IMPACT REPORT 2021-22
CULTIVATING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH COMMUNITY AND PRAYER
Friends of St. James Academy,
As much as we love to celebrate the academic and athletic accomplishments of our students, St. James Academy is most proud that our young people leave our campus faith-filled and ready to make a difference in our community. The formation they receive at St. James Academy allows them to be confident in their ability to create disciples for Jesus. Daily Mass, student retreats and our community system, along with many other opportunities on our campus, bring the love of Jesus to all of our students. With a freshman class of 261 this past August, it is proof that more and more families from all over the metro area are considering St. James Academy for the formation and education of their children. We are blessed by your support and belief in our mission.
As we continue to build on the foundation of the mission created in 2005, our student successes are impressive. St. James continues
to demonstrate excellence on the field, court, stage, and in the classroom. A few highlights from the class of 2022:
• Thirty-six students (18%) achieved a score of 30 or higher on the ACT, and joined the ranks of our Thunder 30 Club.
• The Class of 2022 was offered more than $11.5 million in scholarships and graduates are attending 53 different schools across the country.
• Back to Back State Championships in Football.
• The Performing Arts Department received the most “1” ratings at State in their history.
• Joey Punswick entered the seminary at Kenrick-Glennon and is studying to become a Priest for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.
As always, I am humbled by and grateful for your continued support of St. James Academy. On behalf of our entire community, thank you for your generosity throughout the year. Your donations provide critical support for families, as well as allow us to make continual improvements to our campus. This past summer we were able to complete the re-purposing of our media center into the new Center for Rhetoric and Media Arts along with a beautiful expanded space for Campus Ministry. Our counselors have new offices that have created an environment of confidentiality that is meeting various needs of our students. All of these new areas are amazing, intentional spaces for our students and community to continue to grow academically and spiritually. Our focus for this upcoming summer is the new Spark Center for Academics which we piloted last year in a current classroom space. There
were over 3,000 visits to the Spark Center for enrichment and academic collaboration.
Thank you for being a member of our community.
God Bless,
BOARD MEMBERS
Fr. Michael Hermes
John Kmetz
Fr. Scott Wallisch
Zena Weist
Vince Cascone Teresa Kempf Mike Mahoney Kathy Rasmussen Terry Sexton Steve Smith Jeff Tauscher Andy Tylicki
A RIGOROUS, WELL-ROUNDED ACADEMIC EDUCATION
Nothing is more vital to the improvement of a school than its community being aligned on plans and priorities for growth. With the execution of the first phases of the St. James Strategic Plan this year, we have witnessed this phenomenon in the skyrocketing utilization of the educational Spark Center, the development and growth of the Rhetoric and Media Arts and Computer Science programs, the support of improved teaching and learning through a new Faculty Coaching program and more protected planning and collaboration time for instructors, and, most importantly, the continued commitment to the mission of St. James to pursue Truth in our Catholic identity. The Board of Trustees will continue to focus on the execution of the SJA Strategic Plan to help the school achieve the mission. Thank you for your financial support of St. James Academy and the continued support of this mission.
Kathy Rasmussen, Board Chair
FINANCIAL UPDATE 2021-22 FISCAL YEAR SALARIES/BENEFITS TUITION ASSISTANCE STUDENT SERVICES PLANT MAINTENANCE/ UTILITIES LOAN PAYMENTS ADVANCEMENT/ ADMINISTRATIVE TUITION AND FEES PARISH SUPPORT ADVANCEMENT INCOME COVID RELIEF SUPPORT MISC. INCOME OPERATING REVENUES OPERATING EXPENSES $12.165M $10.014M $783K $954K $269K $145K $7.065M $1.849M $1.518M $1.064K $319K $350K $12.165M
Imagine - You are a high schooler sitting at your dinner table working on a homework assignment. You don’t understand the assignment and you ask a sibling or a parent for help. They don’t know how best to help you. You give up and walk away from the assignment frustrated. This situation occurred often for students. However, since the 2021 - 2022 school year, St. James Academy has a solution, the Spark Center for Academics.
