Since 1969, St. Joseph Catholic School in Placentia has been providing a distinguished academic education guided by our Catholic heritage to our parish and surrounding community. Our cohesive faculty and staff work hard to identify each student’s learning styles and God-given gifts.
Forming well-rounded individuals and life-long learners, St. Joseph offers so much more than the basic curricular areas.
We are proud to have a strong and competitive athletic program serving grades 5-8, and five years ago we recognized the desire for more arts education on campus and founded SJS Performing Arts for grades 1-8. Our performing arts produces beautiful musicals each spring, sings at weekly Mass and gives students the opportunity to join our Junior Thespian Troupe #10415.
As we move into the future and continue to recognize needs in our students and community, the area of STEAM education came to the forefront. Students are craving innovative ways to think and expand their knowledge in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM). But how do we do that in our small Catholic school with a tight annual budget?
In the winter of 2020, we were blessed to be connected with Campos EPC, an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction company located out of Denver, Colorado. At that time Campos EPC was opening a new office in Anaheim and they were looking to identify a school that they could support in the area with both educational materials as well as engineers to teach and inspire students about their industry. Through many meetings and prayers (and right in the middle of a pandemic) St. Joseph Catholic School was officially identified to receive a grant from The Campos EPC Foundation to build a SmartLab on our campus. The very first one in North Orange County!
After a year and a half of planning with Campos EPC and Creative Learning Systems, construction and installation of the SmartLab was completed on March 23. What perfect timing after just celebrating our patron saint feast day the previous weekend!
The SmartLab features 12 student workstations, which will accommodate 24 students in the lab at once, to guide learners through an open-ended, project-based learning experience. Utilizing elements such as Ozbots, Snap Circuits, Claymation stop motion video, K’nex machines, robotics and more, the SmartLab will enable students to become more focused and build stronger critical thinking skills that they will take with them into high school, college and beyond.
St. Joseph Catholic School is beyond blessed to be the recipient of this gift and is looking forward to seeing it in action with our students. Being a strong supporter of both Catholic Education and innovation in our schools, Bishop Vann generously came to celebrate Mass and bless our lab on Sunday, March 27. The St. Joseph community was thrilled to have Bishop Vann present and be able to see the SmartLab for the first time. We are looking forward to an official ribbon cutting with Campos EPC in the very near future. The future is BRIGHT at St. Joseph Catholic School!
You can find out more about St. Joseph Catholic School in Placentia by visiting our website at SJSplacentia.org.