What is it?
Pope Francis Global Academy is an academic center of high excellence. It is an exciting and faith-filled place that has a strong and well-rounded curriculum. The students who attend it are highly valued and all of them feel at home while studying at Pope Francis. On the other hand, the teachers who work here are inspired by faith, they are experts in their fields, and they truly care for all of the students as if they were their own.
This dynamic and diverse education community is driven by the shared Catholic faith and values of everyone involved. Pope Francis Global Academy engages the students, the faculty staff and the parents to unite towards a common goal, which is fostering the student in every way.
Their Mission
As their official website states, their official mission is “To empower all students to thrive in a Christ-centered Catholic environment, to serve God and others, to develop their unique talents and gifts, to strive for academic excellence, and to become lifelong learners.”
Further Details and History
Pope Francis Global Academy was opened in August of 2016, and this school has brought together many of the strengths, resources, and traditions of the four local parish schools. In doing this, they created a completely new and exciting faith-filled academic center of excellence.
It is located on two campuses on the northwest side of Chicago. It is also the most recently established elementary school within the borders of Archdiocese of Chicago, and their Spiritual Charter is the guidepost for the students, teachers and the staff of the school each day.
The Curriculum
The curriculum of the school was designed and created from the ground up, and with the collaboration between both the local and regional educational and thought leaders, and the representatives from Archdiocese of Chicago. They steered the entire development and integration of the curriculum. Over the years, there have been many further improvements and enhancements to it, all with the input and collaboration between the teaching staff and the administrators of the school. The students study math, literacy, social studies, science, religion, arts, physical education, and world languages.
The Teachers
The teachers at the academy are always expanding and furthering their understanding of the curricular tools they have at their disposal at weekly staff meetings, as well as scheduled professional development days. Regularly, they collaborate with their respective counterparts across the campus, in an effort to seek improvement in delivering the subject matter the students in project-oriented, engaging, forward-thinking, and data-driven ways. This way, the students always remained inspired, engaged, and ready to learn and develop.
The Community
Except for the strong teachers and the best possible curriculum, the students at this academy feel like they are at home because everything is made to resemble it as much as possible. The community of the school has developed amazingly over the early years of its operation, and it has brought together all of the students, teachers, and traditions from the aforementioned four founding schools. They also brought in and welcomed new friends from many of the other local schools and parishes, which helped to create new activities that seem like they will become Pope Francis traditions in the near future.
The Parents
The school also has an active Parents’ Club that plans and executes dozens of fun and enriching activities for the kids, during the school period and outside of the school hours. There are different school clubs, enrichment classes, and sports teams available for the kids to build, develop, and improve their social skills and physical and mental abilities, as well as explore new hobbies, try and discover new skill sets, and build the much-needed self-confidence. Of course, they do all of this by strengthening the school community bonds.
The Graduates
The graduates of Pope Francis Global Academy represent this prestigious primary school at some of the best Catholic High Schools in Chicago, and the most selective and demanding public high schools in the city. During their academy time, they have been well-prepared academically, physically, spiritually, and socially, and there is no doubt they are on the road to becoming great people that the modern world desperately needs.
