Education
For us, education means enabling persons to reach the fullness of their potential as individuals created in God’s image and assisting them to direct their gifts toward building the earth. Like Mother Theresa, we educate with the conviction that the world can be changed through the transformation of persons.
We are educators in all that we are and do.
You Are Sent, Constitution 22-23

Our Educational Tradition
An open book with the words Virtus et Scientia (Latin for “virtue and knowledge”) is a traditional symbol found in our schools. It expresses our educational vision. The motto Virtus et Scientia indicates the holistic nature of this educational vision.
Virtus looks to the formation of the heart, the moral formation of the whole person. We seek to enable each person to reach the fullness of their potential as individuals created in God’s image and likeness, and to direct their gifts to helping others to do the same.
Scientia means providing knowledge that is comprehensive and many-sided, a knowledge that strengthens the understanding of our interdependence with others and promotes ecological balance. It means educating students to be aware of the needs of the world, people and all creation.
Virtus et Scientia, together, enable responsibility for building a more just and truly human world.
Resources
International
- A Way to the Future – Directions for SSND Education 1986, The work of the International Education Seminar of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Rome 1984-1986 (pdf 100 KB)
District of Austria-Italy
- Vision, Mission, Values : SSND Schools in Austria (pdf 55 KB)
Bavarian Province
- Model for the Educational Institutions in the Bavarian Province (pdf 100 KB)
- Leitbild Pädagogische Einrichtungen der Armen Schulschwestern von Unserer Lieben Frau (pdf 194 KB)
Central Pacific Province
- Miriam Jansen SSND, “Grasping the Full Meaning of our Educational Vision”, St. Louis Province Day, August 12, 2006 (pdf 90 KB – on the Sturdy Roots website)
- Miriam Jansen, SSND, “Love & Learning: School Sisters of Notre Dame Educational Vision”, 2002 – Reprinted on the 180th anniversary of the founding of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, October 24, 2013. (pdf 350 KB – on the Mt. Mary website)