Welcome to St. Gabriel Classical Academy. Thank you, thank you for considering Catholic education for your child(ren) and especially for looking at St. Gabriel Classical Academy. In my twenty-three years of working in Catholic education, I know it is the best education out there. I have seen so many different curricula and teaching strategies, but I say, “Eureka!”; we have found it and we have found it in the Classical education model. Classical education is sweeping the nation and for good reason. A Catholic classical education, like ours, truly seeks Truth, Beauty and Goodness through Him, with Him, and in Him. Additionally, a liberal arts education, “Liber” meaning “free”, allows for the students to be given what they need when they need it, and how they need it so they are simply free to learn. 

You might be saying what is Classical education anyway? Classical education in short is the pursuit of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. It depends on a three-part process of training the mind. The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, systematically laying the foundations for advanced study. This first stage is known as the “Grammar Stage '', which is critically important and where students should fall in love with learning as they see everything with awe and wonder. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments, which is called the “Dialectic or Logic Stage”. Children in this stage of development begin to understand cause and effect and begin reasoning logically. It is where children learn discernment, as they sort out the facts they learned in the grammar stage. Last is the “Rhetoric Stage”, which would be where young adults begin to apply logic to all of their academic subjects. This classical pattern is called the Trivium. For more information on Classical education, please visit our website: 

https://stgclassical.com/what-is-classical-education. 

Over the centuries, public education intended to create workers for society rather than a full, well-rounded human being who is born with the ability to think, choose, and reason. As a Catholic classical school, we want to awaken the human person to all that he/she is capable of. There is a healthy rigor embedded in our curriculum. Integrating the faith into every aspect of a child’s education helps children truly have a complete picture of who they are, why they are here, and where they are going. SGCA is not focused on filling a vessel with a whole lot of information, like dumping fish in the mouth of Shamu at Water World and then teaching it tricks. Our goal is to form the whole person. Thinking critically is important for those who teach and someone who seeks to learn. In essence, we are teaching children the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic, which will give them the foundation for all subsequent learning. While academics are an important part of our school, a child’s personal formation, reception of the sacraments, and building and forming healthy relationships is equally important. 

We call our St. Gabriel students the “Children of Light” - those who love, follow, and obey God. We want to partner with parents and teach the children to know what is good and turn away from what is bad. We want them to always seek the Good, look for what is Beautiful, and express true Goodness to those around them. Last and certainly not least, know that we believe parents are the first educators of their child(ren) and we are here to assist parents, as beautifully stated in our mission statement: 

https://stgclassical.com/our-mission-statement 

This school’s inception is from the profound and generous gift of love from our benefactors, who have asked not to be named. We are grateful for their generosity and pray daily that we will fulfill their wishes that we assist parents in educating these “Children of Light” to their fullest potential. 

At the end of the Prologue of The Catechism of the Catholic Church it states: The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love. (CCC 25). While this is primarily speaking of the doctrines of the Catholic Church, it mirrors authentic Catholic education and what we are striving to do at St. Gabriel’s. We are dedicated to love the children first, and then teach them. Come visit us. See the love and care that exudes our community. Contact our school office at 719.418.5670 or email our Administrative Assistant, Mrs. Michelle Trinca, at [email protected] to set up a tour, get on our waitlist, and/or schedule a shadow day. 

In Christ the Teacher, 

Mrs. Robin Schneider 

Principal