Friends of OLV May 2020 Newsletter
The Beauty of Catholic Education
Dear Friends,
Beauty’s meaning has been restricted in the modern world, focusing on what immediately pleases us, particularly through the senses. The deepest beauty, however, flows from transcendent principles: the right ordering, perfection, and harmony of things. Truth and goodness are beautiful and, when our minds attune to them, our lives become marked by beauty. With this understanding, math can be seen as beautiful, not drudgery, and even the visual arts take on a great significance as they manifest deeper truths about human life and the true good.
In Our Lady of Victory’s first year, we’ve seen the beauty of Catholic education unfolding within our community. We have sought to create a well ordered harmony of life and learning, beginning with the priority of worship each morning, starting the day with Mass. We teach our classes through an integrated vision of reality and emphasize the power of beauty by teaching art, music, and drama (at least before the virus cancelled our production of Aesop’s fables). Friday formation time for students and Cultura Vitae events for families crown our formation by linking our studies to life and culture: serving the poor, visiting the Monet exhibit, praying outside of Planned Parenthood, spending time in adoration, enjoying the beauty of nature, and listening to Mozart and Beethoven at the symphony.
As we look to next year, we are happy to see our community of students and families grow, as we welcome an outstanding class of freshman and some new sophomores. We continue to plan for future growth, working with the Archdiocese of Denver and other local groups. We are building for long term growth and stability so that we can continue to offer an oasis of beauty. Please consider partnering with us to become a fellow worker in the truth (3 John 1:8) and a patron of this work of beauty.“
Our Lady of Victory, pray for us!
Dr. Jared Staudt, President
Supporting OLV Families with Financial Aid by Trusting The Lord’s Generosity
The Lord is never outdone in His generosity, St. Paul tells us. (2 Cor. 9:6-10.) OLV has been blessed with wonderful students and families who desire the formation offered by OLV’s Catholic classical education. For some of these families, including those with multiple children in Catholic schools, tuition is a real sacrifice they have made with love and trust.
As a young school with very limited resources, OLV is modeling its approach to financial aid on these families’ generosity and trust in the Lord’s Providence. Before the COVID-19 lockdowns sent our economy into a recession—or worse—OLV prioritized financial aid. While we now face our own financial uncertainty, we can nonetheless report that OLV recently awarded financial aid to every family that applied. The awards were for significant portions of OLV’s annual tuition of $7280, for an aggregate total of more than $28,000, which included generous contributions from the Schmitz Family Foundation.
Will you please consider supporting these families, and also giving sacrificially to support Catholic classical education? Your support will allow OLV to continue to respond generously to new applicants and offer its unique formation to all families.
Inside Look: Art at OLV
Art and science have a very similar origin. In many ways, they begin from mankind seeking power and dominion. Early empires showed their prestige and their power in how they built monuments and in their weapons and victory monuments. Science was a tool largely of dominion as well in making newer and better weapons, tools, and other ways to govern nature. As time progressed and people began to self reflect, observation began to become a central component.
It seems like more than a coincidence that the self-reflection of the Greek philosophers was congruent with their mathematical, astronomical and artistic observations.
A freshman class in drawing is also engaged in this focus on self-reflection. In art history we have looked at ancient civilizations and how they have grown up and grown old. Their art is a reflection on the values of the culture and how they have used skill and beauty to further those ends. Like an early civilization that uses art to name things like a hieroglyph, students begin by naming things and ascribing a symbol to it. But as they grow in this self-reflection and learn to spend time observing, they see nuances. They see that things they assume are there, aren’t quite what they actually observe. I love seeing this when I teach perspective. That moment when they actually begin to notice that there are actually parallel lines built in all around them, and they actually do point to a single vanishing point! It can be astonishing to move into that space of really looking at the world out of curiosity and wonder. That spirit of the ancient Greek philosophers and artists who really wanted to know what the world is like is the same as a student looking at the world and simply observing and enjoying it.
For one example of art instruction in OLV’s remote learning environment, please click here for our class on Roman Art. I hope you enjoy it!
— Justin Jensen, OLV Art Instructor
A Student Perspective on Remote Learning
Luciana Chiappone is a current student at the Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Victory. While she was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, four years ago the Chiappones moved to Seattle before recently moving back. Last year she attended Golden View Classical Academy and, before that, went to another classically minded Catholic school called St. Monica in Seattle. She has four awesome sisters and one cute dog. When she’s not busy with school, you might find her playing volleyball, going way too fast on a jet ski or tubing, or drawing in her sketchbook. She has aspirations of one day working in a field related to political science.
