They call it “the spirit of St. Francis.”

And it’s been known to pop up just about anywhere: with a group of students making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch at Loaves & Fishes; at lunch break in the quad among a circle of friends; or at a school liturgy as arms are raised praising God.

St. Francis High School is taking time this month to stop and celebrate 60 years of sharing that spirit with the Sacramento area.

“We are a Catholic high school that takes seriously our school motto ‘Pax et Bonum’ (peace and goodness),” said principal Kay Gaines. “The spirit of St. Francis on our campus is a celebration of Christ, community and creation.”

Snugly set on a quiet residential street in east Sacramento, St. Francis High School is a comfortable blend of modern buildings and aging elm trees. There has been substantial growth at St. Francis since the the first freshman class of 12 girls in 1940 to today’s student body of 800.

“We’re busting at the seams,” said Gaines, who explained the school still keeps to a class size of 25. “We’ve been very creative.”

A recent $445,000 renovation project, some state-of-the-art lab rooms, networked computers and a guidance center are ample evidence of the school’s vision.

“We’re meeting the changing role for young women in part by making technology very accessible to every student,” said teacher Rick Norman.

St. Francis takes pride in the fact that nearly 100 percent of its students go on to college and that the class of 1999, for example, was awarded an impressive $1 million in college scholarships.

In addition, the school’s fine arts department makes a habit of producing award-winning drama productions. St. Francis was recently nominated for nine Elly Awards, named after the late McClatchy Newspapers president Eleanor McClatchy.

“We have people teaching in our arts curriculum who are artists in their own right, sharing their talents with the community of Sacramento,” said social studies teacher Trisha Uhrhammer. “These kids get to learn from people who do their art.”

But it is the all-girls Catholic high school’s focus on community service that may best illustrate what St. Francis is all about. There is the Social Action Club, a student body outreach to people in need at Sacramento-area charities, including Loaves & Fishes and Centro Guadalupe, a center serving the low-income Hispanic community.

Many St. Francis students are active in Key Club, which links members of local Kiwanis groups with students to work on a variety of civic projects.

Others make regular visits to St. Francis Terrace, an affordable housing complex for seniors, or assist volunteers at Christmas Promise, an organization that sponsors gifts to families during the holidays.

Katherine Lyons, a senior at St. Francis, says it is the sense of community that is woven into much of school life.

“There are so many situations where we come together as a school—at a liturgy, to support our teams or in class,” she said. “You can really tell you’re at someplace special.”

This past year over a third of the senior class completed training so they could work at Sacramento-area polling places during the primary election in March.

“The girls showed up at six in the morning, put in 14-hour days and said they planned to work at elections in college,” Uhrhammer noted.

Having watched 19 senior classes graduate, Uhrhammer likes what she sees in students who return to their alma mater.

“They are grounded. They are active in church, happy with where life has taken them and where they have taken life,” she said. “What a great blessing if we’ve helped them on their way.”

This year’s freshman class has adopted two SUCCEED (Sacramento Urban Catholic Childrens Equal Education Development) schools in their goal of ensuring values-based education for inner city children. Over the next four years, the class of 2004 will act as tutors and pen pals and will participate in landscaping and fund-raising projects at the two elementary schools. The long-range plan is for St. Francis students to adopt all seven SUCCEED schools.

“There is a powerful spiritual side of this school,” said Norman, who teaches theology classes at St. Francis. “Make me a channel of your peace is very real here.”

The high school has set aside Sept. 24 for its 60th anniversary celebration. Activities of the day will include a Mass at 11 a.m. celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand.

Following Mass, alumnae, students, parents and faculty will be invited to take a tour of the school, view displays, and enjoy musical entertainment provided by Mumbo Gumbo jazz band. A light lunch will also be provided.

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