Meet the Headmaster fastest growing regions in America. Humanities, we are doing an in-depth study...

It all began two-and-a-half years ago when Mark Jahnke (Yahn-key), Donahue Academy?s new headmaster, and his wife Maria were sitt ing in their l iving room wondering aloud if that dreary Minneapolis winter would ever end. They got to talking and discerning and in 2014 moved their young family to sunny southwest Florida, the place he had vacationed while growing up. Hired as a teacher by founding headmaster

Dr. Dan Guernsey, one of his mentors, Mark was next offered the position of Assistant Headmaster which ultimately led to his current position as Interim Headmaster. Though he now holds bachelor?s degrees in Philosophy and in Catholic Studies as well as a master?s in Catholic Studies, the one-time agnostic once carried a Buddhist manual around while studying in Rome. God had other plans, however and that semester abroad ended with him discarding the book, befriending his future wife, and faithfully adhering to the sacraments. Some dozen years later, the couple has f ive children, three of whom attend Donahue Academy (bringing the current number of students to 264!). So, why choose Donahue? According to Mark, the ?Donahue Difference? is the ?total commitment to sanctity through Catholic classical education among all of our stakeholders ? faculty, staff , administrators, families, board members and benefactors? While there are thousands of worthy projects that serve the Mystical Body of Christ, there truly is no project in the world like that of Ave Maria and Donahue Academy. This is a Top 50 Catholic school connected to one of the best Catholic universit ies in the world in one of the fastest growing regions in America.? Mark continues, ?trusting in God to move my family down here and then further trusting in Him by taking on the role of headmaster has deepened my relationship with Him and my faith in His providence.? That is the kind of faith that has him leading our school to ever higher heights by building upon the ?strong foundation of our founding members and mission, by exceeding 300 students in 2017-2018 and by joyfully pursuing sainthood together.?

Donahue Academy Newsletter | Fall 2015www.DonahueAcademy.org

"This is a Top 50 Catholic school connected to one of the best Catholic universities in the world in one of the fastest growing regions in America."

Fast Fact: K-8 Iowa test scores average in the top 25% nationally.

Meet the HeadmasterFather of Five Steps Out in Faith

experience including six years in a hand bell choir when she was in the Air Force stationed in Germany. We currently offer eight classes per week to a total of 78 students who have responded to the program with resounding enthusiasm. In fact, the bells have generated so much interest that some students have tried to barter their gym time in exchange for more classes! (Mrs. Mandy tells a story of a class unanimously choosing a bell lesson over a study hall!) The students are having a ball yet are making great strides in preparing for their debut performances this Christmas season.

beauty make them a great outreach tool for our school as, to our knowledge, we are currently the only Catholic school in the state of Florida to have them. We are thril led for the opportunity to incorporate them in our 6th-9th grade music curriculum this year under the direction of Marian Mandy, who also serves are our school's organist, and brings to the program a wealth of practical music

By Marian Mandy Handbell Choir Director

This past summer we were blessed to receive the donation of a f ive-octave set of Shulmerich English Handbells! This is exciting news for us as handbells provide an introduction to music literacy like no other. They also provide a fun but effective venue for students to practice and develop virtues such as patience, discipline and self-control, as well as foster a sense of teamwork and commitment. Their uniqueness and

6th grade Cherubim Boys and Girls -- The Cherubim are those students who have had little to no exposure to music so need to go at a slower pace.

"... students have tried to barter their gym time in exchange for more classes! "

Fast Fact : SAT average for the class of 2014 is 1716. Our three-year average SAT score is 1766. (U.S. students usual ly average 1500.)


