Formation

Servite Formation aligns all aspects of a student’s life—classroom, sports, activities, arts, faith, family life and friends—to form each student into a good young man ready for success in college and life. The goal is to develop Servite men who have the knowledge, character and wisdom to lead a good life, to lead a good family, to lead in their profession, and to lead others to Christ by their example.

All students are shaped by the people around them and the experiences they have. When a student goes to class, plays a sport, visits a friend’s house or goes to church, he is shaped—he is formed—by the people he encounters and the experiences he has.

For students at most schools, the experiences that form a student into an adult are random and uncoordinated. A student may hear a message or have an experience at home or at church that forms them one way, and then hear completely different, conflicting messages in the media, at school or with friends that shapes them in contradictory ways.

Servite Formation is designed so that all of a student’s experiences in every aspect of his life—classroom, home, athletics, arts, friends—shape him in the same, consistent way.

Servite Formation encourages faculty, parents, coaches, staff, alumni and our community to use the Servite Formation Themes—Primacy of Faith, Mastery of Self, Necessity of the Other and Centrality of Christ—so that each student hears the same messages and has the same experiences whether he is in class, in practice or rehearsal, or at home or with friends. The common themes and lessons give each student a solid foundation for understanding life, and the good habit patterns and character necessary to live a good life.

While most schools focus on the classroom and knowledge, Servite Formation goes beyond that to develop character, wisdom and goodness. Formation is not a separate program at Servite. Formation is the Servite community tying together everything that happens to a student to shape him into a good young man ready for success in college and life.

It is important to note that within the context of the Formation Program, “teaching” is not limited to the classroom experience. All members of the faculty and staff play an active role as a teacher, or guide, in the formation of every student with whom they work. The importance of each member’s active participation cannot be over-stated. As the Sacred Congregating for Catholic Education reminds us in The Catholic School on the Verge of the Third Millennium:

“Teaching has an extraordinary moral depth and is one of man's most excellent and creative activities, for the teacher does not write on inanimate material, but on the very spirits of human beings. The personal relations between the teacher and the students, therefore, assume an enormous importance and are not limited simply to giving and taking. Moreover, we must remember that teachers and educators fulfill a specific Christian vocation and share an equally specific participation in the mission of the Church, to the extent that ‘it depends chiefly on them whether the Catholic school achieves its purpose.’”

Thus every component of the student experience must be seen as playing a unique and vital role in the formation of each student, for the whole student is not limited to any one component but is rather formed and affected by every activity and relationship that comprises their unique student experience.

The Servite Formation Themes are the shared, unifying themes that faculty and staff, coaches, parents and alumni use so that students learn the same lessons no matter where they go: the classroom, athletics, arts, and activities, at home and with friends. A history teacher, a football coach and a parent can all use Mastery of Self to talk about the importance of character in George Washington, in preparing for a football game, and in encouraging a young man to clean his bedroom.

• Primacy of faith - Life’s greatest and most important truths cannot be discovered by reason alone. We must accept that mystery exists and that life is a series of acts of faith, large and small. The most elemental act of faith is the belief that we possess a fundamental uniqueness that makes us who we are – unlike anyone else, past, present, or future.
• Mastery of self - The gifts that make us who we are reveal the unique vocation we have been given by God. By mastering ourselves and developing our gifts, we will make the world a better place in a way that no one else ever can. This is the fundamental responsibility that gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
• Necessity of the other - An honest assessment of who we are reveals that we have limits and need others. Properly developing ourselves requires that we properly develop all the relationships that make us who we are.
• Centrality of Christ - There is one “other” we can never do without. God made us who we are and Christ brought us direct contact with God. Therefore, everything we do should be under Christ’s direction and modeled after him. We should note especially that Christ’s fundamental teaching is love as defined by mercy. This should be the measure of all our relationships.

It may be helpful to note that the Formation Themes are not hierarchical or even chronological. In an organic, experiential way, an individual moves through them as they are ordered above, but this movement is rarely conscious and daily life requires application of each theme in unique ways and in an infinite variety of circumstances.

All Servite faculty and staff are responsible for applying the Formation Themes through the medium within which they interact with students.

• Faculty members via the classroom experience.
• Counselors via their guidance and direction.
• Coaches via their respective sports.
• Co-curricular directors and moderators via student programs and activities.
• Campus ministers via spiritual guidance and development.
• Staff members via their modeling and respective interaction with students.

Combined with the inherent formative value of their respective medium (classroom learning, athletic competition, etc.), it is through their application – but most especially modeling – of the Formation Themes within their unique contexts that all members of the faculty and staff are most fully participants in the Formation Program.

Spiritual and Ethical Formation

A Servite High School graduate is a leader who, through a deliberate process of formation:

• Develops his body, intellect and will through participation in a college preparatory curriculum, liturgical and service experiences and team based activities.
• Accepts religious, ethnic and cultural diversity and works collaboratively with others in accordance with Catholic social teaching.
• Acknowledges his relationship with God and lives in a Christ-like manner as demonstrated through participation in prayer, liturgy, sacraments, counsel, retreat experiences and Christian service.
• Understands, respects and applies the teachings of the Catholic Church and the charism of the Order of Friar Servants of Mary (fraternity, service and devotion to Mary).
• Knows and lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ and recognizes that God calls every person into a relationship with God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
• Demonstrates, in word and deed, the Centrality of Christ.

Academic and Intellectual Formation

A Servite High School graduate is a leader who, through a deliberate process of formation:

• Develops a lifelong desire for learning that culminates in wisdom.
• Demonstrates mastery of the academic curriculum in order to succeed in post-secondary education.
• Exhibits intellectual maturity by evaluating multifaceted challenges and opportunities and creating innovative solutions.
• Demonstrates proficiency in the use of current technologies relevant to higher education and the workplace.
• Develops insight into Sacred Scripture so as to find personal meaning.
• Gains the knowledge of humanity which fosters a reverence for life.
• Demonstrates, in word and deed, the Primacy of Faith.

Personal and Social Formation

A Servite High School graduate is a leader who, through a deliberate process of formation:

• Communicates effectively and respectfully with persons and groups from diverse backgrounds.
• Emulates the Blessed Mother in her example at the foot of the Cross.
• Lives life whereby the Gospel of Christ is the motivating power that guides his behavior.
• Understands and applies the ethical and legal use of technology.
• Demonstrates, in word and deed, Mastery of Self and Necessity of the Other.
• Embraces Christ, loves Christ, imitates Christ, lives Christ and is Christ, so as to draw others to Christ.

The single most important element in the success of the Formation Program is a comprehensive campus climate that exposes each student to the person of Christ, drawing them to embrace Christ, love Christ, imitate Christ, live Christ, be Christ, so as to draw others to Christ.