St. Joseph Catholic School, where academic excellence is surrounded by faith, has served the community of Northwest Louisiana for 70 years by providing a Catholic education in the heart of the Broadmoor neighborhood.

As an educator for over 16 years, I recognize the most important teachers in a child’s life are their parents. Most parents find that providing their child with the best education possible will come with some sort of sacrifice. With this understanding, many families will choose private education. As the principal of a top-rated private school, I’d like to share some of the benefits of choosing private education and a faith-based school, like St. Joseph Catholic School.

Private education allows schools to form students through a very specific mission carried out by the academic community. Flowing from the school’s mission, the curriculum developed for private education allows teachers to tailor to the community’s needs, such as focusing on STEM and advanced placement courses.

At the same time, students are still permitted to enjoy age-appropriate activities. Within that mission, some private schools find it most beneficial to offer smaller class sizes, allowing for more effective instruction, granting teachers the opportunity of spending more time with individual students, assessing and assisting them with specific needs.

Private schools also choose to provide a variety of enrichment courses that provide a diverse education. No doubt, art and culture are focuses of private education, and the students flourish as a result.

Many private schools form students to provide them with tools needed to succeed in life. They will have a form of character development program that goes hand in hand with the school’s mission. Catholic education is different in this manner, especially at St. Joseph. We desire to form our students to live a life rooted in academics and prayer, virtue and service. The words of Christ in the Gospel are, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). Catholic education, therefore, is concerned with who the child is now, allowing them through growth in knowledge and virtue to become the best versions of themselves now, and to be a model of the love of Christ to others in the world in which they live – in the family, the church and the local community.

St. Joseph Catholic School espouses such a mission. Students learn the importance of a life of prayer and the Sacraments. For instance, our student body joins in daily prayer together every morning, and classes pray throughout the day. Students learn about a different virtue each month and how to imitate such good actions by studying the lives of the saints. Students in middle school are expected to accumulate service hours by volunteering in the community to find ways to assist others in their needs without compensation or reward.

St. Joseph Catholic School’s goal is to provide a rigorous academic program that will allow for a child to grow in knowledge and wisdom for them to apply the life lessons learned in the formation process. In doing so, outsiders sometimes question whether students are being sheltered from worldly realities. The perspective of the Catholic school is that we are provided the same nurturing and love for our students that is desired by their parents allowing them to be prepared to face challenges in the world in which we live while allowing them to stay grounded in the values the parents desire that they possess.

Our patron saint was a man who gave his life for his family and his God. Our school is undoubtedly a faith-filled, family-focused environment ready to welcome and care for new community members. If that is the difference you are looking for in your child’s educational experience, we would love to welcome you to be part of our community as we prepare to celebrate our seventieth anniversary.

For more information regarding St. Joseph Catholic School, please call us at (318) 865-3585 to schedule a meeting and tour with our principal, Mr. Clayton Cobb. You may also go online to our school website at www.sjsfalcons.org.