CURRENT STUDENTS

Kiera:  

“Why I love Ascension is everyone cares about us and accepts us for who we are and makes my heart shine everyday!”

Grace:  

“A Catholic education is a healthy education. My Catholic education means the world to me. My mom and dad have the ability to send me to a great school. When I go to school at Ascension every morning, I feel like I’m with my second family. I’m grateful for my family and my wonderful education.”

Nicolas:  

“I like Catholic schools because you get to learn about God and Jesus, you go to mass every Wednesday, we pray and we do fun religion projects.”

Viviana:  

“I love this school because we pray the holy rosary and focus on God and the challenge of hard work.”

ASCENSION ALUMNI

Melissa Manley:  (Melbourne Central Catholic School, Valedictorian, 2015:

“My education at Ascension Catholic School has helped me build a foundation that enabled me to be successful in high school. The great teachers, challenging coursework, and faith-based community all prepared me very well for high school at Melbourne Central Catholic. Ascension gave me a strong work ethic that has transferred to success in high school, as I am now a valedictorian and top scholar. I am very thankful that I was given the opportunity to attend Ascension Catholic School, as it has enabled me to be where I am today.”

Clayton Gindling: (Principal’s Scholar, Viera High School, 2015):

“As I finish high school and look forward to college, I look back on the last 12 years of schooling and thank Ascension for helping to mold and shape me. Thank you to the school teachers, staff, students and faith community for giving me a strong foundation. My faith and character are strong because of Ascension and I will forever be grateful.”

Chase Chavez: (Melbourne Central Catholic High School, Valedictorian, 2015):

“Attending Ascension Catholic School was one of the most beneficial decisions my parents have made for me. The core values taught at Ascension helped me develop certain skills to help me succeed in high school and in life in general.”

PARENTS

The first four quotes are from parents who transferred their children to Ascension.

Stefano, Marcia & Nicolas Coledan:

Ascension Catholic School’s academics are top-notch. Religion is lived and modeled on a daily basis, not just taught. You won’t find a better music program any-where, and the Soaring enrichment program can’t be beat. In fact, the weekly Soaring classes—featuring Lego robotics—are often the highlight of Nicolas’ week. When asked what he likes best about Ascension Catholic School, Nicolas answers, “Everything!” That pretty much sums it up for all three of us.

Justin & Janneth Chamberlands:

From the first moment we began the decision to enroll in a Catholic School, we knew Ascension was the right decision. We loved when our second grader, Isabella, came home and said, “I love school so much, my teacher is so nice, we can talk about Jesus all day long.” For my children to be able to express their faith openly and be encouraged, there is nothing greater for a parent. I know the foundation being set here at Ascension will remain strong through any storm. Thank you so much to   everyone who makes Ascension a wonderful school and community.

Danyel Joyner:

I am so blessed to have found this amazing school for Abby. She had struggled for many years trying to find the structure, the support, the love, the patience and the care needed to get her to not only love going to school, but feel like she can actually do it. My daughter is finally happy and she is succeeding.

Arrubla family:

After touring several private and public schools last school year, we finally found everything we wanted for our children at Ascension School. They are having a wonderful school year with outstanding teachers and many extracurricular experiences from sports to chess club. We are especially thankful for the Catholic environment and Ascension Community that continues to nurture our family!

Wayne & Susan Hosburgh:

Our three grandchildren are challenged with a diverse and stimulating educational curriculum while being instilled with strong spiritual and moral values. Without a doubt, Ascension Catholic School is giving them the tools they need to become tomorrow’s leaders, affecting our world in a very positive way.

Carlos & Juliana Rubio:

Our two children have been in Ascension for two years and they are as happy as they can be. We love the positive energy of the school, the loving teachers, the academic level, the encouragement to read, the sports, the no-tolerance to bullying and also the faith in God that transpires everywhere. The church also is beautiful and gives a deep sense of spirituality.

Tim Laird, M.D.:

Ascension Catholic School has been a great gift for our 4 children. The teachers and administration have shown just the right mix of discipline, compassion, and academic rigor. We count Ascension School as one of the top benefits of the Space Coast and are so fortunate our children have attended, and thrived there.

Peter & Mary Bruno:

Ascension offers challenging academics, recreational clubs/activities for the children to be involved in. The great examples of Christian values that they receive from their teachers and faculty at Ascension, have become an essential part of their growing years. These values which include character, integrity, empathy, and kindness (just to name a few) will become a part of their lifestyle into adulthood and beyond. This, we attribute much thanks to our family at Ascension Catholic School.

Tracy Elkins:

Having our son at Ascension, where he can learn and practice our Catholic faith, is providing him with a strong foundation and a quality education. What is taught, and how it is taught, are done excellently by teachers that truly care, in an environment that has al-ways been welcoming, safe, and loving. Being a part of Ascension school is the only place, and the best place, for us and it has been a huge blessing for our whole family through two generations now.

Robert & Jane Hermida:

Ascension Catholic School children receive spiritual guidance and teaching that will help them throughout their lives. ACS has provided our sons with a robust educational experience. Its technology-rich curriculum is supported by an excellent teaching staff. Strong family participation allows ACS to give back to the church and community.

Linda, Gabor, Andrew and Audrey Tamasy:
Dear Father Eamon,

As you know, with the exception of myself, our family was non-Catholic when we enrolled our two children at Ascension Catholic School. In fact, my husband was philosophically against the idea of religion and education being mixed. Despite that, we did finally agree to try it out.

