St. Paul High School (Santa Fe Springs, California)

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St. Paul High School
Motto	"Desire, Commitment, Pride, and Excellence"
Established	1956
Type	Roman Catholic
Principal	Mr. Frank A. Laurenzello
Students	650 (as of Fall 07)
Grades	9–12
Location	Santa Fe Springs, California, USA
Colors	Blue and White
Mascot	Swordsmen
Newspaper	'The Two-Edged Sword'
Website	http://www.stpaulhs.org/

St. Paul High School is a Catholic, co-educational high school serving the Gateway Cities of Los Angeles County owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and was founded in 1956. The campus is located in Santa Fe Springs approximately 14 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

[edit] History

St. Paul began in the fall of 1956 during a decade in which Cardinal James Francis McIntyre opened an astonishing 24 Catholic high schools. It was known then as Santa Fe Catholic High School, located in two classrooms at St. Marianne School in Pico Rivera, with 100 freshmen from the surrounding Whittier area parishes. The staff consisted of: School Sister of Notre Dame Michael Marie (principal), Franciscan Brother Martin, and Dominican Sister Siena.

In 1957, the school name was changed to St. Paul to avoid confusion with the recently opened local public high school named Santa Fe. In January 1958, St. Paul High School moved to its present location on Greenleaf Avenue with a student body of 325 freshmen and sophomores. The first class graduated in May of 1960. Since its beginning, St. Paul has been staffed by members of the Order of St. Francis, clergy from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and, at various times, members of eight different religious congregations. For the past 50 years, there have always been at least two Franciscan Brothers on the faculty. Today, the majority of the teaching faculty is made up of lay men and women.