Holistic Education is at the core of all planned teaching and learning at Saint's Mary Orthodox College, where the learning process integrates the body, the mind and the spirit and hence helps learners relate information to their acquired knowledge and lived experiences. From here, the Extra-Curricular Activities Department aims to fulfill the school’s mission and general goals through connecting concepts with the real world and supporting the growth of our learners as a whole.
Extra-curricular activities provide opportunities to:
- Develop learners’ physical and psychomotor skills
- Aid learners in discovering and fostering their talents
- Aid learners in achieving a balance between the mental, emotional, and physical aspects of their personality
- Enhance learners’ ability to make personal decisions and appropriate choices within the principles of responsibility and awareness
- Develop learners’ aesthetic and artistic sense in a way that would help them create, innovate, and compete
- Develop learners’ sense of fair play to allow them to accept loss or failure with modesty and to feel pride for success but without conceit
The Extra-Curricular Activities Department implements various cultural, educational, and enjoyable programs. It organizes events, both curricular and co-curricular, that take into consideration the age level characteristics and talents of the learners.
The Curricular events help learners widen their experience and knowledge in a specific subject taught at school through having in-house activities and field trips. Examples include exhibitions, competitions, and theatrical productions in addition to visits to cultural and historical sites or museums that are enriching as well as recreational. They go on field trips related to their science and social studies classes. Saint Mary’s Orthodox College learners take part in national and international conferences of the Model United Nations and national Science fairs whereby they share their knowledge with others. The Co-Curricular events, on the other hand, enhance the learners’ aesthetic, physical and musical confidence by allowing them to participate in concerts and sports competitions in Beirut and the surrounding area. They work in teams, exercise leadership, expand their communication skills, and take individual initiatives.
Learners are also given the opportunity to enjoy Extra-Curricular Activities where they can give leeway to their passions, talents, and hobbies. Activities are age-appropriate and varied to suit all tastes and needs. Basketball, Football, Martial Arts, Pound, Drama, Crafts, Arts, Robotics, Folkdance, Zumba, Ballet, Engineering, and Chess are some of the activities provided. They are given by professional monitors in specialized rooms at school or in professional courts outside of school. These activities provide ample opportunities for learners to develop their talents and interests as well as discover and explore previously unrecognized ones.
Summer is a time for learners to relax, refuel and have fun. The Summer Plus Program allows our young learners and their friends outside the school to join in fun activities and outings.
The Secondary Campus, located in Salim Salam, embraces a slightly different Extra-Curricular Activities program, befitting the interests of its learners. Amidst their busy academic and social life, the Secondary learners participate in a variety of educational, artistic and recreational clubs. At the beginning of each quarter, learners have the liberty to join one of the following clubs: leadership development, home economics and board games, drama, music band, fitness and plastic arts.
Each club has the responsibility to present an outcome at the end of the quarter. However, board games competitions and artistic shows, providing catering for school events, planning and organizing socio-cultural events are only the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more than is visible to the eye.
Developing soft skills, nurturing emotional intelligence, athletic achievements, artistic self-expressions, bonding with new friends, are all at the core base of these activities. For this purpose, the clubs are monitored by highly esteemed professionals in the domain who cater for every learner’s needs to nurture and develop one’s own skills and talents.
In addition to planning, organizing and presenting their events on-campus, the secondary learners have a yearly active participation in different national and international conferences such as the Model United Nations, the Model Arab League, and the Model European Union.
More than that, learners have the chance to engage in the Life Skills Program provided by The Council Leadership Academy and to experience life on-campus in different international universities within the academy’s exchange program.