Mother Seton Academy is a co-educational, independent Catholic middle school serving up to 90 students from underserved families of all faiths and cultures in Baltimore City. All students accepted must qualify for a full scholarship. Over three years, our students advance academically, explore their interests, and acquire life skills. They participate in sports, clubs, and the arts. As an institution that values community, our students, families, faculty, and staff engage in service that uplifts the school, as well as our surrounding Baltimore neighborhoods. The values our students develop at Mother Seton Academy guide their choices, actions, and decisions into the future. Our comprehensive Graduate Support Program helps our students transition into and throughout their high school journey and post-secondary educational choices. In partnership with our families, Mother Seton Academy is committed to academic excellence and to each student’s total development—academic, social, physical, spiritual, and emotional— by emphasizing serious study and personal responsibility.

Mother Seton Academy is a scholarship based middle school rooted in the Gospel tradition of Catholic education with a belief that every student deserves the opportunity to become their most authentic self.  We provide an inclusive education for underserved families that meet each child’s individual needs and nurture their unique aspirations, regardless of faith, ethnicity, gender, or economic status.   The school provides the support and structure needed to deliver a holistic education that values academic excellence, empathy, equity, and community. With care and support, students at Mother Seton Academy learn how vital they are to their cultures, communities, and society.

Mother Seton Academy is a co-sponsored ministry of congregations of women and men religious, educating the youth of Baltimore by creating a safe, effective learning environment that empowers each student to reach his or her greatest potential – academically, spiritually, socially, and globally.

In 1991, the provincial leaders of the religious congregations within the Archdiocese of Baltimore endorsed an innovative educational project, involving collaboration among several religious congregations. They appointed a task force to investigate this idea and formulate a plan to meet the academic and social needs of low-income middle school children often prohibited from attending costly Catholic schools. Utilizing the successful Nativity School model and adapting it to meet the specific needs of Baltimore, the vision for Mother Seton Academy was born. Named after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the first tuition-free Catholic school in Baltimore, Maryland, Mother Seton Academy would also become a tuition-free Catholic school providing quality education to the children of Baltimore.

No individual religious community had the resources to undertake such a project alone, so it became a collaborative effort among six religious congregations with long traditions of service to Baltimore. As a result, Mother Seton Academy opened in the fall of 1993 with its first class of 20 sixth-grade students. After a successful capital campaign in 2008, Mother Seton Academy completely renovated the former St. Ann School located at 2215 Greenmount Avenue as its permanent home and opened its doors to 68 students on September 2, 2009. Today, the Academy educates over 80 students in grades six, seven, and eight from all faiths and cultures each year.

Sponsoring Congregations

The sponsoring religious communities for Mother Seton Academy are:

A Day at Mother Seton video

“Mother Seton Academy has meant love, success, and an undying passion for education.”

Dennis Neal '99

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Thank you to the students at Loyola University Maryland who created this video.