Inverness Catholic school wins national award
Holy Family Catholic Academy in Inverness is one of two schools in the nation to receive the prestigious 2012 Catholic Schools for Tomorrow Award for innovation in curriculum and instruction.
It’s the first Catholic school in Northwest suburban Cook County to receive the award; Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein received the award in 2006.
A special assembly was held Friday afternoon at the school to celebrate the award with students, staff and parents.
Holy Family was chosen by the editors of “Today’s Catholic Teacher” from a field of hundreds of elementary and secondary schools nationwide.
The award recognizes the 10-year-old school’s efforts to create a new approach to 21st-century Catholic education. It also acknowledges Holy Family Academy as a leader in implementing innovative programs to improve the teaching and learning of students, faculty and staff, Principal Gretchen Ludwig said in a news release.
Students from kindergarten through eighth grade shared their favorite innovative school projects during Friday’s assembly.
Among those were first-graders Skyping with schools in Korea and Cicero, second-graders studying meteorology and meeting ABC 7 meteorologist Phil Schwartz, third-graders planning and building an outdoor classroom to raise monarch butterflies, and seventh-graders doing a genetics project in which they studied dog breeding and took a field trip to the International Kennel Club dog show to interview breeders.
“When I think about our innovative curriculum, the first things that come to mind are our use of inquiry-based learning and our partnership with Harper College for our middle school students,” Ludwig said. “Inquiry-based learning prepares our students for life in the 21st century. This type of learning links knowledge with an authentic issue or problem, requiring students to work in teams, think critically and solve problems.”
Holy Family’s partnership with Harper College in Palatine allows its middle school students use Harper’s science and fine arts facilities to enhance their curriculum, she added.