ASCENSION EPISCOPAL SCHOOL

Originating as a grass-roots effort from within the community of The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Ascension Day School began life in 1959 with a single kindergarten class of 17 children. After undergoing several expansions and a name change to reflect its increasingly comprehensive nature, Ascension Episcopal School ultimately became the largest parish day school in the Diocese of Western Louisiana and one of the largest Episcopal schools in the state. Today it is the largest outreach ministry of Ascension Parish, serving over 600 students from preschool through the 12th grade. In keeping with its mission to offer educational excellence in a Christian environment, Ascension integrates the faith into and throughout the entire curriculum.

St. Luke’s Gospel cites Christ’s Great Commission: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” In its role as a major ministry of a local parish, the parish day school has a unique opportunity to help young people bring Jesus’s commandment to fruition.

Ascension’s balanced liberal arts curriculum seeks to develop the whole child, encompassing the life of the mind (academics) and the body (athletics), the artistic (the visual and performing arts) and a spirit of servant leadership (acts of service), to better oneself and one another.

Religious instruction and regular chapel services are offered at Ascension by an ordained priest who not only is a fulltime faculty member at the upper school but also participates as needed in clerical duties (preaching, teaching, visiting, and celebrating the Eucharist) for the parish. Ascension’s Rector oversees and bears authority for oversight of the school (including the selection of and collaboration with all personnel who serve our students in the religious areas of the curriculum). These collaborative assignments and efforts provide year-round use of our clergy’s training and talents and further strengthen the close ties that must exist between the church and the school.

Ascension’s parish and school share the use of, and responsibility for maintenance of, the properties on which the two entities operate. This shared occupancy not only offers a financial advantage to both parish and school but also ensures a continuous and more comprehensive utilization of church property that is often lacking in non-school parishes.

Finally, Ascension Episcopal School serves as an effective instrument for recruiting new families, providing a continuous source for maintaining an active and dynamic parish. One-half of the new parishioners in Ascension’s latest confirmation class were drawn to Ascension through their children’s enrollment in our school. At the same time, the school offers parish families an additional option for making the church a part of their children’s lives—a bonus that does not exist in the public-school world.

As a Christian school in which God is celebrated at the center of Life, Ascension welcomes all as God’s children who are called to model the life of Jesus, the source of grace and truth. Through a balanced liberal arts education that integrates Christian formation with diverse opportunities for the whole child in academics, athletics, arts, and acts of service, the school strives to help all students discover their potential, develop their unique, God-given gifts, and be shaped into men and women of character, so that they may know the Truth, love the Good, and serve God and neighbor.

References

National Association of Episcopal Schools, 815 Second Avenue, Eighth Floor, New York, NY 10017. http://www. episcopalschools.org/

Prehn, W.L. (2011). Episcopal Schools: History & Mission. In Hunt & Carper, eds. (2012). The Praeger Handbook of FaithBased Schools in the United States.