Mission

St. Anne Catholic Grade School exists to provide a student-centered Catholic education. It seeks to integrate the spiritual, academic, athletic, and social development of all of our students so they become moral, disciplined and respectful individuals.

Philosophy

Our mission statement speaks of St. Anne Catholic Grade School as a school of teaching and continued learning, of scholarship, of service and community. The components flow from three elements of Roman Catholicism: The person of Jesus His Gospel His Spirit St. Anne draws its fundamental inspiration from our Lord as the source of wisdom from whom all things can be brought to completion. As a Catholic school, St. Anne expects to contribute to the Church’s educational mission.

St. Anne Catholic Grade School developed from the educational traditions of Jesus, the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Detroit, and the Servants, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Monroe, Michigan). With the blessing of Cardinal Mooney, then the Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Detroit, St. Anne Catholic Grade School was founded in 1949. Sr. Mary Lorenza, I.H.M. served as our first superior and principal.

Mother M. Lorenzo was Superior for the first six years until 1955. She was succeeded by Mother Marie Irene, I.H.M.

In 1961, Mother M. Michaeleen, I.H.M. became principal. During her service and leadership, she added thirteen classrooms that brought a total of twenty-six classrooms.

The first classes of St. Anne Catholic High School were held in the partitioned gymnasium in the fall of 1965. There were eighty-one pupils and two teachers: Sister Christiana, I.H.M., the secondary principal, was one of the instructors. The new high school building opened January 3, 1966. It was the first shared-time high school in the nation. Four classes were taken at St. Anne: Religion, history, English, and biology. The others were at Warren High. The failure of Proposal C cut into the enrollment. The high school closed in 1988.

From 1968 to 1978, the I.H.M. Sisters continued their wonderful educational ministry with Sr. Lois Morgan, I.H.M. serving as principal. During these years, the Catholic population continued to move from Detroit into the new neighborhoods surrounding St. Anne’s.

Sadly, the Servants, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary left St. Anne Catholic Grade School in 1978 due to the fact that the number of I.H.M. Sisters decreased.

The Adrian Dominicans (Adrian, Michigan) took on the leadership of the school in 1978 with Sr. Patricia Lynch, O.P. serving as principal from 1978-1983.

In the fall of 1983, following Catholic school trends, St. Anne Catholic Grade School was led by its first layman principal, Dr. Thom Engel. Like the sister principals before him, Dr. Engel gave Christ’s service: teaching and leadership to thousands of children for twenty-four years of faithful service. Dr. Engel retired in June of 2007.

Thanks be to God, the Catholic Church and Archdiocese of Detroit, our founders the Sisters, Servants Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Adrian Dominican Sisters, our pastors and priests, and thousands of students, parents, laywomen and laymen; St. Anne Catholic Grade School has built a wonderful legacy for us – today and tomorrow – to continue to follow and build for school years to come.

Our mission flows from the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Catholic Church. We seek to serve, teach, lead, and produce graduates who:

• Follow Jesus and the way of life He teaches us to live.
• Listen, read, write, speak, think, and communicate clearly, imaginatively, and effectively;
• Process the skills and competencies of a grade school education;
• Understand diverse cultural heritages;
• Have a sense of self discipline and responsibility and a desire to serve Jesus and others.

We hope you enjoy viewing our site. Please feel free to contact us at anytime if you have any questions or comments.