity for learning will occur.

Respect: Respect is a virtue which should be shown to all by every Knight/Lady Knight regardless of ethnicity, gender, or socialeconomic status. Respect refers to the esteem and reverence expected in all relationships. This includes not only the person, but also all of the belongings of the person as an individual, as a member of the school, and as a member of the community.

Courtesy: All Knights/Lady Knights should display courtesy through the external manifestation of being polite and respectful to all staff members, students, and others. Courtesy is most visibly displayed in a student’s ability to see Christ in everyone.

Loyalty: A loyal Knight/Lady Knight is someone who is generous, is ready to help anyone no matter what the difficulty, is honest, is a true friend, is eager to assist anyone in time of need, is willing to think of the wishes of others, is able to be counted on in times of emergency, and is someone who stands by anyone in good times and in bad.

Obedience: Knights/Lady Knights should strive to make appropriate decisions at all times. Saint Mary’s school rules exist as an integral part of each student’s spiritual and social growth and as a means to ensure the safe and orderly operation of the Saint Mary’s High School. Our complex world today needs Catholic men and women of initiative and loyalty based on the example of the obedience of Christ.

Quick Links to:

Welcome to St. Mary's -St. Mary's History -St. Mary's Facts