Category: Chesterton Academy

This year, the GRACE Riverside office welcomed some very special guest leadership. Marie (6th grade), Sam (5th grade), and Rose (Kindergarten) from St. John Paul II Classical School (SJPII) each spent a day serving as President or Vice President. They traded their typical school supplies for a seat at the leadership table, a tour of the facilities, and a look at how our school system operates. We sat down with them to talk about their school, their faith, and being the boss for a day.

Q: What do you love most about your school and a typical school day?

Marie: It is such a welcoming community where you feel included immediately. My favorite parts of the day are lunch, recess, and the passing periods, because there is such a great sense of togetherness and I love to laugh with my friends.

Sam: I really enjoy how we team up with other schools, like running cross country with GRACE Holy Family. I also like humanities because we play a tag game based on the books we are reading; it’s great to have fun while we learn. No matter where you go here, people are ready to help you back up if you get knocked down.

Rose: I like the learning stations and playing with my friends! My best friend is Callie and we have so much fun at recess. It is a very good place to learn and I really like going to Gym class.

Q: Can you tell us about a teacher or a subject that has made an impact on you?

Marie: I really like History, especially learning about the Egyptians. My second grade teacher, Ms. Megan, also made a big impact because she is so faithful and nice; you feel like you can talk to her about anything.

Sam: Academically, I have improved a lot in spelling and math. I have specifically enjoyed exploring long division this year.

Rose: Ms. Miller is fun and Ms. Ellis is really nice. Mrs. T is a very nice gym teacher, too.

Q: How has your school helped you grow in your faith?

Marie: The teachers build a foundation in elementary school and help you keep caring about it in middle school. When the whole school prays at Mass, I feel like we are all connected by God.

Sam: I like singing at Mass and listening to the word. We also pray the Rosary and go to Adoration, which helps me realize how to connect closer to Jesus.

Rose: In the Atrium, we learned about the “pearl of great price,” which means giving your whole heart to God. I also like to listen to the Word of God during Mass.

Q: What would you say to a student who is thinking about joining your school?

Marie: I would tell them it is a very welcoming community with amazing teachers and great learning.

Sam: I would tell them that it is fun to explore everything here. There is always someone ready to help you out.

Rose: It is a good place to make friends!

Q: What was the best part of being the “President for a Day” at the Riverside Office?

Marie: I liked meeting the team at the office and getting to see the GRACE Father of Allouez rooms.

Sam: It was great to see how the office works and meet the people who help run our schools.

Rose: I got a hat and a pin and a cool highlighter! It was fun to see the big GRACE Father of Allouez rooms when we visited that school

Q: Now that summer is here, what are you most excited to do?

Marie: I am looking forward to volleyball, the beach, and jumping on the trampoline with my five siblings.

Sam: I will be training for cross country and finding new ways to have fun with my friends before school starts again.

Rose: I love playing soccer. I am playing with the eight-year-olds now because I am getting really good!

Hearing our students describe their schools as welcoming communities where they grow closer to Jesus sets a wonderful tone for the future of GRACE.

As GRACE President Desotell reflected: “The time I spent with these students was a powerful reinforcement of the promise and potential within our schools. Their energy, curiosity, enthusiasm, and faith-filled hearts remind us exactly why Catholic education is so vital. It was an honor to share the leadership table with Marie, Sam, and Rose, and to see firsthand how our mission is truly coming alive in our students.”

Watching these young leaders step into their roles with such confidence gives us great excitement for what lies ahead.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

St. John Paul II Catholic School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic schools serving Preschool and Elementary through high school, adding one grade per year. They have with open enrollment and provide an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

The St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy offices will be closed for facilities updates from 8 am on August 3, to 3 pm on August 7.

St. John Paul II Catholic School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic schools serving Preschool and Elementary through high school, adding one grade per year. They have with open enrollment and provide an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

Catch up on the latest news within GRACE in the Summer 2026 Newsletter! Read an interview with the student who was a president for a day at SJPII, learn all about the new leadership within the GRACE System, get back-to-school tips, catch up on all the ongoing facilities projects, and more!

Read now!

St. John Paul II Catholic School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic schools serving Preschool and Elementary through high school, adding one grade per year. They have with open enrollment and provide an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“Laudetur Iesus Christus, 

Thank you for the continued prayers, keep them coming as they are needed, that the joy of the resurrection is at the center of all I do for you all and the school. Let us also continue to pray for our teachers, that they may continue to reflect the Good Teacher, Jesus, to your children. And please be assured of our prayers for you and your families.

