Middle School Virtue Practices (Grades 6-8)
In Middle School, our Saint Mary Catholic Virtue School students navigate towards Mary Immaculate, the Stella Maris, not only by continuing to practice the Core Virtues of Concord, Industriousness, Magnanimity, and Wisdom, but also by learning about and living out the particular Virtue of their own grade.
The vision of the DCJM
The vision of the DCJM identifies the Middle School Homeroom Teacher as the "point person" for the whole child. In other words, rather than just being a place to check in every morning, the Homeroom is where the student belongs, even while moving from classroom to classroom throughout the academic day. While each grade has its particular Virtue, each Homeroom has its particular Patron Saint to emulate and to call upon as a heavenly intercessor through Mary, to Christ, and through Christ, to the Father.
During our annual Focus Retreat, Middle School Homerooms compose their "class commitment," expressing exactly what the practice of the grade level Virtue will look like for them throughout the year.
Polaris Virtues
Sixth Grade
The Polaris Virtue for 6th Graders is Friendship, and their Polaris Practice is production of a musical.
"God created man in His own image. In the image of God he created him; male and female He created them" (Gen: 1:27). The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 355) cites the Book of Genesis in accentuating the basis of the Virtue of Friendship: in the act of creation itself, God situates humanity itself in His own "friendship." All human friendship is an expression of this one; as Our Lord affirms, "You are my friends when you do what I command you" (J. 15:14).
The Homeroom patrons are:
Saints Perpetual/Felicity and Saints Gregory/Basil.
Seventh Grade
The Polaris Virtue for 7th Graders is Chastity, and their Polaris Practice is Teen Star.
"Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state in life" (CCC, no. 2394). In 7th Grade, St. Mary Catholic Virtue School students learn about the Theology of the Body, and how purity not only of the body, but also of the intellect and heart, forms the indispensable foundation of Christian discipleship itself.
The Homeroom patrons are:
Blessed Anna Kolesarova and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Eighth Grade
The Polaris Virtue for 8th Graders is Charity, and their Polaris Practice is a theatrical production.
"The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope, or for action, the love of Our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love" (Preface to the Roman Catechism, quoted in CCC, no. 25). St. Mary Catholic Virtue School 8th Graders focus on the theological Virtue which Saint Paul calls "the greatest" (1 Cor. 13:13).
The Homeroom patrons are:
Saint Damien of Molokai and Saint Mother Teresa.