Stella Maris Explorers

Who We Are

Stella Maris Explorers is a 501(c) 3 catholic charitable organization committed to promoting art, faith, and science education in the Mississippi Gulf Coast community through in-person programs, and to supporting families in their mission to raise well-rounded and morally-upright children.

Right now, our mission is carried out primarily through our flagship program: The Explorers Club. 

What We Do

The Explorers Club is a weekly science and art enrichment club for PK3 - 12th grade students in the greater Biloxi, MS area.

Our aim is to provide club members the opportunity to join friends in exploring the beauty, wonder, and goodness of God through the study of the natural sciences and hands-on art creation. 

Our flagship program, the Explorers Club, is thriving this academic year, with 53 enrolled members! Our explorers are studying the human body and have field-tripped to the Explorium Science Center. In our art session, they have practice elements of art - line, form, contour, color - and hosted Impressionist Art workshops funded by the Mississippi Arts Commission.  Liturgically, we’ve celebrated beautiful feasts: our patronal feast of Stella Maris, the feast of the Archangels, and All Saints & All Souls Days. We have also explored our local history with visits to Nativity BVM Cathedral and the historic Black Catholic school, Our Mother of Sorrows, founded by St. Katharine Drexel.

Why We Serve

The Explorers Club primarily serves homeschooling families. Mississippi homeschoolers do not have access to public funding or resources owned or activities organized by the public school districts. Additionally, most of the diocesan resources and activities available to the catholic schools, are not made available to the catholic homeschoolers. Our group is the only STEAM-based 501(c)3 public charity on the Gulf Coast who serves the homeschool community on a consistent weekly basis. We believe building a solid foundation of understanding of the arts and sciences, in addition to faith education, is the best way to foster a love of learning and advancement in students' education. We have big future plans, too. Plans to serve students educated in a traditional setting. We want to raise the bar for art, faith, and science education in the Biloxi Diocese regardless of how a child is educated. 

How You Can Help

Donations to Stella Maris Explorers are tax deductible and primarily used to purchase the art supplies, science manipulatives, and reading books we need right now for our Explorers Club program. But you can also help raise funds for future programs and our overhead costs; and most importantly, lend us your voice in prayer. Community support is crucial to our continuing ability to provide this high-quality in-person program and to increase our capacity for further and varying programs. 

If you can make a donation today - thank you! If you can offer a prayer for our continued success - thank you! If you can share our mission and campaign on social media or in person - thank you!