My last newsletter message for the 2025-26 school year is this: thank you! The love and support of this community has been a wonderful example of Christian charity and support, and there is no way Lindsey and I could have made such a big move without the grace of God and the love of you all. We are beyond blessed, and because the community that has sustained Lindsey and I is the community that supports St. John Paul II Classical School, I know without a doubt that the one true God is providing all the sustenance we as a school need.

Have a blessed summer and I will continue to share updates as they come. God Bless!” 

Your Brother in Christ, 
Eric Schreiber, Headmaster

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“In Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence titled Magnifica Humanitas, we are reminded of our responsibility in creating a civilization of love, beginning with our grassroots community, namely, the family, the Church/parish, and the school. Below is a brief snippet that caught my attention because of my nerdiness with The Lord of the Rings.   

“The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: ‘It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” [187] The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization. For this reason, it is worthwhile pausing to reflect on some aspects of how we, each in our own way, can cooperate in building the civilization of love.” – MH, Pope Leo XIV, no. 213. 
([187] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King, Part III, Book Five, Chapter IX, New York 1965, 190).           

The continued call for unity stems from an understanding of our responsibilities to our communities that will surely ripple into the greater communities.”     — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“Thank you for the continued prayers, keep them coming as they are needed, that the joy of the resurrection is at the center of all I do for you all and the school. Let us also continue to pray for our teachers, that they may continue to reflect the Good Teacher, Jesus, to your children.

And please be assured of our prayers for you and your families.

In Illo Uno Unum has been our prayer all year as a faculty and staff, and is my continued prayer as we get ready to close out my first year as your headmaster. In the One God, we are made one. In its entirety, we pray for unity in Christ in the midst of things that may cause disunity, knowing that the evil one desires for us to be divided.

Our unity begins in He who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” (Jn. 14:6) Jesus Christ. As I reflect on the past year, I wish to express my gratitude to you all for helping Lindsey and I experience a great community.”     — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“Today is the beautiful feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and as a “Mama’s boy,” I would like to share how I feel her message resounds with us today, here at St. John Paul II Classical School. This beautiful “Lady in white” spoke to three shepherd children, asking them to pray the rosary daily and to entrust our lives to her motherly care and intercession. 

Below is the Act of Entrustment made by Pope St. John Paul II in 1981 that I invite everyone to pray together for the next week:    

“Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope.”    

Vere resurrexit!    — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“Last week I mentioned a book that our faculty have been reading throughout the year in Renewing Catholic School: How to Regain a Catholic Vision for a Secular Age, and wish to expound on chapter 9 and building a school community. I again cannot say enough about this rich book that I believe every family should read. 

At the heart of this chapter, we see the need to build a community steeped in joy; genuine, deep, attractive, confident JOY. Reflecting on this, Jesus’ first public miracle is Cana whereby “it was not men’s grief, but their joy Christ visited” (p. 97).

If we are to build up a school community in joy, we have to do so in a radical way, in a good way. “Our intellectual heritage is the pursuit of wisdom, virtue, and the transcendental qualities of truth, beauty, and goodness…” (p. 100). Being a school community is radical when we think about it, and yet, it is a necessary part of formation, because our final end is heaven. 

The philosophical roots of our entire civilization rest on the principle that things act according to their final end. “When we aim short of that in the practical mission of our schools, we will suffer and break apart” (p. 100). Moreover, when we remain short-sighted in our mission, communities fracture, joy wanes, and schools close – in that order. Let us not lose sight of the communal mission we share together.

I want to encourage everyone to continue to enter into our Cultura Incarnationis as we embody our Catholic Classical Education together.”

Vere resurrexit!   — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

Catch up on the latest news within GRACE in the Spring 2026 Newsletter! Discover what students have been working on, meet those at the heart of the classroom (our teachers), learn why summer reading matters and ways to keep it enjoyable for students, and more.

Read now!

St. John Paul II Catholic School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic schools serving Preschool and Elementary through high school, adding one grade per year. They have with open enrollment and provide an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“Last Friday for the teachers professional development, we spent much of the day discussing a book that we have been reading throughout the year titled, Renewing Catholic School: How to Regain a Catholic Vision for a Secular Age, which I highly recommend every family read. This book has been a fascinating look into a shared conceptual agreement → embodied understanding → cultural application. 

Our reasoning for reading through this book is so that we may all “row” in the same direction on mission together. At the crux of rowing together is a shared understanding of who we are in forming a school community. Some of the reflective questions I wish to share with you all are: Why is community itself formative, not just supportive? And, How does a shared mission unify curriculum, faculty, and families?

The argument here is that our community is just as necessary to the formative process of our students as is our curriculum and faith. I pray that as we close out the year, we continue to open our hearts and grow as a community. 

Vere resurrexit!  — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.