Principal and Chaplain’s Message

Principal’s Message

Welcome to Saint Therese Carmelite School.  We are very excited to share with you the amazing and wonderful aspects which make our school so unique.

We have a rigorous classical curriculum that focuses on the basics, respects a child’s natural stages of development and learning, and has been tried and tested for hundreds of years.  One hundred percent of our faculty members are practicing Catholics and  have experience with classical education.  We begin each school day with prayer, stories of the saints, and learning about virtues at Morning Assembly.

We have Carmelite priests teaching Religion in the classrooms.  Carmelite spirituality and the faith are flawlessly integrated into the curriculum.  Every classroom, the school and the office are dedicated to Carmelite saints.  Our students learn about Carmelite saints and spirituality.

St. Therese offers the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as part of our school day in TK-2nd grade.  This program allows very young children to begin having a deep relationship with God and to fall in love with Him.

We are happy to have a classical curriculum which respects a child’s natural stages of learning so that learning takes place at developmentally appropriate stages.  Its methodologies teach children to think logically, write effectively and to use their critical thinking skills.  Therefore we offer advanced math through Euclid, as well as Latin beginning with basic prayers in Kindergarten and progressing to formal studies of the language in third through eighth grade.  We give importance to the fine arts, including a traditional all-school choir, art appreciation, and culturally enriching field trips.

Most of all, the classical curriculum, allows students to focus on the good, the true and the beautiful so they can fulfill their God-given call to become saints.

God reward you,

Alma Cornejo

Principal

Chaplain’s Message

Catholic Education

From the beginnings of the Discalced Carmelites, education was an important element which Saint Teresa cherished.  She wanted her nuns and friars to be educated in order to have a positive impact on society.  “St. Teresa with her rich human and Christian personality showed herself open to the social and ecclesial realities through a living contact with the cultural values of her time” (De Cultura Ordinis 25).  The reason why we have Catholic education is to continue to impact the world with the love of God.

The children at Saint Therese Carmelite School are being taught to deepen their experience of God, who is Love.  We do this by teaching them, not only who God is, but how to develop a relationship with Him.  Prayer is conversation with God and we give our students opportunities to pray in varied ways.  At times they recite prayers or read Scripture.  They are also taken to Church where they have the opportunity to voice their thoughts, dreams, and longings to God.  This helps them realize that God is not an abstract being, foreign to us, but rather a personal and relational God who wants to be part of their lives – of their friendships, sports activities, family, joys and sorrows.  They have opportunities to meditate on the life of Our Lord.  By teaching them to pray, we are hoping that they will recognize that God is that friend who loves them and invites them to become great saints, men and women who will make a difference in the world.

Like our mother St. Teresa, the Carmelite friars are deeply committed to Catholic education and the religious formation of our students.  By exposing our students to Carmelite saints and spirituality, we aim to foster a close relationship with Our Lord.  We hope that these friends of God will faithfully live out the vocations to which God calls them.  May they become the best attorneys, doctors, teachers, priests, nuns, chefs, mothers, fathers, judges, electricians, engineers and whatever God calls them to be!