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Fast Facts About St. Michael
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- St. Michael was founded in 2016 by the Archdiocese of Mobile. For the 2020-21 school year, enrollment is 332 students
- The student body hails from 20 different zip codes in Baldwin and Mobile counties. In 2020-21, 78% are Catholic and 11% are non-white.
- St. Michael is fully accredited by SACS/Advanced Ed/Cognia.
- St. Michael requires four years of Math, Science, English, Theology and History, together with two years of foreign language and two years of the arts. Students earn 32 credits over the course of their four years with St. Michael, compared with 24-26 credits elsewhere. As one parent put it, "It's like getting an extra year of high school in preparation for college and the ACT test."
- The daily schedule is unique: Students attend 8 classes on Mondays, but only 6 per day the rest of the week, with two classes rotating out each day. Thus every class meets 4 times/week. The intent of this schedule is two fold: to give students time for meaningful labs and tests, but also to help students balance the homework load, all while earning credits in 8 classes each semester.
- St. Michael is a college preparatory school, with two academic levels, depending on a student's ability, previous training and work ethic: a "Collegiate Studies" level and an " Honors/A.P. " level. There is no third tier or remedial track.
- St. Michael supports students with documented learning needs by offering an "Aegis" class as one of their eight classes/year, though all students are expected to work hard and succeed in the "Collegiate Studies" program.
- Students in the honors track may take up to 9 "Advanced Placement" classes during their tenure, including A.P. Physics, A.P. Calculus, A.P. Government, A.P. U.S. History, A.P. Geography, A.P. English Composition, A.P. English Literature, A.P. Spanish and A.P. Psychology.
- In 2019-20, students at St. Michael received 31 "A.P. Scholar" awards, including 5 "A.P. Scholars with Distinction" and 5 "A.P. Scholars with Honor."
- The first graduating class of St. Michael, the Class of 2019, had 46 graduates. 70% received scholarship offers to attend college totaling over $4,100,000. Two members of this class are now seminarians for the Archdiocese of Mobile. The class of 2020, with 61 graduates, earned over 6,000,000 in scholarships.
- The top quartile of the Class of 2019 had an average A.C.T. score of a 32. The top decile has an average score of 34.6.
- On the 2019 National Language Exams, 59 students from St. Michael earned medals for exceptional performance, gold, silver or bronze. On the 2018 exams, 41 earned medals.
- In 2018 and 2019 our choral program rated "superior" in state competition. In 2017 and 2018, our band program rated "superior."
- Of the 33 professional staff, 80% have advanced degrees. 29 are Roman Catholic. The average # of years experience as a teacher is approximately 17 years.
- Teachers are available to give students extra help from 3:10 p.m. until 4 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.
- The Cardinal athletic program currently offers 20 varsity sports, playing at the 4A level: Football, Volleyball, Cheerleading, Cross Country (Men and Women), Basketball (M, W), Baseball, Soccer (M, W), Swimming (M, W), Bowling (M, W), Golf (M), Softball, Track ((M, W distance only) and Tennis (M, W). There are JV teams in Volleyball, Basketball, and Soccer.
- In 2019-20, our second year as a varsity program, the school's volleyball, cheerleading, girls' basketball, boys' baskeball (final 8), and cross country teams all qualified for the state play-offs before the AHSAA shut down the spring seasons due to Covid19. Our boys' cross country team won the school's first state championship in November, 2019. Our boys' swim team finished state runners-up.
- At new student orientation, every student and teacher is "sorted" into one of four "Houses," each named after an early bishop of the (Arch)diocese of Mobile. The Houses are "Portier," "Quinlan," "O'Sullivan" and "Allen." The purpose of the Houses is to provide an additional layer of friendship, community and fun among the students and teachers, even as each House competes against the others for the annual "House Cup" via games, charitable drives and academic contests.