The Blackwood Family

Before we married, we agreed we wanted our children to attend Catholic schools. When our oldest child was able to attend a Catholic school in another state, we were ecstatic. When we moved back to Birmingham, by that time, our family had grown and all three of our children attended a different Catholic school in town before we placed them at Saint Rose Academy. Having now experienced three different Catholic schools, when we say Saint Rose provides the best Catholic education in the world, we mean it and we speak from experience!

When our family first came to Saint Rose, our oldest son was entering the 7th grade, our youngest son was entering 2nd and our daughter was in 5K. From our first visit to campus, we knew our prayers had been answered. We were seeking a school where the truths of our Catholic faith would be taught to our children. We were seeking a school where those truths would not be watered-down. Spending time with and learning from the Dominican Sisters gave our children a depth of understanding and love of their Catholic faith we didn’t think could be achieved a few years before. That understanding and love are gifts our children will possess forever.

While our oldest son only spent two short years at Saint Rose, those years were deeply meaningful and instilled in him an appreciation of his Catholic faith. Now a college student, his time at Saint Rose continues to inspire him to embrace, study and learn about his Catholic faith as a young adult. To this day, he will say, “Oh, I learned that from Sister when I was in the eighth grade!” His younger brother and sister will graduate from Saint Rose having had far more years at this wonderful school. If dinner conversation at our house is any indicator, they will also continue growing and flourishing in their faith long after graduating from Saint Rose.

As for our family dinners, since we came to Saint Rose, our evening meal sharing often becomes a teaching time for Mom and Dad. The children discuss what they learned at school that day and it’s wonderful when we learn something new, too! We see the joy in their faces as they discuss what they learned and we know they are receiving the best Catholic instruction in the world.

While we unabashedly say we chose Saint Rose because we wanted our children to be educated in the Roman Catholic tradition, academics also matter to us, of course. We are happy to say our oldest son was well prepared for the challenges of high school. By this, we do mean the academic challenges, but we mean the social and moral ones, as well. The faculty and staff of Saint Rose are dedicated to making sure all students are well-rounded and prepared with the academic foundation they need to be successful.

At Saint Rose, we have found an exceptional lay faculty who are committed to educating students in this unique school. We have also found religious sisters who, with lives vowed to the Lord, instruct children in the faith while following the Magisterial teaching authority of the Church with a love and zeal unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed. The Sisters give up all to follow Christ and to spend their lives dedicated to the salvation of souls. Our love for this school is a deep and abiding one born of respect and gratitude for the gift of this wonderful place. Saint Rose Academy is indeed a gift to our entire family!

Chuck and Margie Blackwood

The Corsini Family

Our family is blessed in so many ways. We have three healthy, happy, beautiful children. When it came time to decide on how to provide for their education, we were lucky enough to have three great choices: a strong public elementary school that is a short walk from our house in Homewood; our local parish school, which also is within walking distance from our home; and Saint Rose Academy.

After many conversations with friends about our options, much research by Susan, my wife, and plenty of prayers, we chose Saint Rose. And it was absolutely the right choice.

When looking for a school, we had three goals for our children: 1) a rigorous academic program, 2) a faith-focused education, and 3) a safe social environment where children can be children. Saint Rose has all of these and more.

The “more” is the Dominican Sisters. Having the sisters present at the school is a true blessing. They inspire an environment of purity, humility, respect, honesty, and love. Most of all, they provide a setting where a child’s spirituality is encouraged, nurtured, and, consequently, blossoms. The sisters bring out the best in others. No matter if you are 4, 14, or 44 years old, when you are around the sisters, you think good thoughts, you behave well, you stand up straighter, you watch your language, and you know what is expected of you.

Our children have an incredible faith. When they come home from school, I love hearing them talk about the Bible stories they’ve learned, and I delight in their descriptions of the saints and their journeys. Chapel time and going to Mass are important parts of their lives. Saint Rose takes the faith, which many might consider to be “a Sunday thing,” and makes it a daily way of life.

However, Saint Rose is not just about enhancing children’s Catholic faith. Our three children all score in the top percentage nationally compared to other students their ages. They have thought-provoking homework. They are challenged to do their best academically, and I love the fact that Saint Rose students have summer reading assignments.

We reinforce what Saint Rose teaches, and Saint Rose reinforces what we teach at home. (Of course, in many ways, they do a better job than I do with our children. There is just no substitute for daily reinforcement.)

Saint Rose has changed our family’s lives in so many ways! We are blessed to know the sisters, the Saint Rose staff, and the other parents and students there. We are grateful to have the sisters and other Saint Rose teachers for helping us to mold our children into the people we want them to be as adults.

Susan and I are thankful every day for the many ways the people at Saint Rose Academy teach and inspire our children, and we’re equally appreciative for how the school teaches and inspires us as parents.

In Christ,
Marc and Susan Corsini
with Nicholas, Matthew, and Isabella

The Scalici Family

Making the right choice for our children’s education was a decision my wife and I considered from the time we brought our first child home. Through my work, we relocated back to Birmingham just before he was 4-years-old, and the decision was upon us. We live in an excellent public school district and our children could walk less than 100 yards to their elementary school, so the decision would be easy, right? Yet before making that decision, I asked my wife to visit the school I had attended, Saint Rose Academy.

Saint Rose holds special memories for me as my family (including my two sisters) all attended and graduated from Saint Rose in the 70s and 80s. While I continued many of the friendships begun during my years there, it was the relationships with the Dominican Sisters that stood out. The lessons learned from these women who had devoted their lives to God had remained with me throughout my life. The school, not just my class, was a family. We knew each other, our siblings, our parents and the Sisters. When there was a family struggle or crisis, the Sisters and the Saint Rose community prayed for us and supported us: that’s what you did for “family.”

We were taught to stand when adults entered the room, to look them in the eye and greet them—not a lesson in faith but in the appropriate way to behave. We asked permission before acting, prayed at the beginning of the day, after lunch and at the end of the day. God was in the classroom daily.

These were my memories, but, since my wife had not seen any of this, it was important that we visit to see how the school, the families and the Sisters had changed before making the “easy” decision.

During our first visit, I was amazed. The values and emphasis of the school were exactly what they had been twenty years earlier, but the school had grown. There were many of the same families (Two of my own classmates had children in my son’s class!), and many new families as well. I knew them all after one Open House. The same qualities I remembered fondly as a student were now apparent and were important to me again as a parent. Saint Rose provided a safe, nurturing, diverse environment in which our children could spend their formative years.

What my wife saw was an immediately familiar, comfortable environment, in which children were taught and challenged at their own pace. She saw teachers interested in parents’ concerns, available to discuss their child’s development. She saw parents interested in the development of all children and supportive of the entire school. The “easy” decision was now even easier: Saint Rose provided the opportunity for our child to development into the person, not just the student, we hope he will be. We, as a family, committed to make the sacrifices necessary to give this gift of a Catholic education, in an environment provided by the Dominican Sisters, to our children.

This year, our oldest will be entering the 6th grade and our younger child will be a 3rd grader. With each passing year, it is evident that the decision and commitment we made has set the foundation for our children’s development. Given the chance to do this again, our choice would be the same: Saint Rose Academy. As parents, we are thankful that Saint Rose is available to our children and glad our decision was made “easy” for us!

Sam & Samantha Scalici