Catholic high school leaders strive to balance the rich traditions of their school communities with an innovative academic program that meets the evolving needs of today’s students. Finding that balance is not easy. Schools stuck in yesterday’s ways of doing things risk offering a stale approach that limits student growth. Leaders who chase every new educational fad can let their schools drift away from the solid foundation of rigorous academics and a strong Catholic culture. The most effective Catholic high schools chart a path that honors their traditional core values while also introducing creative programs that expand student opportunities.
In Fond du Lac, St. Mary’s Springs Academy has been unafraid to rethink the programs that serve its students while honoring its rich history of academic excellence. Four years ago, with the goal of expanding real-world experiences for its students, the school’s leadership redesigned the traditional calendar to create an additional academic term: the J-Term. The J-Term begins when students return from Christmas break in January and runs for about 2 1/2 weeks. During that time, each student takes a single half-credit course that reaches far beyond the normal high school offerings. Teachers have used the J-Term to design unique courses that would otherwise have no place in the school’s program.
Principal Eamonn O’Keeffe and Melissa Trepte, director of institutional effectiveness, curriculum and instruction, established a vision for J-Term centered on project-based learning, interdisciplinary exploration, community connections, service, social-emotional development, and college and career planning.
In its first four years, the J-Term has given St. Mary’s Springs Academy 45 unique academic courses that would never have fit into a traditional student schedule. For O’Keeffe, watching the Ledgers, the nickname for SMSA students, and the faculty enjoy these experiential learning opportunities has been “a pure joy to see it all come together so well these years!”
St. Mary’s Springs Academy teachers have made a commitment to giving students real-world experiences through the J-Term. Over the life of the program, J-Term classes have taken 33 community field trips and welcomed more than two dozen guest speakers. One class takes students on an overnight service trip to Milwaukee, where they work alongside organizations that serve the city’s poor. SMSA teachers have also designed a new course called “God Is Here,” in which students will deepen their personal faith by engaging with local nonprofit organizations and planning worship experiences of their own.
Other J-Term courses focus on student health, safety and well-being, topics vital to teenagers’ development that can be difficult to fit into a rigorous high school curriculum. Through the J-Term, SMSA freshmen and sophomores have become certified in “Stop the Bleed,” a program that teaches hands-on first aid and wound dressing techniques. Another course trained students in the “Speak Up, Speak Out” anti-bullying program, with teachers and students reviewing school safety survey data to better understand the social experience at school.
Some of the most impressive J-Term courses grow out of partnerships with colleges and universities. Moraine Park Technical College has worked with SMSA teachers to design a series of courses that give students experience in potential future careers, including nursing assistant, shielded metal arc welding, manufacturing processes and social media management. In 2025, MPTC honored SMSA with an Innovative Partnership award. The J-Term also partners with Marian University and Wisconsin Lutheran College. This past year, 99 students enrolled in seven MPTC courses, and another 18 took dual-credit courses through Marian University or Wisconsin Lutheran College.
The J-Term is not only about college credit and career planning. It has also given students and teachers room to create courses that are simply fun. The course description for “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” for example, promises to explore “the rich history of baseball, the greatest game ever invented. Over 13 days, we’ll look at legendary players and unforgettable moments, as we explore the cultural impact that has made baseball a part of our national identity.” Beyond baseball, the J-Term offers courses in creative photography, winter sports in Wisconsin and introduction to Taekwondo. Students have clearly taken to the program: In a school survey, more than 97% said the J-Term should continue.
St. Mary’s Springs Academy students gain hands-on career experience through the school’s J-Term partnership with Moraine Park Technical College. See High School Education. (Submitted photo)
The greater Fond du Lac community has taken notice of the exciting things happening on the Ledge. St. Mary’s Springs Academy has expanded its partnerships to include another Fond du Lac private high school, Winnebago Lutheran Academy, whose leadership has announced plans to launch a J-Term of its own modeled on SMSA’s. Winnebago Lutheran Academy will now share in the college partnerships that SMSA has built, and this year students from both schools will learn side by side in college-level courses. “SMSA is proudly doing its part to advance the Vatican II call to interreligious dialogue and ecumenism!” O’Keeffe said.
At St. Mary’s Springs Academy, innovation has not pulled the school away from its mission. It has become one more way the school lives that mission out.