Students Ring in Christmas with Handbel l Donat ion

Header'ordered living' in this order: Spiritual Life, Family Time, Intellectual Life, Physical Life and Social Life. As Coach Scanlon explains it?s not about balanced living that is so commonly spoken about today, it?s the order of l iving that is important. During Spiritual Life mentoring for example, the boys begin a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and this is the foundation for them to understand what they are learning in theology class. In Family Time, they learn how to have intentional family time (to ask someone in the family how their day was and listen to the answer) and how to be a good son and brother. Faith, family and academics must come f irst, and they are why Scanlon describes the football program not as extra-curricular, but co-curricular. Academics is always before athletics, and ?athletics helps and supports academics because you take the virtues learned in the classroom ? such as discipline, effort, teamwork, and achievement ? and you apply them on the f ield

The goal is not to win. The goal is to form young men. To say that Donahue?s Head Football Coach Rich Scanlon understands young men would be a gross understatement. Having earned master?s degrees in Sport Psychology and in Theology, coached high school and college teams (including Harvard), as well as been assistant director of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) for the East Coast region, his credentials are obvious. As he explained it, boys like to experiment with danger, burn off energy and face their fears, and football allows them the opportunity to do that in a positive, controlled environment with minimal risk. But, how does a school with only 36 boys in the whole high school f ield a team with a 9-0 record? It is the team's well-thought-out spiritual mentoring program. Each of the team?s three coaches (Don Stuller and Randy Beidelschies are assistant coaches) spends part of practice talking to players individually about

and you bring them to life. Without ever talking about winning you are helping the boys reach peak performance, excellence based on their God-given talent,? which is part of the mission of Donahue Academy.

Other parts of the football program include a senior player giving a talk on that month's virtue. In addition, the boys are asked to be part of a Commitment Ceremony where each goes individually before the Blessed Sacrament and makes a pledge regarding whatever struggles the team may be experiencing ? for example one year the commitment included refraining from talking back to referees. Coach makes the expectation clear, ?of course a player has free will not to make the commitment, that is f ine, but, he will not be playing on the team.? Scanlon, a married father of four, is also Donahue?s Dean of Formation, so all students are benefit ing from his winning ways.

Go Shamrocks!

Undefeated!: ?Ordered Living? Leadership Takes Football Team to Top

"The goal is not to win. The goal is to form young men."


By Sr. Maria Fatima, O.P.Fifth Grade Teacher

The f if th grade at Donahue Academy is a lively bunch of students eager to learn and explore the Truths of the Faith and grow in their relationship with God who made us in love, by love, and for love. During October, the Month of the Rosary, the 5th grade has made frequent trips to our school chapel to pray the rosary together. The students are also serving the school each day as sacristy assistants helping to bring the Sacred Vessels back to the sacristy after Mass, as well as transforming the gym from our school worship space to a lunch room after Mass each day. It is beautiful to see the eager joy of the 5th graders performing these duties, knowing that they are generously giving of their recess time to do so. In Humanities, we are doing an in-depth study of Ancient Egypt and Greece. Theology and Literature are f il led with the accounts of creation we f ind in the Book of Genesis and as we compare the f irst and second creation accounts we discover the single truth that both teach us? God created man in His image and likeness, and has entrusted creation to us as a gif t. The students are learning about early Christian il luminated manuscripts and have created their own manuscripts using the Genesis 1 texts of the days of creation. As we journey through the fall and prepare for the Month of All Saints the 5th graders are each reading a book on the life of a saint in preparation for designing their own Saintly Brand of Cereal to help teach their classmates about the life of their saint.

Fast Fact : 96% of our graduates have at tended col lege.


Spot l ight : Fif th Grade

Alumnus Joe Guernsey, Donahue Class of 2012, remembers moving boxes in to Donahue Academy the f irst day it opened. Eight years later he?ll soon be moving on to his f irst day of medical school. This October, he got accepted to the University of Florida Medical School, which has a mere 3% acceptance rate! But before heading up to Gainesville, Joe will be completing his studies at Ave Maria University (AMU) where he?s in the running for valedictorian and playing basketball (he?s team captain). This pursuit of excellence continues what he began at Donahue where he captained the basketball and football teams, was an altar boy, competed in Scholar Bowl,

and graduated with a 4.0 average. Joe says that the outstanding preparation he received at Donahue came up in his med school interviews, specif ically the seminar-based approach and humanistic curriculum which train one to be a crit ical thinker, a writer, a communicator, and to be unafraid. It put him one step ahead. ?Donahue?s students and faculty really care about you and your growth and well-being, and the spiritual atmosphere is second to none.?

