About Cotter Schools

Cotter Schools, located in Winona, Minnesota, USA, is comprised of Cotter Junior High and Cotter High School. We serve motivated and engaged students in grades 7 through 12. Over 300 students from the city of Winona, the towns surrounding Winona, and from over 12 countries around the world engage in rigorous academic study, faith-centered experiences, and personally enriching athletic and arts activities - all with one goal in mind: that each student discover and develop his or her fullest potential!

Cotter Schools is accredited through AdvancEd, a consortium of educational institutions that provides accreditation and consultative services to accredited schools and school systems. AdvancEd is the world's largest educational community, representing over 23,000 public and private schools and districts in 30 states and 65 countries and serving nearly 15 million students.

Cotter Schools is proud to be part of Study Minnesota, an organization that promotes the wealth of diverse educational opportunities in Minnesota.

MISSION STATEMENT

Cotter Schools is a private, independent, coeducational school in Winona, Minnesota that has been guided by Catholic beliefs and values since 1911.

As an international learning community, serving grades 7-12, we hold our students to the highest academic standards and challenge each of them to develop their full potential academically, physically, spiritually and socially.

We believe in the intrinsic goodness of all persons, and strive to model the values of faith, service, and community as we encourage and support our students to become more than they can imagine.

Graduate Profile

Cotter Schools reaches its goal when students graduate with the following skills and capacities:

Men and Women of Intellectual Competency

Cotter Schools graduates are problem solvers who think critically and creatively. They are young men and women who are communicators, collaborators, and cooperative learners. Cotter graduates are lifelong learners who are curious about the world around them and the future.

Men and Women of Health and Wholeness

Cotter Schools graduates are aware of healthy habits of living such as mindfulness, fitness and nutrition and are formed in the use of the tools for following through on those habits.

Men and Women with an Appreciation of the Arts

Cotter Schools graduates have an appreciation of beauty and the arts (performing, instrumental, vocal, visual) and recognize the importance of the aesthetic in their personal lives and in the world around them.

Men and Women of Faith, Compassion and Respect

Cotter Schools graduates have an appreciation of a relationship with God and have respect for and knowledge of Catholic and Christian beliefs and practices. Cotter graduates understand the life-changing effects of compassion on themselves and witness to this through respect for others.

Men and Women of Service and Justice

Cotter Schools graduates engage in a lifetime of service; they choose to do the right and just thing in all situations and mentor others in doing the same.