Faith, Education, and Vision: The Journey Toward a Catholic High School

Catholic High School in St. Croix County

About twenty years ago a group of people from various parishes in St. Croix County came together to do something they knew would be difficult at best. They worked to bring a Catholic High School to St. Croix County. This group spent a great deal of time and effort researching, studying, and envisioning. Unfortunately, despite their great effort, it did not happen.

While our county has four excellent Catholic schools, they provide Catholic education only through eighth grade. A majority of the graduates of our schools go on to a public high school. To go to a Catholic High School, if you live in St. Croix County, requires one to travel into the Twin Cities. To the east, the closest Catholic High Schools are in Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire. Currently there are no Catholic High Schools in our Diocese, the Diocese of Superior. In addition, we know many people who are not Catholic choose to send their children to Catholic schools because they are faith-based and known for quality instruction. 

Fast forward to today: another group of people has come together recently to again research, study, and envision something that will take great effort and not come without significant cost, but could also be instrumental in the formation and education for kids from the Catholic Parishes of St. Croix County and beyond. This group is made volunteers from each of the parishes in our county that currently operates a school. The group is working with the support and knowledge of our Bishop.

The group has reviewed the research done by the prior group and has learned much from their work. This fall the group will update some of the research that was done previously by sending out a survey to families enrolled in the Catholic Schools of St. Croix County. This survey will also be made available to others who wish to complete it. The group has also launched a webpage with just some basic information about the effort to form a new high school in our county. You can sign up on the webpage to receive communication from the team. 

Later this fall the group will study some Catholic Schools that have recently opened in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. With survey results and lessons learned from other places where Catholic High Schools have recently begun, the group will try to envision the strength of the desire for a Catholic High School in our area, the strength of support – especially financial, and what a school in our area might look like. 

As you can imagine this is a tremendous undertaking, requiring great effort. Watch for the survey to come out this fall, check out our webpage (Home - St. Croix Catholic High School), and finally pray for the work the committee is doing. 

Committee Members: Dan Bell, Father John Gerritts, Steve Harrold, Maria Helgerson, Brian Hinz, Maureen Koranda, Steve Lorence, Larry Mitchell, Joe Studnicka, Paul Wenzel.

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