Macomb Township — In an old school building at 26 Mile Road, just east of North Avenue, lies home to newly founded Austin Catholic Academy.
Like any other Catholic school, students go to class, have lunch, go to Mass and enjoy making new friends.
The difference for Austin Catholic Academy is in numbers.
In its first year of existence and with only 11 students enrolled, Austin Catholic Academy may not have a large class size (yet), but they’re academics, faith and their standards are set above the bar.
“It’s a small environment, very focused, a very religious daily Mass, which is part of the curriculum,” President Leonard Brillati said. “This is a college prep school and the academics are set very, very high and standards are set very, very high. It’s for specific students looking for a good co-ed college prep school and that’s what the parents really look for.”
Austin Catholic Academy is the only co-ed Catholic school in Macomb County, according to Brillati, and is currently building their enrollment and will add a sophomore class to their freshman class next year.
“This is a real Catholic school,” Brillati said. “We do the same things, we don’t do anything different other than we don’t have a sports program yet. Everything is the same, we are totally computerized, we are totally up on all technology to today and the students have a computer lab to work in.”
The school, which has six teachers, plans on implementing a sports program next year, according to Brillati. The students came up with the mascot — the Crusaders — and they were accepted into the Catholic League, but the sports programs have not been set in stone yet.
Louis Hackstock, a student at Austin Catholic Academy, looks forward to the sports programs the school plans to implement.
“I played football for three years, so the transition to school that didn’t have sports was a little hard,” he said, “but now I’m really going to like that we will have sports.”
The school day is broken up into block periods. The students arrive and take part in a 100-minute block, receive a 10-minute break, then go back to another 100-minute block. The kids then go to daily Mass, lunch, another 100-minute block and finish with either physical education or computer science, according to Brillati.
“They go to the same teacher, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday one week; then go Tuesday and Thursday the following week,” Brillati said. “So, they have more focus and attention time, they only have to do three classes of homework every night, instead of seven.”
A big focus at Austin Catholic Academy is the practice of the Catholic faith and their daily Masses.
Elena Delfin, another student at Austin Catholic Academy, enjoys the opportunity to practice her faith on a daily basis.
“Austin Catholic Academy is a great school to be at because religion is at the center of our school,” she said. “Faith is really important and we get to go to mass every day and practice our faith. We have religion class every other day and we’re always talking about God and faith.”
One of the best parts of Austin Catholic Academy, according to science teacher Jennifer Linville, is the small class size and the one-on-one help she can give each of her students.
“I think the main thing is we wanted to have a really good school with a lower class size so we have individual attention,” Linville said. “I know for me being a science teacher it’s awesome to have 11 students and give them that individual attention that they need has been amazing.”
Austin Catholic Academy hopes to have 400 students eventually and has currently found a new home on 23 Mile Road and Card Road, which they hope build on soon.
Although they are small in numbers now, their students have no doubts about their school.
“It’s definitely a risk to take with any school,” Delfin said, “but I think with this school it will definitely make you grow in your faith and help you get ready for the future.”
Austin Catholic Academy is currently accepting enrollment for the next school year.
