Donahue Academy Opens Doors to Record Number of Students

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Published on Monday, 20 August 2012 18:09

Headmaster Dan Guernsey greeted students at the door of the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy in Ave Maria Monday on the first day of school, as he has done every opening day since 2007. This year, however, he greeted twice the number of students he did when the school first opened its doors.

The school continues to grow, with enrollment up 16 percent to 267 students this year, Dr. Guernsey said, adding that the school has waiting lists for its kindergarten, fourth-grade and 11th-grade classes and currently is at 85 percent of its enrollment capacity.

There's a bit of international flavor as well, with the school expanding its boarding program and welcoming international students from Spain, Barbados and Canada. Another student from Columbia may enroll soon, Dr. Guernsey said.

The Donahue Academy also became accredited this summer by the Florida Catholic Conference after what Dr. Guernsey described as an "intensive year-long evaluation."

The art program has been expanded under a full-time teacher, Dr. Dan Vasquez, and the school has beefed up its economics program as well, with Dr. Gabriel Martinez, chair of the Ave Maria University Economics Department, teaching there part-time. Left, students walking and riding to school from the town center of Ave Maria.