The People’s Republic of China has named St. Mary’s School the first Confucius Classroom in North or South America. This award gives southern Oregon students and community members unprecedented access to Chinese language studies, travel to China, and friendship-building opportunities with Chinese students, teachers, and professors.

Confucius Classroom status is part of an initiative by the Chinese Ministry of Education to make Chinese language instruction and Chinese cultural studies available to high school and college students around the globe.

While there are almost 300 universities in the program worldwide participating at the Confucius Institute level, including over 50 major universities in the USA, just twelve secondary schools in the world have been so honored by the Chinese government. St. Mary’s is the first secondary school to receive this distinction in the Americas.

The program provides funding for St. Mary’s Mandarin teachers, community classes in Mandarin, textbooks, and an exchange program with a sister school in central China, and a wealth of other opportunities.

St. Mary’s School in Medford, Oregon has the distinction of becoming the first Confucius Classroom in the United States. 

In the coming year, The Confucius Classroom at St. Mary's School has plans to extend Mandarin instruction to local elementary and middle schools and to offer instruction as well at the introductory college level.