Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Ground broken for Austin Academy, Catholic high school in Macomb
Ground broken for Austin Academy, Catholic high school in Macomb
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 22, 2008
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An artist's sketch of the new Austin Catholic Academy shows the chapel as the main focus of the building. |
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Kristen Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Cardinal Adam Maida, center, chats and poses for pictures with seventh-graders at St. Lawrence Elementary School, who could be part of the first freshman class at Austin Catholic Academy. Back row: Lauren Nantel, Nicholas George, Stephanie Mansour and Corey Cohoe; front row: Andrew Piontkowski, Darryl Tsatsos and Marisa Corona. |
Macomb Twp. — A small group of seventh-graders, shivering yet smiling in the cold February air, was, as Cardinal Adam Maida put it, the reason a group of priests, parents and supporters of Austin Catholic Academy gathered last week —"our hope for the future," he said.
The groundbreaking celebration was held last Thursday, Feb. 14, a major point in a decade of effort from parents, parishes and the archdiocese to build a Catholic high school in northern Macomb County. The group gathered first at St. Isidore Parish, a few miles down 23 Mile Road from the new school's site, to learn a bit more about the school and what went into the process to that point.
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Walter Warren | The Michigan Catholic | "You have patiently and diligently persisted against all odds, and I want to commend you for your unwavering commitment, enthusiasm and patience," Cardinal Maida said to the crowd, especially acknowledging the Augustinian fathers and brothers for their commitment to the school. "Building on the foundation of a religious congregation makes all the difference in the world and gives parents confidence that the program will truly be 'Catholic' in every sense of the word," he added.
Austin Catholic Academy will be the only Macomb County Catholic high school north of Warren.
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Kristen Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Cardinal Adam Maida blesses the site of the new Austin Catholic Academy last week. | So far, the co-ed school has raised $9 million of the approximately $32 million needed to open the school.
The archdiocese approved last year a corporate structure that allows for the sale of bonds, which will likely raise about a third more of the funding needed, with additional donations still being sought.
It was also announced at the ceremony that a family, wishing to remain anonymous, donated the funds necessary for the new school's chapel, which will be built big enough to hold the entire 800-person student body.
The new building will incorporate portable technology — wired and wireless Internet network — as well as ceiling-mounted projectors, SMART intelligent chalkboards and video broadcasting capabilities, as well as green technologies of renewable energy and storm water management.
The first headmaster of the school will be Fr. David Brecht, OSA, a 1956 graduate of the former Austin Catholic High School in Detroit. He has been serving as pastor at St. Clare of Montefalco Parish, Grosse Pointe Park.
Austin Catholic Academy
The school will be built on 107 acres of land, provided by Archdiocese of Detroit.
The first freshman class will begin as early as September 2009, with a grade added every year after that.
It will be sponsored by the Midwest Order of St. Augustine (Augustinian fathers and brothers).
Sponsoring parishes are St. Isidore, Macomb Township; St. John Vianney and St. Therese of Lisieux, Shelby Township; and St. Lawrence, Utica.
Visit austincatholicacademy.org.
| Fr. Mike Hrydziuszko, St. Isidore's pastor, spoke to the crowd about the support the project has received from everyone involved, calling it a "most momentous day" in bringing Catholic education to northern Macomb County.
Fr. Brecht emphasized to the crowd that parents, teachers and students would be one community at Austin Catholic Academy. He explained that the curriculum would be liberal arts, college preparatory, with four years required each of religion, science, English, math and social studies, as well as two years of a foreign language. The curriculum will be academically rigorous and full, he said, and activities such as team sports and newspaper will also be offered.
The first freshman class will begin as early as September 2009, with a grade added every year after that.
Rachel Sprock, 11, and now in sixth grade in Utica public schools, would be in the second freshman class at Austin Catholic Academy if the school opens on schedule. The new school will be about four miles away from her Shelby Township home.
Sprock said she's looking forward to having open conversations with her friends about Jesus and being a Christian. "I think it's going to be exciting to go there," she said.
She's also looking forward to the new facility, where she hopes to play soccer.
During the ceremony, Cardinal Maida read a passage of Psalms: "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who built it."
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