Student Life

A priest administering Holy Communion to a kneeling young boy in a church with stained glass windows and brick walls.

Encountering Christ

Catholicism is central to our mission. For this reason, every school day includes Mass. We teach theology out of the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and papal documents. Other important ways we live the faith include annual pilgrimages and retreats, modest and wholesome extracurricular activities, and sacred art and crucifixes adorning the classrooms.

Faith in Our School

  • Daily Mass

  • Regular opportunities for Adoration and Confession

  • Retreats and Spiritual Formation

  • Faith incorporated into every subject

  • Regular visits from priests and religious

Young students dressed in uniforms are sitting on the floor in a small chapel or prayer room, praying or participating in a religious service, with religious statues and an altar at the front.

TRADITIONS & EVENTS

These are some of the events at Chesterton Academy of St. Katharine Drexel that foster community, faith, and fellowship, celebrating important seasons and themes throughout the school year.

Group of students in formal attire standing around a signing table at an event.
Children playing a game of catch or football on a grassy field with trees in the background.
A group of seven teenage boys standing in a row with arms around each other's shoulders inside a modern building.
Group of people gathered around a small outdoor altar in a wooded area, some sitting on rocks and others standing.

  • Foundations opens the school year, as faculty and students gather to renew their commitment to the school's mission and vision, review student expectations, privileges, and responsibilities, sort new students into their Houses, play competitive yard games, and share lunch. The fellowship and ceremony encourage unity and partnership before their first class.

  • “Teachers And Parents” Nights have been a tradition since Chesterton Academy of St. Katharine Drexel opened its doors as Drexel High School in 2023. Usually hosted in a family’s home, T.A.P. Nights are an opportunity for teachers and parents to build positive relationships in a more casual setting.

  • Each fall and spring, students take a half day from school to compete in house competitions. Working as a team, each house competes in art, science, and various sports to win the games. Through various activities, students can showcase their problem-solving skills, leadership abilities, and athleticism to help their House come out on top at the end of the day and win points toward the House Cup at the conclusion of the year. 

  • Celebrated every September 22, Hobbit Day is a celebration of the birthdays of Tolkien’s beloved characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins of his classic book The Lord of the Rings. Students, faculty, and parents come together for a special lunch (or is it “second breakfast”?) of delicious treats inspired by the books. Gandalf himself has been known to make an appearance!

  • The Drexel community comes together on the last day before Christmas break to share a delicious lunch, exchange gifts, and celebrate the traditions and joy of the Advent and Christmas seasons.

  • Every year on March 3, we celebrate our patron’s feast day with a special lunch at the school.

  • Held at the end of the academic year, this celebration recognizes individual students’ contributions and achievements. Awards are given for academic achievement and also to students who have embodied the Drexel Charisms: Gratitude, Charity, Courage, Diligence, and Eucharistic Devotion. Awards are also given to students who have completed a certain number of service hours for the community, and to individual students in each grade who demonstrate qualities of servant leadership and the attitudes of certain saints.

Chesterton Academy of St. Katharine Drexel acknowledges the good of play, which includes organized and intramural sports. Sports offerings are based upon student interest.

“Let us go and do something—something reckless, something desperate. Let us run across the field and do something.”

— G.K. Chesterton, The Ball and the Cross

Athletics

  • Ultimate Frisbee

    Cross Country

  • Basketball

  • Tennis

Children playing basketball indoors, some wearing gray T-shirts with navy shorts, with flags hanging on the wall behind them.

House System

Chesterton Academy’s House system is drawn from the 1,000 year-old tradition of Christian education exemplified in the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. The Houses provide real, tangible community within the larger school, giving students the opportunity to take ownership, fulfill the call to leadership, and to cultivate the ideal conditions for virtue. Each House has two Senior and two Junior prefects, two faculty advisors, and several parent liaisons.

Learn more
Four heraldic shields with different symbols and names: Ambrose with bees and beehive, Augustine with flames and heart, Athanasius with open book and Greek words, Chrysostom with chalice and host, all with laurel branches at the bottom.
Four young women standing at a reception desk, smiling, with water bottles and papers on the desk, and framed pictures on the wall behind them.

Clubs & Activities

Three children raking and clearing a dirt trail in a forested area.
Two boys in dark jackets stand near a memorial with flowers and framed photos on a grassy area, with trees and houses in the background.

  • Clubs at Chesterton Academy of St. Katharine Drexel are student initiated and led. Students must first bring their club ideas to the administration for approval and oversight.

  • Students have an opportunity to showcase individual and group talents at the annual Gala fundraiser in February.

  • Chesterton Academy of St. Katharine Drexel students regularly participate in Corporal and Spiritual Acts of Mercy as acts of service to the community, including:

    • Thanksgiving canned food drives

    • Baby supplies drives for support of Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

    • Christmas & Easter Basket toy drives

    • All Souls’ Day Cemetery Visits

    • Organizing spiritual bouquets for those in need of prayers

    • Performing yard work/clean up for Connections Church, St. Joseph College Seminary, and Holy Angels in Belmont

Pilgrimages

Senior Pilgrimage to Italy

Chesterton Academy of St. Katharine Drexel is planning our first annual Senior Class Pilgrimage to Rome in March 2027. Our pilgrimage will take us to the Vatican Museum, all the major churches in Rome, and on to Florence and Assisi. In Assisi, we will visit the tombs of St. Francis, St. Clare, and St. Carlo Acutis. We will walk the paths of pilgrims, pray at the tombs of the martyrs, view incredible works of art, and enjoy being steeped in Italian culture. This pilgrimage will be a capstone experience to our students’ classical Catholic education, and will allow them to grow in faith and deepen their friendships, all while learning about the history of our Church and the Eternal City and beyond!

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