Dialog reporter
MAGNOLIA — The seeds for St. Thomas More Academy were planted more than 25 years ago, shortly after Holy Cross High School closed in 1987. That was a decade or more before almost all of the current students were born.
The present was connected with the past on Oct. 23 as several of those responsible for STMA’s existence returned for a Founders Day Mass with Bishop Malooly and to share the story of how St. Thomas More came to be. The only Catholic high school south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal has made great strides since opening in 1998, when 17 sophomores and 34 freshmen composed the student body.
Today, there are 210 students on a 32-acre campus, up from the original 20 donated acres. Julie Shively, in her second year as principal, said she is pleased with what she has seen since arriving in Magnolia but knows progress can be made. One of her biggest goals is to improve the visibility of the school, which, despite being around for 16 years, is not as well-known as she believes it should be.
“We want a student and we want families who desire an excellent education in a Christ-centered environment. But we haven’t gotten the word out that that’s who we are,” she said.
One of her other goals has been to improve school spirit. “We have happy kids, but they didn’t necessarily know what school spirit is like other than during one week every fall.”
She has sought to have the students and staff spend more time on campus, at athletic events or for other extracurriculars. That is part of teaching “the whole person” beyond academics, she said.
Bishop Malooly told the students how much he enjoys traveling down from Wilmington and “seeing the spirit and the faith and the energy” in the building. In his homily, he urged the students to speak about their faith. The theme of the first reading, from Jeremiah, “is that we are never too young to do the Lord’s work.” St. John Paul II, the bishop noted, was just 58 when elected pope in 1978. The Mass also celebrated his first feast day.
St. Thomas More Academy is different from other Catholic schools in the diocese because it was built by parents, Shively said. One of them, Craig Eliassen, spoke at the end of Mass about his involvement and how much the school means to him. In the spring of 1987, he was married, and that fall, he began a job at a law firm where he still works. But that was also the final year for Holy Cross High School, his wife’s alma mater.
“Personally, I understood it, but it was difficult to understand,” he said.
That left a void in faith-based secondary education in southern Delaware, one that would be filled, but only after 11 years of hard work, Eliassen said. It has been a pleasure to watch the school grow over the years.
“It’s my hope that St. Thomas More’s brightest days are ahead of us,” he said. “I would say to you that we’re doing pretty well. So far, so good.”
Next, one of those original graduates addressed the students. Sara Passon is a member of the Class of 2001 and now is a popular teacher at STMA. She was the first alum to join the faculty. Passon decided while an eighth-grader at Holy Cross Elementary that she would attend the new school, but its opening was delayed a year. She attended Caesar Rodney High School as a freshman until STMA opened. Initially, when she saw the size of St. Thomas More and that many of her classmates were friends from Holy Cross, she had second thoughts.
“I began to question my decision to transfer from such a large school to a much smaller school. However, within my first few weeks of attending STMA I began to greatly appreciate everything it did and still does stand for,” she told the students.
She expressed her appreciation to the founders in attendance at Mass. “Without your vision, my high school experience would have been very different. I would not have the job that I have today that I love going to every single day.”
David Burton of Milford, another of the founders, credited the late Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli for helping get St. Thomas More up and running. The parents had worked very hard to make it possible, but “they needed one more push.” Bishop Saltarelli met with them and agreed to make it a diocesan high school.
“That was a wonderful break,” Burton said.
Today, he continued, he believes the school provides an excellent education and fills a critical void.
“I think there’s a need for a Catholic school in lower Delaware,” he said. “I did then, I do now. It’s growing. I just think the future is bright. I’m really delighted it’s here.”
