St. Ursula Academy (Toledo, Ohio)

In December 1854, four Ursuline nuns arrived in Toledo, Ohio. Several days after their arrival from nearby Cleveland, Ohio, they began to operate classes on Cherry Street in downtown Toledo. These classes were offered roughly two hundred students, ranging in grade level. The nuns moved into a property located on Cherry and Erie streets in 1859.[3] The early curriculum consisted of courses in English, German, French, history, art, music, natural sciences, mathematics, cooking, and sewing. There were two primary departments in the school: elementary and collegiate.

In 1905, the school relocated to Collingwood Boulevard to a recently purchased facility that included a new convent and academy. As the school began to expand and Mary Manse College opened in 1922, the Ursulines decided to move to a new location on Indian Road. The new building opened for the first time for classes in 1959. Renovations in 2000 included the addition of the Mary Ann LaValley Activities Center, which added four new classrooms, athletic offices, a field house, fitness center and a dance studio.[4]

SUA operates on the collegiate block schedule (also referred to as the 4x4 block). Students take four 80-minute classes [5] in each semester and rotate most classes at the end of the first semester. Exceptions to this are extended AP courses or 9-week, "term-long" classes. In the middle of the day, students also have a "seminar" period in which they can work on homework, seek assistance from teachers, and collaborate on group projects.

Core courses provide a student with 23 academic credits for graduation, out of 31.5 units of academic credit required: English (4.5 units), Math (4 units), Social Studies (3 units), Science (3 units), Foreign Language (2 units), Theology (4 units), Computer Application (.5 unit), Health (.5 unit), Fine Art (1 unit), Physical Education (.5 unit), and Personal Finance (.5 credit).[2]

Eighteen of these classes are offered in honors, such as English, American Literature, Pre-Calculus, Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Anatomy & Physiology, World History, French, German, Satellite Remote Sensing, Spanish, Vocal Music, and Instrumental Music. Sixteen classes are offered at an AP level as well, including Calculus, Chemistry, English Literature, Human Geography, Psychology, Statistics, Latin, US Government, and US History.[6] A 5.0 GPA is achievable by getting A's in honors classes.

SUA also offers many elective courses, including Engineering, Film, Speech, Science and Literature, Economics, Geoscience, Computer Web Page Design, Single Survival Life Skills, Psychology, Women's Health, and Minority Voices.

Students may be dropped off or picked up at the main entrance of the high school.

SUA's campus on Indian Road sits on a property adjacent to the Ursuline Center, which is home to many Ursuline sisters and other residents. The school campus includes the school building, a softball field, and a multi-use recreational field. Soccer and lacrosse games take place on this space in the fall and spring, respectively. They are also getting new renovations to the school this upcoming summer. Some of these renovations include an improved cafeteria eating space, a blackbox theatre, and a new science lab.

• Marcy Kaptur '64 - US Representative
• Joyce E. Jesionowski '65 - author of D. W. Griffith: Thinking in Pictures
• Dr. Linda Sheidler Doyle '67 - Retired President and CEO of Harvard Business School Publishing Company
• Dr. Joan Breton Connelly '72 - American classical archaeologist and Professor of Classics and Art History at New York
• Elizabeth Witherell '73 - editor-in-chief of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau[13]
• Tricia Martineau Wagner '74 - author or African American Women of the Old West
• Shirley Murdock '75 - R&B/gospel singer-songwriter
• Laurie Winters '77 - Milwaukee Art Museum curator[14][15]
• Philana Marie Boles '94 - author of Glitz, Little Divas, In the Paint, and Blame It on Eve
• Leah D'Emilio '02 - Face of Fox Toledo, Host of Mahalo Daily, TV host/producer of BCSN's "The Light Side",[16] and producer of New York's "Rocketboom"
• Runa Lucienne '06 - model and actress

• Ursulines
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo
• Beaumont School (Ohio)
• Ursuline Academy (Cincinnati, Ohio)