The Spark Center for Academics (or “Spark” for short) has four main purposes. Students can LEARN concepts with an emphasis on mathematics, writing, and research skills. Students can use the center as a COLLABORATION spot for group work. Students can find academic ENRICHMENT activities and challenges. Spark is an opportunity for any student to get the help or enrichment he or she needs.
To make Spark run smoothly and efficiently, it is staffed by an English and a Mathematics teacher every hour and four student “Spark Plugs”. That’s two full-time teachers in Spark. Our student Spark Plugs are junior and senior students who are proficient in
SPARK CENTER FOR ACADEMICS
math or english and give up half of their own study hall to work here. Spark is open every class hour, ThunderBlock, and during late start mornings. Next up was location. We took a classroom out of the master schedule and used leftover furniture to create a warm and welcoming environment for Spark. We were set and ready to go!
definitely easier to hear them tell me how to fix things rather than a teacher.” Another student said, “It has provided me with an area to work on assignments and feel confident in new skills I’m learning.”
We opened the Spark Center for Academics on a sunny Tuesday morning in September. Our first year surpassed our expectations! We had over 3,000 visits to Spark last year. Out of those visits, 66% of our student body came at least once during the school year to Spark. About 50% of visits for learning in Spark were for Mathematics.
While numbers are important, the student feedback was phenomenal. One student said, “I liked how I was able to work with seniors that I enjoyed getting to know through the year and it was
Our teachers are not only in Spark to help students but also mentor our student Spark Plugs. A student Spark Plug said, “My experience in the Spark Center has reminded me of how much I love helping people with math, and I am considering that as a career. So, the Spark Center has been a blessing to me.”
The Spark Center for Academics is living our mission on “developing the mind and hearts of young people to know Truth, choose Good and live virtuously in the service of others.”
By Samantha Hendrix, Coordinator of Spark Center
2,690 VISITS TO THE SPARK CENTER AS OF 03/25/2022 75% of our Free and Reduced Lunch students visit the Spark Center 50% of these visits have been Math-related AFTER SURVEY COMPLETED BY 161 STUDENTS: 93.2% rated their visit as GREAT! 85% would recommend visiting the Spark Center to a Friend 126 students said that it improved their confidence as a student this past semester
LIVING THE SACRAMENTAL LIFE ON A DAILY BASIS AS A MEANS TO A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
MAKING A DIFFERENCE ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
MOLLY HACKETT MCKEITHAN (‘17)
BURK SCHREINER (‘19)
For Molly Hackett McKeithan (2017), attending St. James Academy was a blessing personally and academically.
“I grew up in a household with parents who had high expectations of my sister and me and taught us that, as women, we could achieve anything we set our minds to. My teachers also felt the same way and challenged me to my core to think about what it meant to be a good person, how to lead, and helped me develop the grit that I was able to lean into while in college and beginning my career. I am thankful for teachers like Mrs. Ish, Mrs. Charlton, Mrs. Quinn, Ms. Denton, Coach Elstun, and Mr. Wuebker and always will be. During her time at SJA, she was involved in softball, choir, debate, the musicals, was a house captain for Denton House (Padre Pio), and was a member of National Honor Society (Academic, Choir). “I think
some of my greatest memories were within Denton House. I had Ms. Denton as a teacher in elementary school and in high school,” Molly said. “She always had such a calm, stabilizing, and happy presence and allowed me to lead during our house time.”
After St. James, Molly attended Kansas State University, first as an architecture major, then as a broadcast journalism major with a minor in business. “I knew that I had found my passion - communicating with others,” she said.
A special highlight each year was always hallway decorations, she added. “It was stressful but let us work together as a team. One year, we had Ratatouille the movie as our theme, and seeing our house, as well as our community, come together was such a great feeling. I think it helped me buy into being a servant leader while also seeing the importance of teamwork and the impact it can have on a community.”
