San Joaquin Memorial High School

As principal of SJM, I want to extend to all our virtual visitors a warm welcome.  San Joaquin Memorial High School, opened in 1947 by the Diocese of Fresno to honor the Central Valley’s World War II dead, is a Catholic, coeducational, college preparatory high school in the Lasallian Tradition of the Christian Brothers. We are tasked with the responsibility of educating the whole person—spiritually, academically, physically, and socially.  However, we recognize that our families are the primary educators of our young men and women and that as educational partners we are duty bound not only to provide a quality college preparatory education within a Catholic framework, but to assist our young people to meet the moral, social, and technological challenges of the 21st century. The mission and philosophy of San Joaquin Memorial is best summarized in the motto of all Lasallian schools: Enter To Learn, Leave to Serve.

Having spent my thirty-nine years of professional life in Catholic secondary education as a teacher, coach, and administrator, I am in a position to say that a Memorial education is superior for the following three reasons:

As princpal of San Joaquin Memorial high school I want to wish a warm welsome to all of our virtual visitors.

• According to educational researchers, schools with enrollments between 600 and 700 students provide the best opportunities for students to maximize their learning potential. With an enrollment over 600 students, Memorial is the optimum size: small enough to personalize and nurture a student’s education, but large enough to provide a wide array of learning, leadership, and experiential opportunities within our academic, athletic, spiritual, and outreach programs.
• Our students are well prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities posed by colleges and universities.  Our students’ SAT and ACT scores are superior to all of the surrounding public schools districts and 65% of our graduating seniors take these college entrance exams, which far outpaces the nearest public school district by 20%.  Our graduates attend both the finest public and private colleges and universities in the United States--Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, Air Force Academy, UC San Diego, University of Santa Clara—as well as a wide variety of California state and out-of-state colleges and universities.
• With a Catholic based foundation and a Lasallian Tradition, San Joaquin Memorial provides a caring and family-oriented educational experience. We are interested in your daughter or son as an individual and whole person in the image of God. As such, we maintain an open and friendly relationship with each student and are open to asking God’s help to overcome difficulties, misunderstandings, and obstacles. We also provide time for students to live the mission of the Church by requiring community outreach to the poor, disabled, and disadvantaged through our community program and to nurture our student’s spiritual lives through liturgies, prayer services, and retreats.

I can honestly say that San Joaquin Memorial provides the best educational value in the Valley. Furthermore, we are poised to make more changes that will further assist your sons and daughters to the meet the unknown challenges and uncertainties of this century and the new global village. We are dedicated to educate and nurture your children with wisdom, poise, and grace in a Catholic context to make a positive difference to the people they meet, to the families they raise, and to the larger society—now and in the future.

God bless you and your sons and daughters,

Edward Borges