In 1993, St. Ignatius Loyola Academy opened its doors to 20 young men, our first 6th grade class.
A Vision
With a passion for education and a deep understanding of the impact educational attainment has on forming young men to be strong citizens and leaders as well as its contribution to the strength and stability of a family and community, Rev. William J. Watters, S.J. founded St. Ignatius Loyola Academy in 1993. The Academy was the first school of its kind in Maryland and focused on educating middle school boys from underserved neighborhoods in Baltimore City. At the time, young men in Baltimore City were facing a crisis with only 40% successfully completing and graduating from high school. Recognizing that interventions in high school were often too late, Fr. Watters focused his attentions on providing educational opportunity for boys in middle school, opening doors to Baltimore’s college preparatory independent and parochial high schools, and forming boys who will become Men for Others.
Fr. Watters sought support from the Maryland Jesuit Province, local leaders, philanthropists, experienced educators, and volunteers, many of whom were parishioners of Saint Ignatius Church. On August 30, 1993, in the building adjacent to the church, the Academy welcomed 20 young men into its first 6th grade class eventually growing through 8th grade. In 2013, the Academy moved from its original site on Calvert Street to a newly renovated school building in Federal Hill. The move enabled the Academy to increase its class size and add a 5th grade class.
Our Mission
St. Ignatius Loyola Academy is an independent, tuition-free Jesuit school for boys in grades 5-8 serving low-income families of diverse ethnicities and faiths. We develop the intellectual, physical, and spiritual qualities of each student. Our rigorous and well-rounded program builds character and creates opportunities that lead students to success in high school, college, and lives where they are Men for Others.
“From the very beginning, the Academy’s motto was “Men for Others” in the Ignation tradition. As a Jesuit school, our students were expected to pursue integrity, excellence, perseverance, justice and strong bonds of camaraderie. Those early years were at once years of struggle and challenge but also of deep joy and satisfaction in creating a first-rate school and crafting its spirit and culture for our young boys.”
Our philosophy
St. Ignatius Loyola Academy's philosophy flows from a centuries-old tradition of Jesuit education that centers on a person's experience of God. We are a tuition-free school in Baltimore, committed to creating the best possible educational opportunities for students for whom a Jesuit education is ordinarily unavailable. The Academy strives to honor the dignity of its students and help them realize their potential by offering them an education that weds the best of human learning and insights to reflection and action in order to bring about a more just and peaceful world.
Jesuit education concerns itself with the unique and entire person of each student, known as Cura Personalis, care of the whole person, attending to each student’s individual intellectual, physical, social, emotional and spiritual development. Enrollment and class size at the Academy are small. Our teachers know their students individually and provide them with an intellectually, physically, spiritually safe, all-day, year-round learning environment. Cura Personalis extends beyond a student’s years at the Academy and into their high school and college years with on-going services provided to all graduates.
The Academy’s all-boy environment frees our students to develop a strong sense of self within a culture of brotherhood defined by friendships where cooperation and communication are the means to problem solving. Recognizing the particular developmental needs of boys, our students are active learners engaging in teamwork and character building activities in the classroom and through athletics. We offer boys an educational opportunity where they choose to work towards being intellectually competent, open to growth, loving, religious, and committed to doing justice.
We are a school community at a frontier of education; as a social institution, teaching students to make counter-cultural choices to recognize and stand apart from injustice, selfishness, and superficiality while learning to embrace compassion, integrity, and depth of thought and imagination so that they may become well educated, successful citizens, models and leaders in their families and their communities, as Men for Others.
The Academy’s Diversity Statement
Adopted by the Academy’s Board of Directors June 6, 2022.
At St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, we dedicate ourselves to building and continually nurturing a school culture that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is an integral part of our Jesuit mission and expression of our Ignatian identity to form men and women for and with others. The Academy believes that students are best prepared for future education, training, and greater personal and professional success and fulfillment when exposed to and enriched by different cultures, opinions, understandings, traditions, and perspectives.
We actively seek to build a diverse and inclusive community of students, families, faculty, staff, board members, donors, and volunteers with a broad range of ethnicities, backgrounds, expressions, and experiences. As a community, we commit to an equitable learning environment where students have the resources – academic and social/emotional support, technology, and mentoring – that they individually require. We walk with our students in their educational journey to understand their opinions, challenges, traditions, and needs.
We will treat all individuals equitably and with dignity, compassion, and respect. We will not tolerate acts of discrimination or hate. We are strengthened intellectually and morally in a school and world where these values are present and where individual perspectives are shared freely, received openly, and respected. Such an environment enables us to fulfill our mission of forming men and women for and with others. Embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion of all groups serves an essential role in our students’ spiritual and intellectual development. We hereby commit to making these efforts a central tenet of our Jesuit mission and identity.
