Thanks again for expressing interest in the Chesterton Academy of Orlando, a new classical high school grounded in the Catholic faith, which we are hoping to open in Fall 2022.

I wanted to update you on our progress:

Interest Meetings

Throughout June and July 2021, we held four interest meetings around Central Florida which were attended by over 50 families. If you missed those, you can watch the replay here.

Interest Survey Results

We then asked parents to fill out our Interest Survey. The real gauge of whether the high school will be viable is how many parents are genuinely interested in sending their kids there.

(If you haven’t filled out the survey, do so now!)

We were blown away by the response. Just look at these numbers:

One hundred families with over 267 children have expressed interest in attending the school, including 44 students who will be in high school for the 2022-2023 school year.

Of course, the interest varies among families and we cannot expect every student represented here to attend Chesterton Academy—or even the majority of them.

Yet still:

We’re convinced we have enough interest to open the school.

We need between at least 8-10 high-schoolers to begin the school in Fall 2022. That’s the minimum. But given the interest expressed here, we’re confident we’ll cross that threshold.

(We were especially excited to see several families fill out the survey who lived out of state, but said if this school opens they would move their family to Orlando to attend.)

Location

Obviously, the main question for parents right now is, “Where will the school be located?”

I don’t have a firm answer yet.

We are exploring different possibilities based on the survey results, trying to find an accessible location near the most interested families.

As soon we narrow down the location, I will let you know.

Next Steps

We’ve already started working on the next steps this month, including:

• Establish the Board of Directors
• Create a business plan + financial projections (2022-2027)
• Register Chesterton Academy of Orlando as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
• Open a bank account for the school (so we begin to accept tax-free donations)
• Launch a more robust version of the school website (coming soon!)

From there we will finalize the school location (this fall), start fundraising for the first year’s expenses (this winter), and hire the founding faculty (early 2022).

In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions, otherwise I’ll keep you in the loop as things move forward.

Let’s continue seeking God’s will. If he wants us to open this school, let’s pray he makes that clear and provides us the means to do it.

God bless you!

Yours,
Brandon Vogt