Reopened in 2024 after a 14-year closure, the Mukwonago Catholic school has more than doubled its enrollment.
St. James the Less Academy, Mukwonago, reopened in 2024 after a 14-year closure, supported by the parish’s Love One Another campaign. Enrollment has since grown from approximately 80 to 186 students. (Submitted photo)
When Fr. Jordan Berghouse first came to St. James the Less Parish in Mukwonago in summer of 2022, he noticed something interesting.
Longtime parishioners would often introduce themselves to their new pastor by referring to their association with the parish school, which had closed in 2010.
“I heard a lot of, ‘Hey Father, I’m So-and-so and I went to the school when I was a kid’ or ‘I sent my kids to the school here’ or ‘I used to teach at the school,’” he recalled. “The school had been closed for over a decade at that point, but it was still part of the fabric of the parish. The mission was still on their hearts.”
Coincidentally, it was on his heart, too. The prospect of reopening the school had been one of the reasons Fr. Berghouse was interested in coming to St. James in the first place. He knows personally how the sense of identity formed in a student at a Catholic school endures long after they leave the classroom.
“I would not be who I am without the education that I received,” he said. “Knowing what’s possible with Catholic education, I wanted to do the best that we could to bring something like that to the families here in this area.”
The parish launched its Love One Another campaign in July 2023 with an ambitious goal — $3.5 million, with plans to use $1 million of the money for the purposes of opening St. James the Less Academy. It was decided that the school would offer a classical curriculum, both in response to popular demand and as a means of distinguishing its offerings from the area’s well-regarded public schools.
Classical education draws on Western traditions of philosophy, rhetoric, composition and literature, cultivating students’ ability to reason and engage with ideas. Fr. Berghouse believes the approach supports the school’s goal of “starting from scratch on a firm foundation of Catholic identity and Catholic culture.”
Dr. Grover Green became an invaluable asset to the parish, even during the planning phases for the school. A graduate of the University of St. Thomas and St. Louis University, where he earned his doctorate, Green was introduced to Fr. Berghouse through mutual friends. “I thought, man, if I ever have a school, I’m going to hire this guy,” said Fr. Berghouse. Though based in Texas at the time, Green began providing guidance for the project as early as 2022, sharing connections through the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, and eventually accepted the position of founding headmaster for St. James the Less Academy.
St. James met its fundraising goal in June 2024, three months before the opening of the school. New parish offices (which had been housed in the school building) received $2 million, and an additional $25,000 was set aside for the establishment of a parish cemetery. Renovations to the church, including lighting and flooring upgrades, received $75,000.
St. James the Less Academy opened its doors in the fall of 2024 with around 80 students. The following year, enrollment grew to 120, and for the current 2026-27 year there are 186 students spanning Montessori-based prekindergarten and kindergarten through eighth grade. These students represent 23 different ZIP codes and include 65 students attending through the School Choice Program.
Like many other classical academies, St. James employs a “house system” wherein students are assigned to groups, or houses, to encourage fraternity and a sense of shared identity. Members compete in the yearlong House Tournament for the Perseverance Cup, awarded to the house that distinguishes itself in athletic and intellectual challenges as well as in good conduct.
Extracurricular activities such as chess club, speech and debate, track, football, cross-country and volleyball round out the school’s growing offerings, which also include enrichment opportunities for the community’s numerous Catholic homeschooling families. Through programs like Common Arts, which provides instruction in skills like woodworking and embroidery, as well as special field trips to participate in chores at a nearby working farm, students are exposed to a broad variety of experiences that allow them to, in the words of Aristotle (whose works form the basis for so many classical models), “learn by doing.”
“Classical education is liberal in the sense that the student is liberated from ignorance and free to fully engage his gifts, talents and potential for the glory of God,” Green told the Catholic Herald in 2023.
What began as a parish’s hope to restore its Catholic school has become one of the most visible results of St. James’ Love One Another campaign, with a growing student body and renewed opportunities for families seeking Catholic education.
“It’s such an environment of joy and faith,” said Fr. Berghouse of the school. “It’s everything that you would hope for in a parish school. I’ve never felt God’s providence more palpably than I did during this whole journey. It just felt like he carried us all the way. It was such a lofty goal, but with his providence, we did it.”
