A Marist, Catholic School

Saint Joseph Academy Provides the Premier College-Prep Education in the Marist Tradition.

Welcome to SJA

Life at Saint Joseph Academy in Brownsville, TX means evolving. Your journey will begin by studying and observing, but as you move through your educational path, you’ll be surrounded by passionate educators that will challenge you to think like a faith-filled disciple that can face intellectual arguments with confidence. Our college preparatory courses and individualized college counseling have been helping students from surrounding areas including Matamoros, Tamaulipas achieve success beyond high school for over 150 years. As a Bloodhound, you’ll join others that have walked the lush courtyard before you and learn beyond textbooks and standardized tests.

all students receive individualized college and career counseling starting in 7th grade

of our students receive financial assistance

students can earn up to 35 college credits-at no additional cost to families

of our faculty hold advanced degrees

in scholarships awarded to the class of 2022

more than 14 sports team

service hours obtained every year

more than 40 clubs and activity groups to choose from

Learn more about Saint Joseph Academy by reading our 2023-2024 viewbook.

23-24 Viewbook

SJA News

NEWSIES!

11 Apr, 2023

SJA Performing Arts presents our 2023 Spring Musical, DISNEY'S NEWSIES - April 21-23 at Saint Joseph Academy in the Brother Francis Garza Student Center at 8:00 PM, with an additional matinee performance at 3:00 PM on Sunday, April 23. Newsies, the smash-hit, crowd-pleasing, Tony Award-winning musical. Newsies is an extraordinary story, inspired by actual events. When a band of underdogs became unlikely heroes and stood up to the most powerful men in New York, it shook the world. It’s an energetic tale about fighting for what’s right… and staying true to who you are.

Community Prayer Breakfast Keynote Speaker

10 Feb, 2023

Dr. Adriana Babiak-Vazquez, PhD '81 has been confirmed as keynote speaker for this year's Saint Joseph Academy 12th Annual Community Prayer Breakfast. The SJA Alumna is currently the Lead Epidemiologist in the Biomedical Data Reduction & Analysis (BDRA) Group, within the Space Medicine Division with KBR at NASA Johnson Space Center. She formulates and executes strategic plans for data capture and analysis related to disease prevention and occupational surveillance of space travel risks to astronauts (e.g., radiation and microgravity exposure). She frequently collaborates with fellow NASA experts on scientific research papers, abstracts for publication and internal/external presentations. One example led to the first joint research collaboration between the Mayo Clinic and NASA. In addition to our keynote speaker, this year's Community Prayer Breakfast will present the President's Distinguished Community Service Award to Dr. Emilio Hernandez '72 and Amanda and Patricio Sampayo '00 on Friday, March 3rd.

Community Prayer Breakfast Honorees Announced

08 Feb, 2023

We are exc ited to announce that Amanda and Patricio Sampayo ’00 and Dr. Emilio Hernandez '72 have been selected as this year’s recipients of the 2023 President's Distinguished Community Service Award. They will receive this award during the 12th Annual Community Prayer Breakfast on Friday, March 3rd. At SJA, Amanda chaired the Religious Studies Department and taught Social Justice, World Religions, and Women’s History. She served on the United Way Board from 2012-2018 and currently serves on Brownsville Wellness Coalition, Planned Parenthood Cameron County and Friendship of Women. After graduating from Harvard College with an A.B. in Economics, Patricio partnered with his father and brother to start Centro Medico Internacional in Matamoros, where he has been managing director since 2005. In 2011, Patricio was appointed to the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of Brownsville, where he helped preserve and develop affordable housing for our community’s most vulnerable families as its Chairman for 9 years. Dr. Hernandez has been practicing dentistry for over 40 years. He was the first chairman of the inaugural SJA school board in 1998 and then later served from 2012 to 2019. He served on the Finance committee for 21 years from 1998 to 2019. He has served the community by sitting on over 10 different boards. He is a founding member of the Academy for Sports Dentistry created in 1981. For 42 years now, every August, he fabricates 25-30 mouth guards for each of the six football programs at BISD and SJA.