ACADEMICS
High School
Grades 9-12 • Rhetoric Stage
The Final Stage of Formation
Where Students Learn to Reason, Speak, and Lead
In the Rhetoric Stage, grades 9 through 12, students move from learning facts to defending ideas. They read the great works, engage in seminar discussion, and graduate as confident communicators grounded in faith and prepared for college and for life.
The High School Years Decide Who Your Child Becomes
By ninth grade, the stakes are higher. Parents want to know their teenager will be genuinely prepared for what comes next, able to think independently, hold onto their faith and values, and carry themselves with confidence. Too many schools graduate students who can pass a test but can't defend an idea, hold a conversation, or stand for what they believe.
Real college and career readiness
Keeping faith and values through the teen years
Learning to think, not just memorize
Being known, not lost in a crowd
Purpose and direction, not just a diploma
Holy Rosary Academy was built for exactly these years, to form students who graduate ready for anything.
The Rhetoric Stage:
Learning to Communicate Truth
Classical education develops students in three stages. In the grammar and logic years, students build knowledge and learn to reason. In high school, the Rhetoric Stage, they learn to express what they know with clarity and conviction. Students analyze the strengths and weaknesses of ideas, engage directly with primary sources, and learn to make an argument and defend it. Teachers guide the conversation rather than lecture at it.
CORE STUDIES
- Western Civilization & Literature
- Theology & Philosophy
- Latin
- Mathematics (through advanced levels)
- Laboratory Sciences
- Fine Arts & Music
FORMATION & SKILLS
- Seminar & Socratic Discussion
- Rhetoric & Public Speaking
- A safe, supportive environment
- Logic & Reasoning
- Critical Reading & Writing
Three Directions After Graduation
Holy Rosary's classical foundation prepares students for whatever path they choose:
- Liberal Arts: for future leaders, communicators, and thinkers
- Math, Science & Medical: a strong classical foundation supports success in scientific and technical fields
- Trades: disciplined, capable graduates ready to build and lead
A classical education isn't narrow. It builds the reasoning, discipline, and communication that every path rewards.
What Sets these Four Years Apart?
The Seminar Model
Learning happens through discussion, not lecture. Students read primary texts and wrestle with the ideas directly, analyzing, questioning, and defending their interpretations. They engage with the great conversations of Western civilization firsthand, from the Iliad to the modern thinkers.
Public Thesis Defense
Preparation begins years earlier and culminates in the junior and senior years with a formal thesis, researched, written, and defended publicly through real-time questioning, using a structured method modeled on St. Thomas Aquinas. Students graduate having stood in front of an audience and defended an original idea.
Presentation Development
Building on skills that begin in kindergarten, students connect themes across multiple subjects and present them with confidence. The result: strong communicators who are comfortable and composed under pressure.
Don Rags
In these student evaluations, teachers discuss each student's strengths and areas for growth, with the student present and able to respond. It builds self-awareness, accountability, and the ability to receive feedback with maturity.
AS THEY GROW AND MATURE
Faith That Grows Up With Them
The teenage years are when many students drift from their faith. At Holy Rosary, faith is not a class students leave behind. It's integrated naturally into the day through prayer, weekly Mass, the sacraments, and honest discussion. Students graduate with a faith they've thought through and made their own, and the character to live it.
WHERE IT LEADS
Ready for College. Ready for Life.
Qualified students can earn college credit through Holy Rosary's partnership with The Catholic University of America, entering college with momentum. But readiness here means more than credits. A Holy Rosary graduate leaves prepared not just for college, but for life.
- A clear, independent thinker
- A confident communicator
- Disciplined and self-directed
- Grounded in faith and virtue
- A capable leader under pressure
- Ready to pursue the true, good, and beautiful
College Credit
Earned through The Catholic University of America
Strong in Science
Strong results at state level science fair.
Life Ready
Graduates prepared for more than college. With 90% attending 4 year colleges.
Soaring High
Exceeded both national and state averages for average SAT scores.
High Standards
Our graduation requirements are higher than local public schools.
Discover What Makes Holy Rosary Academy Different
Visit campus, meet our faculty, and experience firsthand what makes Holy Rosary Academy a place where students flourish.