The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland recently recognized St. Mary School in Chardon for strong leadership and student performance in reading and mathematics.
The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland recently recognized St. Mary School in Chardon for strong leadership and student performance in reading and mathematics.
The school, serving preschool through eighth grade at 401 North St., was given an Academic Excellence Award from the diocese for its performance on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress assessment.
“We are very excited to receive the Academic Excellence Award because it inspires continuous improvement and lets us gratefully acknowledge that we are on a good path as a school,” Rev. Scott Goodfellow said. “As pastor of our Catholic School, I see academic excellence linked not just to good test scores, but to a school culture that prioritizes development of the whole person, body, mind and spirit.”
Principal Julie Fedak said St. Anselm and St. Mary are the two Geauga County schools honored with this award.
The NWEA MAP test is given three times a year and measures what students understand in reading and mathematics.
“All 108 elementary schools were eligible for this award and six were chosen for their success with NWEA MAP testing,” Fedak said.
In addition, St. Mary is being redesignated as Geauga County’s only STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — school, which emphasizes critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration through real-world, problem-based learning experiences, Fedak said.
St. Mary was first designated a STEM school in 2017.
“St. Mary earned this honor by educating their students so that they were able to show a large amount of growth over a one-year period,” Fedak said.
To help the students see their growth, teachers worked with them to set goals using the test data.
“Over the years, STEM education has evolved but still remains the hallmark of quality education,” Fedak said. “To earn this redesignation, St. Mary showed how we prepare our students for future careers, use personalized learning to help students reach their full potential and give them authentic problems to solve that link to the standards in their subjects.”
Fedak said what makes St. Mary special is the school’s love for its students and its mission of “Faith, Family, Future.”
“We focus on our mission as we make decisions on how to educate our students,” Fedak said. “As a STEM-designated school, we strive to find personal learning to help each child reach their goals so that their future is wide open. We encourage our students to use inquiry to develop their faith and dive into topics they want to explore. We put programs in place to help the students grow.”
She said the recent honors highlight teacher dedication and the accomplishments of students.
St. Mary School parent Jen Teichman attended St. Mary during the 1980s and said those fond memories contributed to her decision to send her two children there.
“As a college professor, I know firsthand how vital it is that a strong scholastic foundation be established during the elementary and junior high school years,” Teichman said. “With its emphasis on active learning embedded in real-world application, the STEM education provided by St. Mary School teachers promotes the development of critical thinking skills.”
She also values opportunities beyond the traditional classroom, including junior high musical performances, public speaking through Mass readings, book clubs organized by the librarian and Catholic Youth Organization sports.
“I am grateful for the dedication of educators who I know are invested not only in the academic development of my kiddos, but in strengthening their moral characters as well (with a focus on helping others),” Teichman said. “The spirit of the school community creates a welcoming atmosphere.”
As a Catholic school, St. Mary emphasizes holistic education, integrating academic excellence with spiritual formation, moral development and social awareness, Goodfellow said.
“The faith-based environment is what makes St. Mary School so special,” he said. “Prayer and a relationship with Jesus Christ are woven into the academic and interpersonal fabric of our school culture.”
Students celebrate mass weekly as a school community, begin and end their day in prayer, and help to plan each week’s Mass as part of their “Church Family,” a structure that includes students from every grade.
“The Church Family helps make the school community very close-knit where the younger students learn from the older students, and the older students learn to become models and leaders for the younger ones,” Goodfellow said. “They don’t just learn ‘about’ the Catholic faith at our school, but put the faith into practice by living their foundational identity in Christ to become disciples who pray and serve the Lord with generous hearts.”
Looking ahead, Goodfellow said the school will continue to garner strong support for the Angel Scholarship Fund — an Ohio income tax credit that allows taxpayers to allocate part of their state income tax to a school of their choice for tuition scholarships.
“St. Mary’s raised the most funds throughout the entire diocese of Cleveland with the Angel Scholarship Fund this past year and we are committed to continuing this success and growth so more families can affordably choose an academically excellent and faith-based education for their children,” Goodfellow said. “We couldn’t be an excellent school without the support of our parish family, who prays and gives to make our school great; our school families, who partner with our faculty to ensure their child’s academic-social-spiritual needs are met; and our wonderful staff and administration, who pour themselves out each day to develop the minds and hearts of each student.”
