Chelsea Academy

After months of preparation, Chelsea Academy will officially open its doors to students on August 27th. We anticipate a great beginning. Our facility more than adequately meets our needs. Our faculty is ready and eager to begin teaching. And our students share the excitement that comes with blazing a trail as pioneers in this noble endeavor of founding a Catholic school.

Many of you attended our Open House on July 20. In fact, judging by the number of hamburgers left over, we estimate that more than 350 people came out to see our classrooms, meet our teachers and board members, and learn more about our curriculum and program. It has been encouraging to receive positive feedback from so many people.

In addition to preparing for the first day of classes, we continue to plan for the long term by working to establish a solid foundation for the school. A top priority is to make sure we have the leadership that will provide the wisdom and guidance the school needs in these critical early years. To this end, Felix Hernandez was recently welcomed on the Board of Directors. Felix is a career diplomat with over nineteen years of experience representing American interests in Europe, East Asia, and Canada. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he spent eight years serving in the U.S. Navy before studying theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Felix, his wife Chryss, and their two sons live in Fauquier County and attend St. Peter Catholic Church.

I am also pleased to announce that Henry Wingate, another Naval Academy graduate, will teach art at the school. Henry studied traditional representational painting in ateliers in Boston, Massachusetts, and in Florence, Italy. An accomplished painter of portraits, landscapes, still-lifes, and larger figurative works, he has won several prestigious awards, and his work has been featured in Portrait Highlights and American Artist. Parishioners at St. John the Baptist in Front Royal know Henry as the artist of the Visitation and the Baptism of Christ paintings in the church’s sanctuary. He and his wife Mary have three children. Henry will spend the fall semester painting in Italy and will begin teaching at Chelsea Academy in January.

Our group of “Founding Families” has been growing steadily over the past several months. Although we are approaching our enrollment goals for this first year, there are still openings for students -- and families – who are seeking an authentically Catholic education in the best of the liberal arts tradition. I invite you to apply today, and I thank all of you for your ongoing prayers and support.

Sincerely,

Jonathan D. Brand
Headmaster