Sint-Maartenscollege

The Sint-Maartenscollege (abbreviated as, and informally SMC) is a state secondary school in Maastricht, the Netherlands. It operates two buildings and offers all streams of the Dutch secondary education system including the VMBO, HAVO and VWO (Atheneum and Gymnasium).

Name
The school is named after Saint Martin of Tours (Dutch: Sint-Maarten) who stands for helping and sharing. This is also the motto of the school.

Buildings
Two buildings are used by the SMC. One is located on the Bemelerweg in the Scharn neighbourhood and is used for classes of the VMBO education stream. Another building, located on the Noormannensingel in the Wyck neighbourhood, is used for classes of the HAVO and VWO educational streams. A third building was once in use but has since been sold.

Classes
A school day starts at 08.30 and usually ends between 14.20 and 16.15. The following classes are taught (although implementation depends on the stream of education taken):


 * English
 * Dutch
 * German
 * French
 * Spanish
 * Latin (only taught to VWO-Gymnasium)
 * Greek (only taught to VWO-Gymnasium)
 * Economics
 * History
 * Geography
 * Maths
 * Biology
 * Chemistry
 * Physics
 * ICT
 * Drawing
 * Handicraft
 * Life sciences
 * NLT (Dutch Wikipedia)
 * Music
 * ANW (Dutch Wikipedia)
 * Philosophy
 * Pre-Socratic Philosophy (If chosen by Gymnasium in 5th class)
 * Rhetoric (If chosen by Gymnasium in 5th class)
 * Drama/Theatre

Computer lab
The school has a room called the "Macademie", where a couple of Mac computers are situated. This lies within the area of the art classes.

Extracurricular activities
SMC has many extracurricular activities such as the school paper and a debate club:

School paper

The school paper, Palet, has won the title of "Best school paper of the Netherlands" in 2002 en 2003. Additionally, it won "Best school paper design" in 2001 and 2006 at the Dutch National School Paper Day. In 2009 the paper's editors were present at this event. Yvonne Doornduyn, political journalist and jury member, said: "'Palet' has a good combination between a strong layout and good contents". Palet counts about 20 editing members, of which 3 are of the school staff. The editors meet at least once every week to discuss layout, design, contents and so forth. The paper is issued 3 to 5 times a year and contains issues e.g. discrimination, politics and news, but also less serious topics such as new trends, info about schools and going out.

SMC Videoclub

SMC also has their own AV Club. It has 10 members of which 1 is of the school staff. They make their own scripts and film these in a professional manner using professional equipment. They also have their own website. However, due to COVID-19, this has been cancelled.

Cooking club

Every Monday afternoon a number of students gather to cook and eat together. One member of the staff takes care of this club. However, due to COVID-19, this has been cancelled.

Debate club

Students are given the opportunity to develop their debating skills in Dutch class. The debate club is mainly for the higher classes though (class 4 and up). These can enter in (national) debating competitions. There have been several students each year who compete in national debating competitions and some have even won prizes. The debate club is currently (2012) managed by pupils.

Notable alumni

 * Camiel Eurlings, politician and Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management
 * Maxime Verhagen, politician and current Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch soccer player