About San Miguel Academy

San Miguel Academy has been the dream of Fr. Mark Connell for several years. Fr. Mark is a long term resident of Newburgh, N.Y. and a professor at Mount St. Mary College. Prior to the founding of San Miguel Academy, he also said mass every Sunday for over 25 years at St. John and St. Mary Church in Chappaqua. After years of service to both communities, one struggling more than the other, he was moved to ask for help in starting a tuition-free, Catholic, middle school for boys to begin to break the cycle of poverty through education.

Fr. Mark was joined by the Dominican Sisters of Hope and the de LaSallian Christian Brothers. Both religious communities co-sponsored the beginnings of San Miguel Academy and today continue to work, volunteer and actively participate in the governance of the school as members of the Board of Trustees. Fr. Mark also met with members of the St. John and St. Mary Church community – and their friends and neighbors in Westchester County– and conveyed to them the level of poverty and desolation in Newburgh and its surrounding neighborhoods. His mission was to convince them of the need for help in a city to which they had no connection. This group of lay people became the Founders’ Council and answered the call to action offering their resources of time and money, talents and connections, to begin the tireless work of creating a school.

San Miguel Academy opened its doors in September 2006 with its 5th grade class. For each successive year, San Miguel Academy added a new fifth grade, so that for the 2009-2010 academic year and beyond, it serves all four grades (5th through 8th) up to 60 students.

Organized to follow the Nativity Miguel Network model of schools that exist in underserved communities across the country, San Miguel Academy of Newburgh was established as the 61st of the 65 Nativity Miguel schools in the United States. The Nativity Miguel Network empowers its network schools to provide a unique, faith-based education that breaks the cycle of poverty. These schools in turn empower students at a critical developmental crossroads to realize their potential, forge brighter futures and enjoy the lifelong benefits of education.