At St. Peter Indian Mission School, the mission is to educate children who are grounded in God’s love to grow into respectful, reverent, and responsible citizens. The school provides this formative education for local children and their families to help ensure that the community is well-nurtured and cared for. As home to some of the 5.8 million students who attend private schools in the United States, St. Peter Indian Mission School’s ultimate goal is to help young children build a foundation in God’s love and thrive in a stable, challenging academic environment.
Students Celebrate Native American Heritage
St. Peter Indian Mission School was founded in 1923 on the Gila River Indian Reservation. The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity have overseen the Catholic school and parish, which are one of the 12 Catholic Missions within Native American communities in the Diocese of Phoenix. Today, Sister Martha Mary Carpenter is the principal of the school and helps lay an educational foundation for the 238 students enrolled in preschool through eighth grade.
With its roots in the local Native American community, St. Peter Indian Mission School maintains a focus on the O’Odham culture and incorporates the culture’s Himdag of respect, reverence, and responsibility into prayer and liturgy. At this Catholic school, students are encouraged to share their culture with others and have an attitude of profound respect and appreciation for their American Indian-Pima heritage. The school achieves this through culture classes that teach Pima customs, legends, language, traditions, prayers, dances, and songs.
This integration of Pima culture with a Catholic education is what makes St. Peter Indian Mission School unique, along with the school’s focus on community. One of the goals of the school is to teach children that as citizens of the world, their service needs to extend beyond their own community. To do this the school encourages students to develop skills that allow them to participate in service projects, community-building activities, and peacemaking and conflict resolution.
Values Help Challenge Students Academically
As a Catholic school, St. Peter Indian Mission is able to challenge students academically through their system of values. By integrating virtue and values into their acquisition of knowledge and skills, the school enables students to think logically, decide wisely, and grow intellectually. Students will improve their reading level, grow their writing skills, and better their mathematical computational and problem-solving skills. Students are able to do all of this with access to the state-of-the-art technology, including new desktop computers, iPads, and an improved connection to the Internet.
In addition to academic challenges, the students are also given opportunities for physical growth and wellbeing. The school provides a well-balanced nutrition program and frequent fitness activities. Students run or fast walk at least two miles every day to keep up with the Quest Program, which helps prevent childhood obesity and promotes lifelong fitness.
Support St. Peter Indian Mission School Students
St. Peter Indian Mission School is an integral part of the local Pima community, helping Native American children receive the intellectual, physical, and spiritual education they deserve. You can help ensure that these students keep receiving this essential education and growing into respectful, reverent, and responsible citizens by directing your Arizona state taxes to Catholic Education Arizona through Individual Tax Credits.
Catholic Education Arizona is the largest provider of scholarships to underserved families attending private schools. Last year $16.4 million in tax credit contributions was made to assist nearly half of the Diocese of Phoenix Catholic school students. Since 1998, over $268 million in tuition scholarships has been awarded to 138,000 students. Learn more about how CEA is Changing Lives One Scholarship at a Time at www.ceaz.org or call 602-218-6542.