She said she was “thankful that I was able to learn and grow at SJA during such formative years, and I would love to pour into young women leaders the same way that I was poured into.”
While at K-State, Molly was able to travel nationally to cover K-State sports, won state and national journalism awards, and was able to lead a team of student journalists.
After graduating from the university in May 2020, Molly began working in communications in the central office for the Topeka Public School District. “I was met with the challenge of serving as the lead content creator, was the assistant district media spokesperson, attended sessions at the statehouse and congress with the superintendent, planned events, ran the student-run television station, managed social media, as well as helped with other communications functions.”
She said she “saw communications from an entirely new perspective working with a demographic of 77% free and reduced lunch students and realized that advocating, communicating, and serving people encompasses so much more than what the eye can see.”
Through that experience, Molly said she “wanted to lead and take a step further in my career and the Advancement Director position at the St. Lawrence Center jumped out at me. I knew that I would be around a Catholic community that I had been raised in and that my previous experiences would relate to this role in new ways. Had I not been pushed at SJA or in college I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t have taken my first director role at 22.
“I am thankful that Fr. Mitchel Zimmerman and his team took a chance on me and I hope that I will continue to find new ways to
help those coming to the St. Lawrence Center to grow and reach students at KU.”
Burk served as School Captain before graduating from St. James Academy in 2019. He is now a senior at Benedictine.
MOLLY HACKETT MCKEITHAN (‘17)
“Having an RA Job at Benedictine is different from having an RA job at a large state school or university,” Burk said. “We are expected to be good examples for the residents in our dorms and leaders on campus.
Since Benedictine doesn’t have sororities and fraternities, there is a lot of dorm pride.”
Mass for my hall (St. Michael’s). St. James Academy helped Burk grow in his faith in many ways. “Sacraments are readily available, and I have a deep love for Draw Near adoration nights. But, the biggest thing that impacted me at St. James was my relationships with teachers. Many teachers at the SJA are great witnesses to the faith and they are what gives life to the school.”
all about relationships, but I only learned the concept because they were my friends.”
A theology major at Benedictine, Burk said he hopes to be a teacher or youth minister. Surely the influence of the faithlife at St. James and the impact of his teachers on his life will help him to be a role model for future generations of young people to come.
The community system at St. James Academy was instrumental in preparing Burk Schreiner (2019) in his role as a residence assistant at Benedictine College in Atchison. A proud member of St. Benedict’s Community during his time at SJA,
Burk added that the residents of the dorms at Benedictine also compete against each other during Homecoming week there in 5 different events. “It is similar to the year round competitions at SJA for the Thunder Cup… As an RA I have tried to be charitable and help everyone out in the dorm as much as I could. I hosted a couple of rosaries and adoration nights that had decent turn outs. I also planned and set up the annual dorm
In particular, he mentioned that he had good relationships with Sebastian D’Amico and Evan Bradfield. “They both are so fun! Mr. Bradfield introduced me to Marian consecration, and Mr. D’Amico was kind of a counselor/ spiritual guide for me. Mr. Alex Keith and Dr. Shane Rapp would always talk about how important relationships were, and I didn’t really understand it, but looking back, the best thing about high school was the relationships I made. My teachers said life was
Molly married Austin McKeithan last October 8. BURK SCHREINER (‘19) Photo by Jay Soldner/The Leaven
PREPARING OUR STUDENTS TO SHARE THE LIGHT OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD
ST. JAMES ACADEMY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL EXISTS TO PASS ON THE CATHOLIC FAITH TO THE NEXT GENERATION. THE COMMUNITY IS ROOTED IN THE ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH AND IS DEDICATED TO DEVELOPING THE MINDS AND HEARTS OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO KNOW TRUTH, CHOOSE GOOD AND LIVE VIRTUOUSLY IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS.
