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Celebrate 100 Years

of Cabrinian
"Education of the Heart"

Villa Academy celebrated our one hundred years in Laurelhurst during the 2024-2025 academic year. 

We welcome you to read on to learn more about our school’s history and excitement about the future.

Young students in uniform sit at desks in a classroom with a teacher at the front, while framed pictures adorn the walls in the background.

 

A dark blue %22100%22 is superimposed over light blue pine trees, with %22YEARS VILLA ACADEMY%22 written below.

 

Six smiling children in school uniforms stand in a classroom decorated with flags and educational posters.

 

Celebrate the Centennial with Villa

A group of young children and their teacher pose for a photo in front of a brick wall and lush green trees.

 

Generosity Fuels Our mission

As we celebrated our Centennial, we reflected on and honored the past and looked ahead to a bright future of educational excellence at Villa. Philanthropic support is the cornerstone of our success, enabling us to provide an exceptional educational experience for our students and robust support for our faculty and staff.

The Fund for Villa is integral to sustaining our daily operations and advancing our long-term strategic initiatives. It ensures that we continue to offer a differentiated student experience and foster a nurturing environment for growth and learning.

Your generous contributions fuel our mission and help us provide the best opportunities for our students every year. 

As we honor a century of achievement, your support will be vital in shaping the future of our institution.

Make A Gift Today

 

A black and white portrait shows a woman in religious attire with a cross around her neck, set against a blurred, indistinct background.
A large brick building with a prominent tower stands on a grassy lawn with a paved walkway in the foreground, backed by trees.
Children sit at tables in the foreground while nurses stand in the background of a brightly lit room.
A group of young girls in floral costumes stand on a stage with a painted backdrop of birds and a large arched doorway, while a single girl in a white dress sits on steps in the foreground.
A brick building with a fire escape stands beside a walkway, with trees and a church in the background.

HONORING A RICH HISTORY OF SERVICE AND COMMUNITY

Villa Academy’s initial founder, St. Frances Cabrini, promoted the education of the whole child–mind, body, and spirit–at a watershed moment in education history. Further popularized by John Dewey and other transformative thinkers, the whole child educational movement of the turn of the 20th century encouraged the embrace of the individual learner through honoring their strengths, challenges, and needs.

The Cabrinian educational tradition unites expansive intellectual growth with spiritual development, wherein students are seen, honored, and valued as individuals on a path of deepening moral development. At Villa, students grow as scholars while simultaneously growing in character.

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October 1903

A crest with a radiant heart at the top, a sea with sailboats in the middle, and a star with rays of light at the bottom, all set against a white background.

April 1913

A black and white portrait shows a woman in religious attire with a cross around her neck, set against a blurred, indistinct background.

May 1924

A watercolor rendering of a large institutional building with trees in the foreground is presented above a program for the dedication and formal opening of the Sacred Heart Orphanage on Memorial Day, May 30, 1924.

June 1924

A large brick building with a gothic-style wing stands on a grassy hill, with trees and a path in the foreground.

September 1924

A large group of young girls in uniform pose in front of a wooden building with large windows.

1950

A teacher reads from a large book to a class of young students seated in chairs, with a radiator and windows visible in the background.

November 1976

Five women, some in religious habits, pose in front of a brick and stone wall.

September 1977

A group of children and their teacher pose for a photo on a grassy lawn with trees and a body of water in the background.

2004-2006

A nun and a man in a suit sign documents at a table, with framed certificates on a wooden wall behind them.

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First Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSSHJ) arrive in Seattle to minister to Italian immigrants. The Sisters initially conduct their ministry from a three-room apartment on South Jackson Street called “Sacred Heart Orphanage and Mount Carmel School.”

Mother Cabrini arrives in Seattle to secure a new site for the school and orphanage. She acquires the Laurelhurst “country home” of Mr. Cecil T. Conover.

Memorial Day of 1924, when Bishop O’Dea celebrated a mass dedicating the Laurelhurst site.

The St. Michael building opens to house orphans.

St. Michael School opens. Eleven years later, the school and orphanage serve 1300 children.

Sacred Heart Villa opens in the main brick building as a day school for Kindergarten through 8th Grades. The school continues to offer boarding.

In response to an insufficient number of new sisters needed to adequately staff the school, the MSSHJ announce that they will close Sacred Heart Villa. 

Led by a group of inspired, committed parents, Villa Academy is established as an independent school governed by a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. The newly constituted school opens with an enrollment of 190 students. Watch how the story unfolded.

Following a successful capital campaign, the Villa Academy Board of Trustees secures the necessary bonding to purchase the buildings and some surrounding acreage. The purchase agreement is finalized in 2007.

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Creating A Bright Future for All

A group of eight smiling young women in graduation gowns and caps stand in the foreground, with a wooden door and a plain wall in the background.

 

In 2018, a group of Villa Academy trustees commenced the work of examining the school’s mission statement in an effort to create a mission that accurately reflected the identity and values of the school. In the fall of 2022, Villa’s new mission statement was shared with our community:

Villa Academy is an inclusive independent school community dedicated to developing the whole child in the Cabrinian tradition of “education of the heart.” Through dynamic, inquiry-based learning, Villa students become active agents of their own intellectual growth in preparation for lives of service and purpose.

 

Three boys in uniform gather around a machine in the foreground, while other students and a framed picture are visible in the background of a classroom.
A baseball coach instructs a group of young players in uniform on a dirt field, with other players and a grassy outfield in the background.
Children in a grassy field are throwing colorful balloons into the air, with trees and foliage forming the background.

VILLA VOICES

“I love the campus, the people, and the teachers and the chocolate milk.” 

 

VILLA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT

“It’s really welcoming and I feel like I belong here.”-

 

VILLA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT

“I learned that science is really fun.”

 

VILLA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT

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