Our experience has been nothing but positive. One of the things that I think is the most important is that children are taught to respect their teachers and adults and all people. This is nurtured through respecting the child as well and always holding them accountable to God as the higher source of the rules of good conduct. I love the fact that morality (regardless of your individual religious views) is at the forefront of every day. The children hear a positive message each day over the announcements and recite the pledge of allegiance. They pray before each class. Again, regardless of your religion, hearing positive messages and universal truths about love and helping others inspires us to be our best and strive to be better.

My son was in the fifth grade when we came to Ascension. He was good at reading, but didn’t read much, to be honest. The AR program at Ascension motivated my son to read and the children developed a healthy competitiveness with each other to see who was reading the most and achieving the highest AR points as they accomplished their reading goals. I really saw my son blossom at the school and his self-esteem grew enormously.

The children at Ascension are respectful and well behaved because that is the expectation. The bar is set and the children rise to that.

My daughter started in kindergarten and just loves Ascension Catholic School. The fact that she enjoys it there so much, means everything.

My children and I decided to join the church eventually. We attend mass as a family now and it is a nice ending to our week. No matter how busy we get and how wrapped up in the crazy flurry of activities, we enjoy coming to that 5:30 mass and getting back to the message of why we are here and what God wants us to do and what is truly meaningful in our lives.

In summary, I feel like our lives have a lot more depth and meaning attending a Catholic School like Ascension. We always are grateful we found the school and feel we made a great decision which has truly effected our lives for the better in many ways.

With much thanks and appreciation –

Donna J.Badolato:
Dear Father Tobin:

Thank you for you continued interest in making the children’s education experience what it is. My two children are thriving in the enriching environment provided by Ascension Catholic School. In addition to the excellent academic education, they are receiving what I consider exceptional education in music and art, as well as continued education in religion. I feel they are getting all the skills and knowledge they will need throughout their lives.

My daughter, Katie, has memories of fun with schoolmates on and off the playground, in the classroom, and in preparation for Holy First Communion. She is proud of her participation in the church and enjoys the Wednesday weekly mass.

Both my children have enjoyed Ascension’s participation in programs like “Camp Invention” and the Vacation Bible School every summer. The fact that so many teachers volunteer to participate in these programs shows their dedication to the students and their love of teaching.

Participation in the science fair last year was exciting for Katie and her brother, Joey, is already trying to think of a “cool” science experiment he can do when his class gets to participate when they hit third grade.

Every year the Christmas Bazaar run by volunteers in the cafeteria to let the kids “shop” for their families with help from the older kids (eight graders) is such a special time for the kids. I think the eighth graders really enjoy helping their younger schoolmates. I know both my children have developed special relationships with their “book buddies” too. Having the older grades help the younger grades is an excellent way for the kids to interact and learn.

Book Fair every year is also one of my children’s favorites. They love the excitement of browsing the isles picking out new books to read and books to share with their teacher and classmates.

The aftercare program has been very helpful to me. Being a working parent is very challenging. The fact that there is an aftercare program alone is wonderful; to have it full of opportunities such as dance classes or tutoring sessions with teachers is really a plus as well. My daughter benefited from the math tutoring provided and I am grateful.

I have also been pleased with the attentiveness of the teachers. The parent-teacher meetings held regularly keep me up to date with what’s happening with my children and provides me a chance to ask questions. My kids’ teachers have also been responsive to communication with emails answering me promptly with questions. This year I have also started utilizing “EDLINE” and have found it an excellent way to keep track of what’s going on with my kids’ grades as well as school activities.

This is the fifth year my family has been with Ascension and I can’t say enough about how grateful I am for the support everyone has provided to myself and my children. I really feel like they are well cared for and well-loved when they are at school. I feel so blessed to have the kids in a safe, fun, academically challenging environment that Ascension provides.

Thank you for all you do.
 

Anonymous:
Thank you Ascension Catholic Community for your outstretched arms, genuine Christ-like love, and acceptance. Our family recently moved to Indian Harbour Beach from Atlanta Georgia. We have two sons at Ascension Catholic School.

As a Christian family our faith walk is very important to us. In our church, First Baptist of Smyrna, we were very involved both in the church body and in our community. Our son Noah had professed the Lord of his life and was baptized just two months prior to our move.

When we knew the move to Florida was in our future we were concerned about Noah’s education. Noah had been attending Whitefield Academy, a Christian non-denominational school in Georgia since kindergarten. We loved the education he was getting academically and more importantly spiritually. We planned a trip in October to visit the four Christian schools we had our search narrowed do to (or so we thought). After spending a day touring the schools we were still no closer to deciding where Noah should attend school. Over the weekend my mother-in-law mentioned that she attends Ascension Catholic Church periodically and they had a school. So, the day we were driving back to Georgia I called Ascension Catholic School to gather some information.

The moment we walked through the doors at Ascension Catholic School the love of Jesus was felt. As we walked through the hallways I noticed Scripture verses on the walls, pictures of Jesus, bulletin boards that had a spiritual basis, and just felt an overwhelming spirit of peace. This school was different. Not just because it was a Catholic school and we were a Protestant family. It was different because everyone we met that day was genuinely kind, not because that wanted to impress us. After speaking to Mr. Workman about the academic standards and learning that Ascension students tested in the top 10% nationally in reading and math, this school had me hooked.

It truly is amazing how the Lord directs our path if we follow His lead. As the Lord reminds us in Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths”.

Noah started in Ms. Finnegan’s second grade class November 11, and is adjusting very well. He has had and will continue to have some questions regarding the Catholic faith compared to our Protestant beliefs. But we focus on the major cornerstones of Christianity — Jesus, born of virgin mother Mary, the Trinity, the Crucifixion, Burial, Resurrection and coming again of our Savior Jesus.

When I think about Jesus with his arms open wide waiting for anyone it reminds me of Ascension Catholic School — open to all who want to attend.