School Profile

Mary Star of the Sea High School
School Profile

“Challenging students to reach their full human potential through a living faith in God”

SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Mary Star of the Sea High School, located in San Pedro, California, serves the Los Angeles Harbor and surrounding communities. The school is operated by Mary Star of the Sea Parish under the supervision of the Department of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The school focuses on the fundamentals of a quality education interwoven with strong Catholic principles. The curriculum is grounded in a college preparatory program with a four-year honor track option. This is enhanced by an average class size of 21 and a committed, quality faculty.

“STAR” MISSION

Guided by the Norbertine Fathers, Mary Star promotes growth in self-discipline and responsibility through leadership, athletic, and service opportunities. In the context of a small community environment based on mutual respect, Mary Star of the Sea High School focuses its attention on four principal goals for each student: nourishing the soul (Catholicism), cultivating personal integrity (Character), challenging the mind (Curriculum) and fostering social responsibility (Community). None of these goals can be viewed in isolation from the others; without any one of them, the end result of a truly Catholic education cannot be attained.

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

Throughout the centuries of her existence, the Catholic Church has sponsored institutions of learning to challenge the human mind in the pursuit of knowledge, truth and wisdom. While serving a wide variety of academic abilities and gifts, Mary Star of the Sea High School challenges every student in a focused and disciplined educational environment, which integrates the Catholic faith across the curriculum. Mary Star students are genuine thinkers who possess a solid foundation in the core curriculum and are prepared for the challenges of higher education and the workplace.

A student of Mary Star of the Sea High School must successfully achieve a minimum of 240 academic units to graduate; each course completed with a passing grade is equivalent to 5 units per semester. In addition to their academic requirements, students must accumulate a minimum 80 hours of Christian service prior to graduation.

English 4 years / 40 units
Science 2.5 years / 25 units
Religion 4 years / 40 units
Language 2 years / 20 units
Social Studies 3.5 years / 35 units
P.E./Health 1 year / 10 units
Mathematics 3 years / 30 units
Fine Arts 1 year / 10 units
Electives 3 years / 30 units
Service 4 years / 80 hours

HONORS CLASSES AND ADVANCED PLACEMENT CLASSES
Mary Star of the Sea High School offers 18 Advanced Placement and Honors courses to academically eligible students. Honors classes cross all four grade levels including Honors English 9 and Honors British Literature; Honors World History; Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry; Honors Algebra I, Honors Geometry, Honors Algebra II/Trigonometry, and Honors Trigonometry/Pre Calculus. Advanced Placement courses challenge students in AP Calculus, AP English Language, AP English Literature, AP Environmental Science, AP European History, AP Government, AP Physics, AP Spanish Language, and AP U.S. History. Mary Star offers exceptional students the opportunity to take additional Advanced Placement exams based on independent preparation. In 2017, 77.5% of Mary Star who took AP Exams earned scores of 3+ (3, 4, or 5) which exceeds both the California (62%) and Global (60%) percentages. Additionally, many students took multiple AP Exams as 97 different students took an exam, but the school submitted a total of 172 exams.

ACADEMIC POLICIES AND GRADING SCALE

Mary Star of the Sea High School provides for the needs of both the college bound and non-college bound student. The school’s curriculum meets all state, archdiocesan and college requirements, particularly entrance requirements into the University of California and the California State University systems. Mary Star teachers use the following Grading Scale to compute assignments, tests and report cards:

A 100-95
A- 94-90
B+ 89-87
B 86-83
B- 82-80
C+ 79-77
C 76-73
C- 72-70
D+ 69-67
D 66-63
D- 62-60
F 59 and below

HONOR ROLLS AND HONOR SOCIETIES

Honor roll status for Mary Star of the Sea High School students is based on the previous semester’s grades. Mary Star uses unweighted and weighted (when applicable) GPAs in the selection process of valedictorian and salutatorian, undergraduate awards, honor rolls, class rank and other award societies. Students earning a GPA of 3.80 and above receive the Principal's Honor Roll, and between 3.50 and 3.79 obtain Honor Roll; those between 3.49 and 3.00 are placed on the Blue and Gold Achievement List. Mary Star of the Sea High School hosts 10 Honor Societies on campus including Mu Alpha Theta (for Junior and Senior math students), National Art Honor Society (all grades), Science National Honor Society (for Junior and Senior science students), National English Honor Society (all grades), National Beta Club for student service (all grades), National Latin Society, Sociedad De Amistad, Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica, California Scholarship Federation, and National Honor Society.

