CINCINNATI — After sitting idle for more than three decades, the former St. Agnes School building in Bond Hill is seeing new life breathed into it.
The building will re-open on Aug. 14 as Xavier Jesuit Academy (XJA), an all-boys, scholarship-funded Catholic school.
"We're bringing aliveness, more activity and another asset to Bond Hill, a community that's always been on the rise," said Rev. Nathan Wendt, XJA president. "I'm very happy to have been partnering with all of these entities to make Xavier Jesuit Academy a success."
Some of Cincinnati's biggest companies have invested in the school. Kroger is donating a brand new kitchen, P&G is helping build an art room and GE Aerospace Engineering & Manufacturing is providing a STEM lab.
"We're one of 19 other schools like this across North America," Greg Vehr, XJA vice president of advancement, said. "The mission is to ... work with [students], so they can have success in high school and then go on to be great men for others."
The school is able to provide students with completely free or reduced tuition through private donations and Ohio's EdChoice Vouchers.
The taxpayer-funded program provides students whose family’s household income is at or below 450% of the Federal Poverty Level full vouchers to attend school. Vehr said almost all of their students are eligible for the maximum voucher.
"Xavier Jesuit Academy is creating the assurance that there's not going to be barriers financially, socially, for all of our families to have access to this high-quality education," Wendt said.
The school will open in August with an inaugural class size of 45 students: 15 third graders, 15 fourth graders and 15 fifth graders.
Every year, an additional 15 third graders will join the school until it serves third through eighth grade in 2027, Vehr said.
The school's academic program is based on the Jesuit Nativity education model, which "is designed to engage and encourage young learners during their formative years, so they grow up to be great men who serve God and others," a release stated.
As of Aug. 1, crews still had work inside the school to complete as part of a multi-million dollar renovation project.
Brand new classrooms will be accompanied by the following learning spaces:
- Large and small group learning spaces "to meet students' personalized learning needs," including STEM and fine arts spaces.
- Open areas to facilitate "a cohesive student body and school identity."
- New "welcoming and secure" atrium, as well as common spaces for students, families and community.
"It's going to be really exciting. I cannot wait," Malik Murray, a soon-to-be XJA fifth grader, said. "Once we get in there, it's going to be a new surface. We are the future."
The XJA campus is shared with the partnering Church of the Resurrection, one of only three predominantly Black Catholic Congregations within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
To learn more about Xavier Jesuit Academy, you can visit their website here.
