GASTONIA — St. Michael School is incorporating a new Catholic liberal arts curriculum in the classical model, phased in over three years starting this fall. Already, the move is attracting interest from parents and increased enrollment.
Classical education is an effective and increasingly popular model for private schools, and it is rooted in the Catholic tradition.
In a classical education or academy model, students are taught how to learn and think critically – going above the already rigorous language arts and STEM curriculum standards the school currently has in place. In this time-tested and research-based approach, students develop not just intellectually but also spiritually, emotionally and socially as lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
St. Michael School has a distinguished history of educating thousands of students over the past seven decades, but in recent years the school has struggled to remain sustainable.
At the end of the 2015-’16 school year, the parish took out a loan from the Diocese of Charlotte to help cover a shortfall of $198,000. The subsequent year, the diocese took on the financial operations of the school while leaders began evaluating how to set the school apart and position it in what has become a competitive private education marketplace.
Since announcing its transition plans last fall, the parish has offered a series of talks called “Hearts United” to inform parents and parishioners about the Church’s role in education. Principal Michelle Vollman has also shared information about classical liberal arts through “Coffee with the Principal” meetings and weekly newsletters.
“I believe that Catholic liberal arts is going to be something wonderful for our school,” Vollman said. “It will really help us grasp hold of our Catholic identity and give the students the tools and the strategies that they need to be lifelong learners and thinkers for themselves.”
Thanks to these communications efforts, the school has already seen an enrollment increase of XX percent – 30 new students – for the fall.
Curriculum enhancements will be implemented over the next three years, and are being made in consultation with the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. ICLE aims to equip Catholic educators to renew today’s Catholic schools by drawing on the Church’s tradition of education and pursuit of faith, wisdom and virtue.
The school has already received two visits from Colleen Richards, an ICLE consultant, offering teacher workday trainings and classroom observations.
“What does the Church give us in education? We have 2,000 years of tradition here… There is a huge tradition that we have to draw upon, so we are very glad to help St. Michael’s to access it and bring it to life in their classrooms,” Richards said.
“I’m excited about the Catholic liberal arts transition, because of its ability to renew Catholic education, and it renews Catholic education in re-introducing something in the human person which we all have, which is wonder,” said Father Lucas Rossi, pastor, in a video the school released this spring. “What we want to preserve is that wonder for the good, the true and the beautiful – to preserve that all of the time they are at St. Michael School.”
Math and science teacher Maria Boylan is looking forward to sharing the new curriculum with her students. “To me classical education, liberal arts education, is going to be such a refreshing way for me (to teach). I have always believed in curiosity and encouraging wonder, and just the love of learning. So it’s really, truly bringing out the best in children. I believe every child is gifted and I think this program is going to focus on enhancing their giftedness and bringing it forward.”
Parent Robert Sawyer said he and his wife Katie were both raised Catholic and want to provide a similar foundation for their children. “We appreciated the solid foundation that provided, not only from the spiritual sense, but also the liberal arts education,” he said.
Father Rossi described a Catholic liberal arts education as helping to revive within children the desire to keep learning – not just to ask, “What do I have to do to do well on this test?” or to think, “When am I going to need this in life again?”
He said the school hopes the new educational approach will “get away from this sense that education is only supposed to be pragmatic, and to make it just useful for someone, but rather shows us how to be truly human, which is to be in union – heart, mind, body and soul – with our Creator, our heavenly Father, and Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life to that relationship.”
— SueAnn Howell and Patricia Guilfoyle, Catholic News Herald
Learn More
At www.stmichaelcs.com: Learn more about St. Michael School’s three-year transition to a Catholic liberal arts curriculum starting this fall.