RECENT STATE AND NATIONAL AWARDS TO SENIORS

Arizona State University Golden State Scholarship
Benedictine College Academic Scholarship
Biola University Dean’s Scholarship
California State University, Chico Honors Program
California State University, Fullerton Accepted with Honors
Creighton University Founder’s Award
Fordham University Dean's Scholarship
George Fox University Stevens Scholar Award
Grand Canyon University President’s Scholarship
Hendrix College Academic Scholarship
Hendrix College Odyssey Award
Johnson and Wales University California Scholarship
Johnson and Wales University Campus Award
Loyola Marymount University Academic Merit Scholarship
Loyola Marymount University Achievement Award
Loyola Marymount University Arrupe Scholarship
Loyola Marymount University Early Action Award
Loyola Marymount University Leavey Family Scholarship
Loyola University, Chicago, Presidential Scholarship
Marian University Trustee Scholarship
Mount St. Mary's University Founders Scholarship
Mount St. Mary's University President's Award
Northern Arizona University Accepted with Honors
Northern Arizona University Founder’s Scholarship Blue Award
Northern Arizona University Founder’s Scholarship Gold Award

Regis University Leadership Award
Saint Mary’s College Presidential Scholarship for Academic Excellence
Seton Hall University Scholarship
Seton Hall University Summer Scholarship
Stephen F. Austin State University Academic Excellence Scholarship
St. John’s University Academic Award Scholarship
St. John’s University Catholic High School Award
St. John’s University Hugh L. Carey Award
St. John’s University St. Vincent de Paul Scholarship
St. Leo University Academic Merit Scholarship
St. Mary's College Dean's Scholarship
Texas Christian University Chancellor’s Scholarship
Tulane University Chancellor’s Scholarship
University of Arizona Academic Award Scholarship
University of Arizona Excellence Award
University of California, Santa Barbara Promise Scholar
University of Iowa ROTC Academic Scholarship
University of Mary Sister Thomas Welder Scholarship
University of Montana Western States Scholarship
University of Notre Dame Provost's Scholarship
University of Notre Dame University Scholarship
University of San Francisco Scholar Award
Weber State University Western Undergraduate Exchange Program Scholarship
Wichita State University Academic Scholarship

S.A.T. SCORES – Class of 2017

Ninety-eight percent of the graduating class sought higher education: 59% in a four- year university; 44% in a community college; two students enlisted in the military. The average College Bound SAT score for Mary Star students, using the new SAT format, was 1140 while the national mean was only 1083. The following represents the scoring range achieved on the SAT for the students who took the test with Mary Star students outshining the national mean score:

Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (ERW)	Math
MSHS Mean Score 2017: 576	MSHS Mean Score 2017: 564
National Score 2016: 543	National Score 2016: 541

2017 MARY STAR GRADUATES IN COLLEGES

Mary Star of the Sea High School is proud of the diversity of college and university acceptances reflected by the Class of 2017. Ninety-eight percent of the class plans to attend the college or university of their choice while two students chose to enter the military. The Class of 2017 was accepted into the following colleges and universities:

Academy of Art University

Alexander College

Arizona State University

Aurora University

Azusa Pacific University

Benedictine College

California College of the Arts

California Lutheran University

California Maritime Academy

California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo

California State Polytechnic University Pomona

California State University Channel Islands

California State University Chico

California State University Dominguez Hills

California State University East Bay

California State University Monterey Bay

California State University Northridge

California State University of Fullerton

California State University of Long Beach

California State University of Los Angeles

California State University Sacramento

California State University San Marcos

Carroll College

Case Western Reserve University

Champlain College

Chapman University

Colorado State University

Columbia College Chicago

Cornell University

Eastern University

El Camino College

El Camino College – Honors Program

Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising

Florida International University

Fordham University

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Grand Canyon University

Hillsdale College

Humboldt State University

Irvine Valley College

Johnson & Wales University

Kansas State University

Long Beach City College

Los Angeles Harbor College – Honors Transfer Program

Los Angeles Harbor College

Louisiana Delta College

Loyola Marymount University

Loyola University of Chicago

Marquette University

Marymount California University

Miami University

Michael Vincent Academy

Montana State University

Mount St. Mary’s University

New York University

Northern Arizona University

Oregon State University

Pasadena City College

Pennsylvania State University

Pepperdine University

Rutgers University

Saint Mary’s College

Saint Mary’s College of California

San Diego State University

San Francisco State University

San Jose State University

Santa Clara University

Santa Monica College

Seattle University

St. John’s University

State University of New York at Albany

Stephen F. Austin State University

Tarrant County College

Texas A&M University – Commerce

Texas Christian University

The Fab School

The Ohio State University

Union College

University of Alabama

University of California Berkeley

University of California Davis

University of California Irvine

University of California Los Angeles

University of California Merced

University of California Riverside

University of California San Diego

University of California Santa Barbara

University of California Santa Cruz

University of Colorado Boulder

University of Colorado Colorado Springs

University of Connecticut

University of Denver

University of Dubuque

University of Hawaii at Manoa

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of La Verne

University of Mary

University of Massachusetts Amherst

University of Melbourne

University of Minnesota Twin Cities

University of Nevada Las Vegas

University of Nevada Reno

University of Notre Dame

University of Oregon

University of Pittsburgh

University of Portland

University of Queensland

University of San Diego

University of San Francisco

University of Southern California

University of the Pacific

University of Utah

University of Washington

Vanguard University of Southern California

Waseda University

Westminster College

Westmont College

Wichita State University

Wilmington University

Worchester Polytechnic Institute