Students in dress rehearsal for Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at the end of Arts Week. |
Dear friends of Chesterton, Praise God for a successful and beautiful second school year!
We are looking forward to starting up in August, with enrollment increasing to from 31 to about 50, as we prepare to send off our first graduating class in the spring of 2026!
The summer has started strong with a successful Arts Week and dedicated volunteers working to improve our school: library volunteers, painters, and a big project to salvage furniture from a public high school that was closing its building. Thank you to our Arts Week teachers and families, and to all our volunteers!
Below, as a reflection on the year and on the meaning of our daily life here at Chesterton, I have shared the Headmaster remarks that I addressed to students in their yearbooks and read to them on the last day of school. Dear students,
After a long, dangerous adventure, Bilbo Baggins returns home. He has faced elves, giant spiders, and even a dragon. When he sees his own hobbit-hill, we expect him to fall down and weep or to break into a run. Instead, he bursts into a beautiful poem.
At the end, the wizard Gandalf says, “My dear Bilbo … You are not the hobbit you were!”
Each school year is a long and dangerous adventure. Like Bilbo, we decide each day what kind of hobbit (or man or woman) we will be: Are we made for comfort, or for greatness? Is the world worthy of our wonder, or simply there for us to use? Are the people around us God’s image and likeness, or just people we pass by, sometimes pleasant, sometimes in our way?
This year, you have faced the dragons of early mornings, exams, challenging readings, difficult ideas, stage fright, fatigue. You have grown in wonder, wisdom, courage, and purpose.
As this year comes to a close, you, like Bilbo, are not the young men and women you were. And I pray that you will look back over the year and that, like Bilbo, you will be ready to burst into a beautiful poem.
A final word about summer. C. S. Lewis writes, “If you want to get warm, you must stand near the fire; if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.” This summer, stay close to the fire: Read a good book. Spend time in nature. Ask Christ for wisdom and virtue. Receive the sacraments. Discuss big ideas. Explore something beautiful with your friends. Thank your parents. Pray daily. I look forward to returning with you all, after a summer of growth and rest, for a new adventure.
Gratefully yours in Christ,
Dr. Duffy Rise up, Knights! Gratefully yours in Christ, Robert Duffy, PhD Headmaster |
Mark Your Calendars!
9/5 First Friday Holy Hour 9/6 Annual Wiffle Ball Tournament (Tentative)
11/8 Gala 12/4 Drama Production 12/11 Lessons and Carols
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Welcome, new faculty!
See our full faculty and staff here.
Thaddeus Gotcher
Humanities, Music, Drama, Latin
Thaddeus Gotcher was brought up and home-schooled in Franklin, Wisconsin. After high school, he studied music composition at Lawrence University for one year. He then took a year to work and discern God’s will for him, after which he found himself studying the Great Books and growing in his faith at Thomas Aquinas College. Mr. Gotcher is excited to share his love of music, language, and the Great Books with the CAOLH community. Henry Jefferson Humanities and Music
Henry Jefferson lived in Germany for fifteen years, graduating high school there. After moving to Maryland, he pursued an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and History at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Some of his favorite fields of study include medieval history and Ancient Greek philosophy. In addition to the humanities, Henry has a deep love for music and has been involved in music ministry for many years. He plays a number of instruments, most prominently piano and guitar, and loves to write music and perform. Henry is also fluent in German. At Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope, he will be teaching in the Humanities and Music.
Mary Duffy Art
Mrs. Duffy completed an MFA in painting at the Marchutz School of Fine Arts in France. She has participated in many art shows and sold her paintings which hang in private collections in several different countries. Mrs. Duffy has taught art to all grade levels, from 1st grade to high school, for several years at a classical school, as well as developed art curriculum and a teaching guide for art teachers. Mrs. Duffy also completed an MA in philosophy from KU Leuven in Belgium, focusing on Hans Urs von Balthasar and the nature of beauty. She received her BA in English and philosophy from Grove City College in Pennsylvania.
Charisma DaSilva, M.S.Biology Biology
Charisma DaSilva is a homeschool mom, teacher and naturalist at heart. Mrs. DaSilva received a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from the University of the Philippines where she worked as a Research Assistant at the Marine Science Institute. Charisma received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States where she earned a Master’s degree in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island. Charisma has eight years of teaching experience as an instructor and assistant professor at a college level, taught as a certified science teacher in Massachusetts at high school level, and as a part-time teacher for an on-line Catholic Classical school where she co-authored an elementary science book. Mrs. DaSilva has been homeschooling her children for more than 12 years and is one of the founders of a homeschool Catholic coop in the area. She is an active parishioner at Saint Mary in Providence, RI.
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Beyond the Walls: Opportunities for Ongoing Formation |
Stay tuned for summer opportunities, including possibly talks on womanhood, how to be a missionary as a family in your hometown, and more! |
During Arts Week, students painted from life, copied masterworks, and made their own linoleum prints.
During their drama session, they learned improv and staged scenes from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The week culminated in a final art show and performance for families and guests. Students and other volunteers found free furniture, including a beautiful set of lab benches for our science lab, at a high school closing in Newport. Students celebrated on the last day of school. Students received book awards for their growth in wisdom and virtue, had a final seminar on "God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, celebrated daily Mass together for the final time this year, and celebrated with families and guests after school. Augustine won the White Horse Cup for the second year in a row!
We were delighted when Bishop Lewandowski visited us and celebrated Mass on June 5. |
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Wisdom from G.K. Chesterton |
“We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults." |
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