Our Church, built on the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has stood the test of time by holding on and embracing each of these facets of our one, true God. Our Catholic schools have always tapped into this “power of 3” and this year’s Catholic Schools Week message of “Faith, Knowledge, Service” further exemplifies where we place our time and effort, for these are the three hallmarks of a great education.
To begin with, our school is the culmination of over 130 years of Catholic school education in the Lewiston-Auburn area. All of our original Catholic schools founded by individual parishes taught that belief in God is the essential component from which all else flows. These early schools promoted faith in such a way that no matter what the economic situation, hope and love would always prevail.
The faith that our earliest founders taught and practiced lives on to this day and is an integral reason why our school continues to thrive. Recently we have focused on three additional values – integrity, community, excellence – to remind us of how we wish to live out the faith that has been handed down from our parents and grandparents.
If there was ever a time to belong to a school that emphasizes faith in God and love of neighbor, it is now. It is now left to our generation to care and nurture our faith lives so that we can make sense of everything that is going on around us and at St. Dom’s, we do this on a daily basis.
As for the power of knowledge, St. Dom’s students have continuously scored at or above the state and national norms when taking the SATs. Now that our Academy includes students in grades K-8, we have begun to administer the NWEA standardized test and are finding the same results. Our teaching staff commits itself each and every day to provide our students with what they need to succeed.
Students at every level are challenged by our faculty and often are accepted at some of the most prestigious colleges in the country including MIT, Brown and Notre Dame. When students struggle, our staff is there to help them find ways to experience success. And all of this is accomplished because at the core, Catholic education stands for the respect and dignity of each individual.
The third power that guides our students’ development is a strong belief that service to others develops the whole person and leads to a fulfilling life. Our students are continually taking part in service projects to help out our neighbors from Lewiston-Auburn all the way to Mississippi where our senior class spends a week during April vacation serving others and learning about a different culture.
This immersion into service ensures that they are fulfilling one of the greatest tenets of the Catholic religion – love for others. When our seniors graduate from high school every May, they have taken part in over 13 service projects and know very well that helping others is essential to our existence.
St. Dom’s has been blessed to realize a steady growth in enrollment since we became a PreK-12 academy. As a means to optimize our potential, we have adopted a new governance model, with me as president and a principal at each campus.
The success of our programing and confidence of our families confirms the need for a strong Catholic school presence in L-A. Since 1881, Catholic schools have been instrumental in educating the young people of Central Maine. Come and see for yourself what the “power of 3” can do for your family.
A St. Dom’s education is within your reach. Contact us to schedule a time to visit our campuses and to enroll your child(ren). Registration for next year begins this week.
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