Asked if he had a mentor at Donahue, without hesitation he replied, ?all the faculty.? Joe looks to Bl. John Paul II and the gospels for inspiration and continues habits fostered at Donahue -- daily mass, the rosary and frequent confession. Though both of his grandparents were doctors ? his maternal grandpa was Bl. Mother Teresa?s physician in the Bronx for 25 years! -- Joe didn?t know he wanted to be a doctor until working in a ward for the dying on a Mexico City mission trip with the Missionaries of Charity his sophomore year at AMU. Last summer he helped at a Missionaries of Charity AIDS Hospice, the same one his father had volunteered at when he was in college. The future Dr. Guernsey hopes to practice family medicine in an underserved community one day. Medicine is a big part of the Guernsey family and so is Donahue Academy. In addition to his dad, Dr. Dan Guernsey, founding and heading the school, his mother, Lisa, is a nurse at Donahue, his twin, Andrew and his sister Anne Marie are Donahue alumni, and his other siblings Claire, Nick and Elizabeth all are current students. Joe?s family will grow this May when he marries his f iancée Hannah Salamida, a Catholic school teacher. (Congratulations, Joe!) He is discerning becoming a lay Missionary of Charity as well. In Joe?s words, ?Donahue forms the most complete human beings possible, forming true disciples of Jesus Christ, and it has helped me f lourish in every way possible.?

Alumnus Joe Guernsey: Donahue Academy Preparation Gave Me the Edge for Medical School

Fast Fact: We have had five National Merit Scholarship award winners since 2011.


By Randy Beidelschies Class of 2017

On Monday, October 12, the Junior Class went to our Our Lady of Perpetual Help Retreat and Spirituality Center in Venice, Florida, accompanied by their theology teacher, Sr. Mary Magdalene, O.P., one of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. This is the f irst year that each high school class is being provided two full-day retreats at an off campus location. We arrived at a beautiful campus surrounded by God?s nature that opens the doors for Jesus to the soul. There was a relaxing array of donuts, orange juice, and coffee awaiting our arrival. While we chomped down on the sugary breakfast food, Father Shawn Monahan, OMV introduced himself to each individual. After his cordial greeting, he gave an amazing talk. He discussed our identity and how we do not achieve it, but receive it from Christ. Having never gone to a retreat before, this was the best way for me to be introduced to them. I think I can speak on behalf of the Junior Class, perhaps for all of Sister Mary Magdalene?s classes, and say that we are elated with the given opportunities to go to these retreats and vitalize our spiritual l ives. Being able to have my own personal spiritual experience during this one day set aside for us, leaned my heart even more towards Christ. I had a beautiful and powerful encounter with God. If I had to describe this retreat, it would be life-changing. Thank you, Sister Mary Magdalene and Mr. Jahnke.

You are always welcome to attend mass with us. We have mass each day at 9:45 in the gymnasium. Fr. Piotr Paciorek is our celebrant as well as confessor most days, and the pastor of the Ave Maria Oratory, Fr. Cory Mayer, is our Friday celebrant. Of course you are welcome to visit us anytime.

If you?re in Southwest Florida this Advent, please join us for musical festivit ies. The Celebration of Lights takes place on the beautiful Piazza of Ave Maria on Friday, December 4th and our Christmas Concert is here at school on Thursday, December 17th. You will enjoy the hand bell and vocal choir performances from our students of all ages. Here's our address: 4955 Seton Way, Ave Maria, FL 34142.

Donahue students recently released their f irst music CD. Under the direction of our music teacher Mrs. Kathy Dittus, Kindergarten through 6th grade students created a CD f il led with old favorites and contemporary tunes that elevate and inspire. Get one today: call us at 239.280.2450.

You're Invited Did You Know?Celebrate With Us!

"This retreat leaned my heart even more towards Christ."


Spiritual Life-Changer

Meet the Headmaster fastest growing regions in America. Humanities, we are doing an in-depth study...

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