Convent of the Visitation School

For the school in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., see Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. For the convent in Madrid, see Convent of the Salesas Reales.
Convent of the Visitation School

Non Scholae Sed Vitae
Not for School, but for Life
Address
2455 Visitation Drive
Mendota Heights, Minnesota, (Dakota County) 55120-1696
United States
Coordinates 44°52′7″N 93°7′57″W / 44.86861°N 93.13250°W / 44.86861; -93.13250Coordinates: 44°52′7″N 93°7′57″W / 44.86861°N 93.13250°W / 44.86861; -93.13250
Information
Type Private
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic (Visitation Sisters)
Established September 8, 1873
Head of school Rene Gavic
Grades PK–12
Gender Coeducational (PK-6)
Girls (7-12)
Color(s) Red and White         
Athletics conference Tri-Metro
Team name Blazers
Accreditation NCA [1]
Director of Upper School Renee Genereux
Director of Middle School Dr. Benjamin Tierney
Director of Lower School Mary Pat Ferraro
Admissions Director Beth Cutter-Wilson
Athletic Director Elisa Manny
Website visitation.net

Convent of the Visitation School, also known as Visitation, is an independent, all-girls, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory, school in Minnesota. It is located in Mendota Heights near Saint Paul. Visitation is a coeducational school for grades PreK-grade 6 and all-girls for grades 7-12. Visitation is the only all-girls secondary school in Minnesota.

A brother school, Saint Thomas Academy, is located right next door and many classes and after school activities involve both schools. Depending on the sport or activity, some of its rival schools are Cretin-Derham Hall, Breck School, St. Paul Academy and Summit School, and The Blake School.

History

Visitation was founded by Sisters of the Visitation in 1873, who traveled up the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri at the request of some prominent businessmen in St. Paul who wished for a strong, Catholic education for their daughters. The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary was founded in France in 1610. The founders of the order are St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal, from whom the order gained its Salesian spirituality. There are sister school locations in St. Louis, MO, Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, NY, as well as monasteries in other areas throughout the U.S. The current location of the school in Mendota Heights, MN, is the school's fourth location. The school is coeducational from preschool through grade 6 but becomes single-gender in seventh grade. Visitation is the only all-girls Catholic secondary school in Minnesota.

The first graduating class at Visitation had only four members; the class of 2017 is made up of 75 young women.

Sports

Visitation offers 13 varsity sports:

VISTA Productions

VISTA Productions is the combined theater troupe of The Convent of the Visitation School and Saint Thomas Academy. They put on three main productions a year, including a fall drama, a winter dance piece/improv show and a spring musical. VISTA Productions also is a participant in the Spotlight Program, a High School Theater Recognition Program sponsored by the Hennepin Theater Trust. In the spring of 2014, VISTA Productions received ten awards from this program including the award for Best Overall Production of a Musical for their production of Shrek the Musical.

References

  1. ↑ NCA-CASI. "NCA-Council on Accreditation and School Improvement". Archived from the original on April 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-23.

External links

Notes and references

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.