Denise Cress
(636) 519-9099 x125
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At Gateway Academy, Jesus Christ is at the center of all we do.  His mission is our mission: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (Jn 10:10.)  Our commitment to this fullness of life, the full flowering of the potential God placed in every student that comes through our doors, unfolds in our educational philosophy of integral formation.  We believe each student was created to be a person of learning, a person of character, a person of faith, and a person for others.

As principal, I lead a top-notch academic team rooted in the bimillenary tradition of Catholic education.  Paraphrasing management guru Peter Drucker, an educated person is someone who can make a living and live a life.  The curriculum at Gateway aims to impart knowledge that is wide-ranging and useful for the student’s success in the university years and as a valuable member of society, but also deep enough to encourage habits of reflection and critical thinking.  

All truth is a gradual revelation of the one Truth who is the source of all knowledge. Challenging courses, required each year, in mathematics and the natural sciences, together with English and history, are complemented with physical education, economics, fine arts and a thorough study of the Catholic Faith which is both faithful to teachings of the Church and conducive to an active and joyful living out of one’s baptismal commitments.

Even as academic formation delves into the crystalline waters of truth, our curriculum and teaching methods also afford ample opportunities to sculpt the students’ ability to communicate and articulate what they learn, both through written composition and through public speaking. A well, albeit profound, is worth little without a bucket whereby water can be drawn and offered to a world athirst for truth.

Our college counseling department has a proven track record of success in college admissions, and most visitors to our campus comment on how our high school students, as rambunctious as their peers, possess nevertheless a maturity and self-confidence which gives the Gateway graduate a distinctive aplomb.

This, I believe, stems from a formative environment rooted in love, a rich soil which, under the sun of God’s grace, produces a bountiful and variegated harvest. The balance and harmony which result from excellence in academics and in the formation of a student’s character, spiritual life and commitment to service are the key to the Christian leader of tomorrow.  This completeness is what integral formation is all about, an ideal which the Greeks called “encyclopedic,” the Romans “universal,” and which we at Gateway Academy see as the challenge and privilege of bearing the name Catholic.