By Ben Dickison, Back Page Editor
This month, the nativity of the first Jesuit Nativity School in Cincinnati’s history has brought “More Xavier” to the community. XJA is an all boys school located on California Ave. in the Bond Hill neighborhood. In July, ‘XJA’s inaugural student body on Xavier’s campus during the “Xavier Jesuit Academy” Summer Institute during which students took on academic challenges, and even held a practice Mass with their future classmates. Classes began on August 14, less than a year after ground was broken for renovations to the old St. Agnes School, which has now become the campus for the new academy.
“Xavier Jesuit Academy is in partnership with St. Xavier High School, and is in partnership with Xavier University. In that brotherhood, my hope is that you get to see things beyond what you thought possible,” Founding Principal Kyle Chandler said in a video released to commemorate the opening of the school.
In the Bond Hill neighborhood, over 96 percent of the population of roughly 7,000 residents identify as Black. The aforementioned St. Agnes School closed it doors in 1993, creating a drought in educational opportunities for elementary-aged students in the community.
In addition to the absence of a this kind of school in the neighborhood, over 495 of its families are experiencing poverty. Of those 495 families experiencing poverty, 84 percent are living in fatherless households.
Photo Courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org.
Photo of Xavier High School
Photo Courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org
To break down financial barriers for the families XJA hopes to serve, tuition is entirely scholarship-funded through the Jesuit order, independent donors and Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program. Annual tuition per student currently sits at $12,500.
“The Xavier Jesuit Academy will focus on breaking cycles of intergenerational poverty by providing a meaningful life path of education, employment and adulthood for males from low-income communities,” said of XJA, Fr. Nathan Wendt, SJ
The school’s Jesuit mission states that it will “accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future” and lean heavily into curriculum focused on service and justice. In addition to these foundational principles, XJA seeks to explore ways to avoid the “glued-to-seat” sensation many young students feel in their elementary years, according to their media outreach. Renovations costing approximately $9 million are being applied to the building.
The school received funding and volunteer labor from the Cincinnati Reds’ Community Makeover program, the Cincinnati Zoo, Procter & Gamble, FC Cincinnati, GE Aerospace and Kroger.
“They pushed us to kind of dream outside our own budget,” said Chandler.
As a result of the makeover, XJA hosts an on-campus urban garden, STEM lab and improved medical and art spaces. A brand new turf baseball field and new recreation area also sit directly behind the school building.
XJA currently is offering classes for boys in third through fifth grades, and plans to add a grade at the dawn of each school year until sixth, seventh and eighth grade are fully integrated.