ST. THERESE CARMELITE SCHOOL
1106 East Alhambra Road, Alhambra CA 91801 ~ (626) 289-3364
Website:
Principal: Mrs. Alma Cornejo - Principal@StThereseCarmeliteSchool.com
St. Therese Carmelite School is fully accredited through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the Western Catholic Education Association (WCEA). It offers:
· Kindergarten through Eighth Grade
· Fine Arts and Physical Education
· Religious Education provided by the Carmelite Friars, in collaboration with the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Los Angeles
· Carmelite Spirituality, with an emphasis on the Carmelite saints
· Full-time Carmelite chaplain
· Rigorous Classical Curriculum
· Small class sizes
· Before- and After-School Academic Enrichment Program (optional), and more!
WHAT IS THE CLASSICAL APPROACH TO EDUCATION?
“Creating the ability to think is our goal in a classical curriculum; we want our children to acquire the art of learning. It is not the number of facts they are acquainted with that measure the educational success, but what they are able to do with the facts: whether they are able to make distinctions, to follow an argument, to make reasonable deductions from the facts, and finally, to have the right judgment about the way things are.” — Laura Berquist (Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum)
A Classical Education:
· Teaches the Child How to Think
· Follows the Child's Natural Stages of Learning
· Takes Account of the Child's Individual Needs
· Supports the Spiritual Formation of the Child
· Allows the Parents to Play an Integral Role
A Classical Education Creates:
· Learners who have the knowledge and ability to perform independent research
· Students who are effective Communicators
· Students who are able to read and comprehend diverse written materials
· Students who demonstrate rhetorical and analytical skills in their written work
· Students who express themselves with confidence in written communication
· Students who are independent thinkers
· Students who are able to analyze information, and form and explain their own opinions
A classical education will give our children the beginning of the education every educated person in Western Civilization once received, a classical or liberal arts education. The idea is to educate the students so that they develops all the powers of their souls, and their minds are formed, strengthened, and developed. The end of this educational process is wisdom. Man desires by nature to know, and that means we want to have not only the facts, but the reasons for the facts. We want to think about the most noble things, the most interesting in themselves. Therefore, the goal of education is to teach children how to think; to help them learn the art of learning. If children learn how to learn, they will be to master any subject. Thinking can be done well or badly, but one can be taught to do it well. In large measure, the role of the teacher of grade and high school children is this: teaching children to think well. It begins in wonder and aims at wisdom.
The tools of learning, through which children learn the art of learning, are acquired by concentrating, at each stage of intellectual formation, on the areas of development that are appropriate to that stage in the child’s intellectual and spiritual development. Further, all we do will be faithful to the doctrine and teaching of the Catholic Church, which shall enlighten and inform all the areas of the curriculum.
PRINCIPAL OF ST. THERESE CARMELITE SCHOOL
MRS. ALMA CORNEJO
Mrs. Alma Cornejo, hired in 2015, welcomes your questions about St. Therese Carmelite School or Classical Education. Please feel free to email her at stsprincipalcornejo@gmail.com. She has a broad academic background, with over twenty years of teaching experience in both public and private Catholic schools, as well as in home-schooling. Since 2001, she has taught Algebra I, Algebra II, Latin, Apologetics, and Religion at a private Catholic school. She also served on the administration of that school for eight years, overseeing student discipline and campus safety and helping to supervise and mentor a staff of thirty. She authored both their Parent and the Student handbooks.
Under Mrs. Cornejo’s leadership as head of the WASC committee in 2008, the school received an unprecedented six-year term from both WCEA and WASC for its initial accreditation. In 2014, she again steered the committee, resulting in another six-year term of accreditation. She is bilingual and has taught English as a Second Language and Mathematics in LAUSD.
She holds an A.A. in Mathematics, a B.S. in Human Development and an M.A. in Psychology, with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy. She also holds a PPS credential and an M.A. in School Counseling. She has worked as a marriage and family therapist with Stillpoint Resources for five years. Mrs. Cornejo grew up in the San Fernando Valley, the oldest of five children. She is a devoted wife and the mother of five children, ages eleven to thirty. With her abundant experience and her passion for excellence in Catholic education, Mrs. Cornejo is a valuable addition to St. Therese Carmelite School.
ST. THERESE SCHOOL'S NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
St. Therese Carmelite School, mindful of its mission to be a witness to the love of Christ for all, admits students regardless of race, color or national and/or ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, disability, medical condition, sex or national and/or ethnic origin in the administration of educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs, although certain athletic leagues and other programs may limit participation and some archdiocesan schools operate as single sex schools. While the school does not discriminate against students with special needs, a full range of services may not always be available to them. Decisions concerning the admission and continued enrollment of a student in the school are based upon the student’s emotional, academic and physical abilities and the resources available to the school in meeting the student’s needs.
