Mission

The mission of TMI is to provide an excellent educational community, with values based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, challenging motivated students to develop their full potential in service and leadership.

Core Values

The entire TMI program, academic and otherwise, is designed to create an environment based on the following core values in which motivated youth can grow into ladies and gentlemen who are truly servant leaders.

Moral Integrity

Integrity is derived from the Latin word for “whole,” or “put-together.” Thus, at TMI, we say that a person possesses moral integrity when he or she has a knowledge of the Good, a love of the Good, and a habitual will to do the Good in his or her life and living. We believe that God has placed in every human person a natural “faculty” that guides us toward the Good in every situation. This built-in faculty is called conscience. A person of “integrity” has a strong conscience. To act against this conscience is contrary to one’s own human nature. A person of “integrity” possesses ample quantities of the four “classical” virtues of justice, temperance, fortitude, and prudence, as well as an infusion of the three “theological” virtues of faith, hope, and charity. A morally virtuous person is known to be modest, brave, honest, unselfish, and loyal: In a word, a person of moral integrity is a person of nobility and virtue.

Scholastic Aptitude

Scholastic aptitude means far more than academic “excellence,” high mean test scores, or enviable college placements. While these factors are definitely useful indicators of the quality of an academic program, they are only one measure of the actual achievement of studious young persons. Our Headmaster has written that his hope is that our program will motivate each student to “develop intellectual curiosity, inspire self-reflection, embrace academic rigor, and strive for academic achievement.”

Academic engagement is what we are looking for in every scholar. What kind of work ethic has a student developed? How much intellectual curiosity does a student habitually possess? How well has a student integrated his or her studies, or seen the practical benefit of his or her subject areas for his or her own life and generation? How much has a student actually learned? What we call a “learned person” has done a lot of hard work.

The truth is that the quality of an academic program should be measured by how much wisdom is ascertainable in a student and in a student body. We do not apologize for the fact that, at TMI, we are shooting for wisdom as the chief aim of our academic program. Wisdom goes far beyond intelligence, brilliance, good grades, high SAT scores, or admission to the most selective colleges in the land. Wisdom is not hard to define. Wisdom is the ability to see the parts and the whole—the “forest and the trees,” so to speak. Wisdom is the gift of discernment or the ability to “look beneath the surface” of things in order to ascertain realities or truths many others cannot see. Wisdom is the ability to comprehend the disparate elements of the reality we call life. Wisdom is the power to use the known to better apprehend the unknown. The sages would remind us that learning is only the beginning of wisdom. At TMI, we do not place laurels on the head alone, but on the heart also. We evaluate each student in a way similar to the way Henry James assessed a work of art: The best is not merely clever, it must also be true.

Spiritual Maturity

Spiritual maturity means mature religious faith, rather than any sort of spiritual or moral perfection. In the Hebrew Bible, faith always means obedience to and trust in God. In the New Testament, the word used most often for the English “faith” is pistis, which means reliance upon something, as one might “rely upon” a walking cane or a sturdy bridge across a ravine. Jesus exemplified spiritual maturity simply by placing his entire trust in the God whom he obeyed even unto death. Spiritual maturity was manifested in the words just before he died on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”—the simple trustful words every Jewish child was taught to say just before falling asleep.

Spiritual maturity means holiness, but it is terribly important to remember that, in Scripture, holiness does not mean, first of all, “moral perfection” (though moral goodness is certainly taken for granted); rather, holiness means (literally) “set apart” for God’s exclusive use. When something like water or bread is “consecrated” (made holy), it is being set apart for God’s own use. In the same way, God made Israel “holy”. God made Israel a people set apart to be His servant nation in the world. God promised blessings to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses if these patriarchs and their heirs would in return promise to serve God and His Plan. Holiness, therefore, actually means living totally for God and not for oneself. King David is considered the holiest king Israel ever had; but David was far from morally pure. Even so, he lived totally to advance the will of God, and the “holiness” attributed to him consisted in this fact alone. The truth is that holiness and spiritual maturity are for God; for, in order for God to speak successfully His Word of truth and love to the world, the instrument or medium of the communication must be holy.

A spiritually mature person possesses by Grace that kind of deep faith that is not weakened or destroyed by fear, anxiety, loneliness, hopelessness, suffering, depression, defeat, or the indifference of the world. The great saints have understood spiritual maturity and contemplation to be one and the same thing; thus, a “contemplative” is a person of mature religious faith. Contemplatives (e.g. St. Francis or Mother Teresa of Calcutta) are the genuine “stars” of the human race, for they are as tough as nails, unflappable in the face of real danger and ignorance, and childlike in their trust in God. Faith at any level is a gift from God. It cannot be forced. But we want it. And we want it in abundance.

Well-roundedness

Well-roundedness at TMI does not mean that a student is necessarily “good at many things.” Not many people are able to be good at many things; yet we have many people in the school. We believe that “well-roundedness” means that a person is intentionally growing in every aspect of what it means to be a human being. This would mean that the school is providing carefully conceived opportunities for a person to grow (1) spiritually, (2) morally, (3) intellectually, (4) emotionally, (5) physically, (6) aesthetically, and (7) as a servant leader. We intend for everyone at TMI to work toward being “well-rounded” in this sense. The neglect of any of these aspects of our humanity is not a good thing as far as we are concerned.

In addition, we emphasize good time management as an essential ingredient of well-roundedness, and a good school will help a student gain an understanding of the gifts God has given him or her. This is a time-consuming discernment process, but it should not be left undone. We believe there is a tried-and-true method—call it “traditional”—by which a person can become “well-rounded.” This method is employed at TMI in our daily life. We emphasize prayer, study, and work—an age-old formula translated at TMI into daily worship, academics, athletics, the fine arts, the optional Corps of Cadets, and community service.

Someone who letters in three sports might not, in fact, be very well-rounded at all; a person who studies only is not getting a very sound education. A TMI preparation is intended to “produce” character—ladies and gentlemen of sound character. This is what we are working for at TMI.

Our core values point to an ultimate goal that is associated with the following ideals: Virtue, Wisdom, Public Service, Human Fulfillment, Salvation, and Heaven. These ideals are what we work for at TMI.