Why SMA?

St. Monica Academy is an independent, coeducational school for grades one through twelve, founded by parents in fulfillment of their primary responsibility for educating their children, and seeks to form students in faith, reason, and virtue.

St. Monica Academy High School prepares students to excel in college with rigorous courses in math and science and by reading great literature and philosophical writers, whose poetry, prose and logic train students’ minds and inspire their own elocution. Our graduates are repeatedly cited by professors at Top 25 universities as models of strong writing and active seminar participation.

Our graduates have been admitted to top grad-uate programs in medicine, science, art, film, engineering and other fields.

The aim of our curriculum and pedagogy is to instill in students a love of learning. Our students become lifelong scholars of history, lovers of culture, and knowledgeable and curious about the sciences. They have been trained to be observant, discerning, and independent thinkers. They are prepared to excel in college, to become their generation’s rare masters of the vanishing crafts of fine writing and speaking. They will be creative problem-solvers. They will be leaders.

St. Monica Academy’s college preparatory high school is a four-year high school enrolling 117 students in grades nine through twelve. The high school was founded in 2001 and saw its first graduating class in 2006.

Located in Montrose, California, St. Monica Academy High School draws students from a geographical radius of over 50 miles. Approximately 45.8% of parents report having completed a 4-year degree, 28.8% of parents report having earned an advanced degree, and 25.4% of parents report having completed a high school degree. Thirteen students have been currently identified as “First Generation” for attending college. The current tuition rate is $13,229, and 22% of students receive some form of financial aid. Prospective students take an entrance exam including a written essay, but students are admitted with a wide range of academic abilities; the desire and the will to learn is considered along with demonstrated academic achievement. The school is consistently awarded dona-tions and grants from charitable organizations including the Ahmanson, Carrie Estelle Doheny, Bill Hannon, and Dan Murphy Foundations.

St. Monica Academy is fully accredited with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school is also accredited with the Western Catholic Education Association. We have been honored by the Cardinal Newman Society as being one of the Top 50 Catholic High Schools in the nation.

National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools.

At St. Monica Academy, the centerpiece of the academic program is the integrated humanities cycle. Our high school students study the Theology, History, and Literature of specific eras of Western civilization.
Those courses are run on a four-year cycle as follows:

Freshman:   Ancient History, Ancient Literature, and Dogmatic Theology
Sophomore:   Medieval History, Medieval Literature, and Sacred Scripture
Junior:   Renaissance and Modern World History, Renaissance and Modern World Literature, and Moral Theology
Senior:   American History, American Literature, and Apologetics/Comparative Religions

This literary and historical survey of the Western tradition inspires students through the great books, the great ideas, and the great figures who have formed our culture. While textbooks provide an overview, readings of major historians and writers, formal debates, formal essays, and Socratic discussions make the subjects come alive and create an abiding interest in history and a love for great literature. Our program exceeds the requirements for admission to the University of California in history, foreign language, science, and fine arts. Classes offered yearly are all levels of Mathematics (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Trig/Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC), all levels of Latin (I, II, III, and AP), all Lab Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Honors Physics, AP Chemistry), Physical Education for 9th and 10th graders, and Government and Economics for seniors. Our student to teacher ratio is 9:1 and the average class size is 26 students. All of our college preparatory classes are extremely rigorous and taught at an honors and accelerated level. At present, we offer 6 AP courses, Honors Physics, and Honors Latin 5.
Our AP courses include Latin, Calculus AB and BC, Chemistry and Literature Composition and Statistics. AP exams in Biology, Computer Science, Phys-ics, Spanish, Human Geography, Macroeconomics, Psychology, US History, and Music Theory are also taken by our students, though they are not part of our regular curriculum. Our students pass these AP exams with scores of 4 and 5. The capstone of each year of high school is a rigorous history research project and presentation in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades and a thesis paper and oral defense of the thesis in front of a faculty committee in 12th grade.

In response to the school shutdown beginning in March 2020 due to the Covid related restrictions, St. Monica Academy persevered in providing its stellar rigorous curriculum and maintained its original grading system using a successful distance learning method. Our educational approach was not mitigated nor minimized by the pandemic restrictions.

Graduation requirements meet or exceed California state guidelines. To graduate from St. Monica Academy, students must, at a minimum, complete the following:

St. Monica Academy assigns letter grades using a 4.0 system. Letter grades are assigned as follows:

• A+ 97-100%
• B+ 87-89%
• C+ 77-79%
• D+ 67-69%
• F 59% and below

• A 93-96%
• B 83-86%
• C 73-76%
• D 63-66%

• A- 90-92%
• B- 80-82%
• C- 70-72%
• D- 60-62%

We do currently rank our seniors and AP designated classes are weighted in the GPA.

The Class of 2020 have taken the SAT with an average pass rate of 1296 compared to the national SAT average of 1059. In 15 years, St. Monica Academy has produced 16 perfect 800’s on SAT I and II tests, 35 National Merit Finalists or Commended Scholars, a regional “Poetry Out Loud” winner, and dozens of National Latin Exam Gold Medals.

St. Monica Academy provides interscholastic varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball, volleyball and cross country teams, girls’ soccer, girls’ lacrosse and boys’ baseball teams. St. Monica competes in the CIF Southern Section. Our teams have won over a dozen league championships and one Division championship. St. Monica Academy has been awarded the coveted CIF “Coach of the Year” honor in 2016.

St. Monica Academy offers Yearbook publishing; Schola, a regionally recognized polyphonic choir; an Arts program that includes a yearly Shakespeare production and a yearly musical production; student government and leadership opportunities through Student Council; and voluntary service projects that encourage our students to contribute to their communities. We participate in the California Academic Decathlon competition. We hold a charter from the California Scholastic Federation and run our own service organization, the St. Monica Honor Society. An integral part of our program also includes a biennial trip to Washington D.C. for juniors and seniors and to the American Southwest for freshmen and sophomores. Our students average over 400 service hours by their senior year serving local and global impoverished populations.

Class of 2021 graduated 22 students and achieved 100% acceptance into four-year universities. The Class of 2021 received a collective merit scholarship amount of $5.2 million and were admitted into highly selective universities. Class of 2022 will graduate 27 students and it is expected that 100% will be accepted into selective four-year universities.