Sister Claire and Sister Christine Endowment for Health and Wellness

Enhancing Health and Wellness Campus Wide

In this increasingly complex and rapidly changing world, Santa Catalina is aware of the ongoing need to provide and continually enhance services for students of all ages and for the faculty and staff who support them.

Everyday, students navigate relationships, manage stress, and make decisions. At the same time that they happily interact with their friends and their teachers and pursue their daily activities, they also struggle to resolve life’s challenges in a kind and reasonable way. While they face questions of positive self-image, they try to incorporate appropriate exercise and sufficient rest and to engage in healthy nutritional choices. As they live day to day in the present, they look ahead and consider rapidly approaching transitions to high school or college.

As Santa Catalina considers its goal to inspire positive growth of the physical, intellectual, and spiritual person, there is no requisite more compelling than that of balance. The ability to develop and maintain balance results from sound information, thoughtful reassurance, reasonable boundaries, and appropriate experience. The result is a self-confident individual who exercises good judgment, makes wise decisions, and embodies empathy and respect for others.

In keeping with Santa Catalina’s ongoing efforts to provide balance in the lives of students, the school now looks to expand the education and support currently offered through the Office of Student Services, advisory programs, and the Health Center. This expansion will occur through a curricular and co-curricular program and will be enabled, in part, by the Sister Claire and Sister Christine Endowment for Health and Wellness.

Goals and Outcomes

The Sister Claire and Sister Christine Endowment for Health and Wellness has been established to lend support to three components that are critical to the initiative’s success:

I. Curriculum

The school will develop a detailed plan and curriculum focused on student health and wellness. While continuing to provide general health and medical care for students, the curriculum will do even more to emphasize physical and mental wellness. Instruction will be customized by grade level and will focus on a range of related topics with the goal of life-long health maintenance. That is, an understanding of and encouragement toward balanced nutrition, exercise and rest, development and maintenance of positive relationships, and personal preparation for life’s transitions. This curriculum will involve Student Services, nurses, academic departments as appropriate, the physical education department, and the school's food service provider, Bon Appetit.

II. Staff

Santa Catalina’s program for health and wellness will be designed to benefit faculty, staff, and students. It will require the creation of the new position of health educator/program director. This individual will assist and actively participate in the initial development and implementation of the program, teach related classes, provide appropriate informational opportunities, and prepare graduates for transition to high school or college. The director will manage, maintain, and further develop the health and wellness curriculum and will provide training for faculty in the skills needed to support an energetic, productive student population.

III. Facilities

Santa Catalina School girls playing water polo

With assistance from the Sister Claire and Sister Christine Endowment for Health and Wellness, this initiative will provide a strong and necessary component in the school’s educational program. It will offer critical training for students and staff and will be a most welcome and positive enhancement to the Santa Catalina experience.

Please contact the Development Office with questions or to discuss a gift to school: 831.655.9379