The Story Behind the School

Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School is a four-year co-educational secondary school located in the city of San Luis Obispo, California in the Diocese of Monterey. On the feast of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, August 19, 1876, San Luis Obispo was incorporated as a city, and a small band of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary established the first Catholic school on its current site, the Academy of the Immaculate Heart, on San Luis Obispo's Mission grounds. The academy offered both elementary and secondary education.

In 1924, under the guidance of Reverend Daniel Keenan, the newly appointed pastor of Mission San Luis, and the Diocesan Superintendent of Education, plans were made to erect a new parochial secondary and grammar school. The building was funded from a grant by the Hearst family. The grammar school, which occupied the ground floor classrooms, was commonly called Mission School, in honor of the Spanish Padres. The high school on the second floor was called Mission High School. The new collective Mission School was dedicated on August 19, 1926, the fiftieth anniversary of the Academy of the Immaculate Heart.

In 1957, Father William Scully, assistant pastor to Reverend Msgr. Patrick Daly, initiated the task of providing separate facilities for the grammar school and the high school. The high school was renamed Mission Central Catholic High School

In June 1970, Mission Central Catholic High was closed and Mission-Nativity grammar school was expanded to include ninth grade. At the time the grammar school assumed operation of the high school building as the Junior High campus.

The dream of reopening the school was born in the mid seventies. With the work of two Catholic laymen, Len Varni and Lyle Porter, a group of dedicated parents including Greg Morris, John Maulhardt, Larry Sage, and with the intervention of Reverend Jim Nisbet, Pastor of Mission San Luis Obispo, Bishop Thaddeus Shubsda gave full approval and re-dedicated the school, Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School, in August of 1983. The doors were opened in September of 1983 with eighty-six students. The first class to graduate from Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School was the Senior Class of 1986, sixty years after Mission High School first opened.

In 1999, we began a Capital Campaign "A Mission for the 21st Century" to improve the existing facilities after the generous donation from the Weyrich Family Foundation and Beatrice and William Jeong. Phase I was completed in time for the 2004-2005 school year with new science classrooms, cafeteria, gym, locker rooms, rest rooms and underground parking. Next is the Capital Campaign for Phase II, which will be the earthquake renovation and modernization of the original building that has served us since 1926.

Mission Statement

Mission College Preparatory provides students with a high quality, well-rounded, Catholic education in a Christ-centered environment while continuing to engage parents as primary educators.

Our Philosophy

Mission College Preparatory is a Diocesan Catholic High School striving to be an extension of family and church. Our educational environment fosters the development of the whole person - mind, body, and spirit - by promoting academic excellence, celebrating the unique God-given gifts of each student, and providing students with opportunities to experience God daily. MCP assists parents in the formation of young Christian adults by preparing them to serve God and others. The students' experience of Christian community fosters academic, spiritual, and social growth.