I was really disappointed the moment I learned I was going to be doing online school. Now nearly two months into it, most students would say that school at home is okay but they miss their friends. Yes, I miss my friends, but not seeing the teachers is the hardest part for me. Since Our Lady of Victory is a small school, the relationships between the student and teacher are great. The teachers actually care for how you are doing and what they can help you with. I miss being face-to-face to ask my questions. I also miss having a class discussion at school. Even though we have online class discussions, they are not the same as learning in person. Our class is usually energetic and we have great discussions with one another. The online discussions are good, but without the benefit of getting to see everyone’s body language, it just doesn’t have the same energy and excitement. We only have one live class a day for an hour. I was used to getting to interact the full day and discuss a lot more of what I was learning! At school, I had order, organization, and consistency. At home, I have to be more self-directed and to enjoy what I’m learning more on my own and with my family. It’s been a challenge, but I’ve grown a lot and come to recognize many of God’s blessings.
One of those blessings is recognizing that even though I can’t be with my teachers in person they still really care about me and how my learning is going. The first week of remote learning was a difficult one, not just for me but for most everyone in my class. We were all new to online learning and we expected to have shorter days, but it turned out the days were longer. Mr. Cichowitz said to email him with any concerns we had. So, I wrote a long email about how I was working longer days than I was supposed to and that it was hard to learn Latin without the help of our Latin teacher Mr. O’Brien. It was a stress-filled email. Later, I also talked to some friends and asked how the first week went for them and encouraged them to email Mr. Cichowitz too if they had not already. The next week things changed! I had just the right amount of school work and we had office hours installed to meet with Mr. O’Brien. Of course, there were still some changes to be made but it was good. All the teachers did very well at responding to their emails right away, which made it easy to have a short break while they were responding and then get back to whatever assignment it was.
Perhaps the biggest blessing I have experienced during remote learning has come from living out my Personal Rule of Life. At the start of remote learning, Mr. Cichowitz asked each of us to consider the ways that the coronavirus was changing the daily rhythm of our life and how we could commit to living out daily disciplines and rhythms so that we could flourish and grow in holiness. We had to actually write out a personal rule that we would follow. After two weeks, I realized that I wanted to get up earlier than eight and start my day at six. I knew that I worked better in the morning and I could get everything done by noon if I worked hard enough. Originally waking up early wasn’t part of my rule of life but I added it to be even more persuaded to get up. I also discovered that some teachers posted the next week over the weekend. I started getting some of my work done on the weekend so my week would be even more spaced out. Finishing at noon gives me the freedom to have more leisure. In my personal rule, I also included prayer time, being outside, exercising, and drinking more water. I fell off my personal rule for a little in the second and third week but after that, I made more of a commitment to work on it. It made me feel amazing because I had control of what I was doing and I was managing my work well. My personal rule helps me have the space to grow in my relationship with God.
While I wish I could be back at school with my teachers and friends, God has used this to bring about good in my life. I have learned that I am good at managing my time and persevering when it gets hard. I have seen myself grow in my faith from daily prayer and grow in the virtue of temperance by the healthy choices I am making with exercise, sleep, and diet. I realize that I enjoy learning at home and that I can have some independence. I feel like I am growing into the person God has made me to be.
— Luciana Chiappone, Class of 2023
Join OLV’s 9th or 10th Grade classes in 2020/21
OLV currently has limited space in both the ninth and tenth grade classes for the 2020-21 school year. We would love to consider your family’s application, and encourage you to apply here.
Given the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, our interviews with applicants have moved online through the gift of video conferencing. We also offer applicants opportunities to experience our online learning environment and “meet” current students to learn more about OLV’s character. We look forward to meeting with applicants in person in the near future, depending on the circumstances of COVID-19.
New from the Lepanto Review: Euclid’s Escape Room
In the latest Lepanto Review piece, “Euclid’s Escape Room,” OLV Mathematics and Science instructor Christina Praetzel reflects on her experience teaching classical geometry to OLV 9th graders, including a class adventure in emerging from a very Euclidean Escape Room.
Could you make it out in time?
Join Dale Alquist Online for Wine, Cheese, and Chesterton
On May 29 at 6pm Mountain, Dale Alquist and the Chesterton Schools Network will host a unique online event to learn more about Chesterton Schools, hear from Chesterton faculty and students nationwide, and celebrate the 146th birthday of G.K. Chesterton.
This event is FREE and open to the public but registration is required to receive your free digital pass for the interactive, online event.
Learn more and register here.
OLV Needs Your Support!
Many things have changed in this time of uncertainty, but many things stay the same. Help us teach the timeless principles of the Catholic Faith to the next generation of leaders as they are being forged in the time of crisis.
As we head into our second year, we need your help! We are growing and asking you to join our project. Can you make a one-time gift of $100, $250 or $500? Can you commit to our future success by giving a monthly gift of $25, $50 or $100?
Giving is now easier than ever on our website! With the convenient form on OLV’s Donate page, you can make a one-time donation or set up an automatically recurring monthly payment. Your gift will help us to fund scholarships for needy students, recruit and pay high quality teachers for next fall, support our robust extracurricular formation, provide for facilities expenses, and so much more! Through your gift, you can make a real difference!
By investing in this next generation of Catholic leaders, you can change the culture! We can’t do this without your support!