Our Mission
The mission of San Miguel School is to change the trajectory of lives and break the cycle of generational poverty through education.
Recognizing that young low-income Latino boys were falling behind in the D.C. public schools and failing to graduate from high school, the Brothers of the Christian Schools and St. John’s College High School founded the San Miguel School in 2002.
Our History
San Miguel School is an independent, tuition-free Catholic middle school dedicated to transforming the lives of the students we educate. San Miguel provides life-changing opportunities to academically underserved and economically disadvantaged boys in the District of Columbia (D.C.) and surrounding area. Our goal is to help students thrive in a rigorous educational environment that offers opportunities for spiritual, intellectual and physical growth. San Miguel educates 90 students in grades six through eight and provides graduate support to nearly 325 alumni to ensure their continued success. With our graduate support program in place, 100 percent of our students continue their studies at college-preparatory high schools and graduate, and the majority go on to college.
Students doing homework in 2004.
The mission of San Miguel School is to change the trajectory of lives and break the cycle of generational poverty through education. Recognizing that young low-income Latino boys were falling behind in the D.C. public schools and failing to graduate from high school, the Brothers of the Christian Schools and St. John’s College High School founded the San Miguel School in 2002.
Our founders realized that unless these boys and families had access to a high-quality education in middle school, their opportunities for future success would be severely limited. First established in the basement of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, San Miguel began its mission in D.C. ‘s Columbia Heights neighborhood with just six students. Outgrowing St. Stephen’s basement in less than a decade, San Miguel relocated to its current location in upper Northwest D.C. on Georgia Avenue and now operates at full student capacity.
High quality educational opportunities are out of reach for most Latino children in the U.S. One-fourth of school children nationwide are Latino yet two-thirds of the nation’s Latino children are living in poverty with barriers to academic success. Fewer than 60 percent of Latino males in D.C. graduate from high school. San Miguel targets this important student group and aims to close the educational opportunity gap for those we serve.
San Miguel is one of four Miguel-model schools sharing a mission as part of the Brothers of the Christian Schools’ District of Eastern North America (DENA) . San Miguel School is also part of the NativityMiguel network of schools that educate thousands of economically disadvantaged children nationwide. NativityMiguel schools embody daily the Christian Brothers’ charism: “to provide a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor.”