Salt Lake City: Livability in the 21st Century

JUDGE MEMORIAL
CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
Judge Memorial Catholic High School partners with
parents to foster the integration of each student’s spiritual,
intellectual, emotional, physical, and social development.
In this safe, caring, respectful environment, students are
empowered to become builders of a more just society. The
school’s mission is to create a community through Catholic
faith and education that will foster the development of each
student’s inherent gifts.
Judge Memorial, founded in 1921, has provided an
outstanding educational experience firmly rooted in a faith
tradition for nearly a century. Teachers, students, parents,
and alumni have consistently fostered and sustained a tradition
of excellence. Since its opening, the school has operated
at 650 South 1100 East in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
Its 95 employees, 60 percent of whom have advanced
degrees, include 61 faculty members bringing a faith
commitment and depth of knowledge, generosity of time,
talent, and personal caring to the learning environment.
The school’s 751 students in grades ninth through twelfth
are also served by five school counselors and two college
counselors, all dedicated to viewing each individual as a
child of God endowed with many gifts.
In the fall of 2013, Judge Memorial opened the JM
Learning Commons program, replacing the library. This leap
into the future offers a new and innovative approach to
research and learning. It is designed to provide students,
teachers, and staff with access to current and appropriate
information resources, and to ensure that they are effective
users of information.
The school’s building originally housed Judge Mercy
Home, a hospital for Catholic coal miners who suffered from
Black Lung. As coal mining east of Salt Lake declined, so did
the need for a hospital dedicated to this cause. Mary Judge,
who with her deceased husband, John, was the hospital’s
benefactor, had expressed the wish that the facility be used
as a school, but passed away before it opened. It was originally
named Cathedral High School and Catholic Grammar
School, with Bishop John J. Mitty changing the name to
Judge Memorial School in 1929. The Congregation of the
Sisters of the Holy Cross was responsible for starting Judge
Memorial in 1920 when the Judge family decided to turn the
building from a miner’s hospital to a school. It was coeducational
until 1964, when Bishop Joseph Lennox Federal
brought in the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales to operate it
as an all-boys’ school. At that time girls attended St. Mary of
the Wasatch Academy. After St. Mary closed in 1970, girls
again joined the boys at Judge, and the school added the
word “Catholic” to its name.
With the present-day guidance of Bishop John C. Wester
and a committed administrative staff, the school continues
to build upon the legacy of Catholic education begun
by Mary Judge and fostered by all members of the Judge
community. The school boasts a 100 percent graduation
rate, with 99 percent of students going on to college
immediately following their senior year. Judge Memorial
exemplifies academic excellence, with its graduates going on
to matriculate at many top colleges and universities.
S A L T L A K E C I T Y — L i v a b i l i t y i n t h e 2 1 s t C e n t u r y
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