Community, AP Studies Help School Make Award-Winning Comeback

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A St. Paul Catholic school will get a major national award on Thursday.

The award is all the more remarkable because Saint Agnes School came close to closing just five years ago.

In 2007, declining enrollment combined with an inner city location just west of the Capitol made it look like Saint Agnes would not survive. It was on the verge of losing 100 of its 400 students as well as millions of dollars in debt.

But in the past five years, the K-12 school has managed to increase enrollment by more than 25 percent. Also, an appeal helped the school, which was founded in 1888, by bringing in $2 million.

What the school did with that money has led to continuous growth. The school invested by increasing the number of advanced placement classes from four to 14. That change has led new students to enroll and existing students to thrive.

Mary Kliminger, a senior at the school, is taking three advanced placement courses. She said the small class sizes help teachers get to know students.

"The teachers, since they know you so well, they are willing to work with your schedule," she said.

The school's current seniors remember 2007, when there were protests over the possible closing.

"We didn't want the school to close down, because we've been going here -- some of us had been going here --since kindergarten...so we were like: Let's try and raise some money," said senior Janelle Johnson.

The school raised $2 million, and much of it came from anonymous donors.

The school's new administrators changed some things, but continued traditions like teaching Latin and school uniforms.

Saint Agnes' Principal, Jim Morehead, said more and more people are talking about the school.

"More and more folks are hearing about us word of mouth from our parents and our students and our community," he said. "And people are coming to us."

The school now has 553 students, 240 of which are in its high school. Saint Agnes' expanded extracurricular offerings include a baseball team that won the Class A championships last year. But students say, more than anything, the school is a community.

"You know everybody so well," Kliminger said. "You've been with them so long that you really do become a family."

Sixty percent of the school's students receive financial aid for the $8,700-a-year tuition.

The details of the award St. Agnes will receive are embargoed until Thursday.