The Loyola School started with a seed of an idea from Jesuit Father William Watters, who has brought such vision and commitment to Jesuit education for children in Baltimore over the decades.
Wanting children in the city to be able to benefit from Jesuit schools at the earliest ages, he started a preschool that would offer scholarship-based education for young children of Baltimore City families of limited means. The Loyola School, which started with 18 preschoolers in 2017, now educates almost 200 children from age 2 up through third grade.
I’ve followed the Loyola School with interest from its beginnings, but I had never seen the school in action. So, recently I visited and toured the current space with some of the school’s administrators.
I marveled not just at the vibrant activity underway and the beautiful energy in the classrooms, but at the creative use of space as the school has grown – adding grade levels and expanding its offerings.
St. Ignatius Catholic Community, located on Calvert Street in Baltimore, generously shares its space with the students and teachers, but that means that one class meets in a room that includes a walkthrough, and another is using half of the church hall underneath the church. At the end of each week, the staff breaks down the space and clears everything away so that the parish community can use the area fully for the weekend. Then they put it all back together every Monday morning, ready for a new week of learning.
Later this year, if all goes as planned with construction, the elementary-aged students will move into renovated space in townhomes along Madison Street in Mount Vernon. The new space will include not just modern classrooms with technology and space specifically for science and art, but also a library and a sunlit multipurpose room where the whole elementary school community can gather.
As we were visiting the classrooms, I loved how many students came running over to say hello to my guides, who seemed to know every student’s name. When we stopped to peek into the kindergarten space, a boy jogged over to talk to James Fiore, the president, who was part of our group.
Fiore chatted with the student briefly, but it was clear that the boy’s teacher was starting an activity for the children.
“Where are you supposed to be?” Fiore asked, kindly redirecting with the skill of a professional educator and father.
The boy smiled and said, “With you.” Then the teacher called him over, and he ran back to class. But the student’s answer hung in the air.
With you. What a beautiful response. It says so much about a school that the children would feel a sense of belonging and connection not just with their classmates and teachers, but with the school leaders, too.
I couldn’t help but think that that phrase could also be the answer to so many of those questions you ask yourself as you continue through life.
Are we in the right job? Doing the best thing for our family? Spending our time the way we should? Where are we supposed to be?
It can feel like a big question. Still, the answer, when we view it with eyes of faith, is quite simple. With God. With the people we love, with the people God calls us to love.
Perhaps in these slower summer days, God is gently asking us, “Where are you supposed to be?” Whether we’re walking on a beach or praying at Mass or simply sitting outside in the quiet of an evening brightened by lightning bugs, maybe we will have the chance to listen for God this summer and to answer him.
Where are we supposed to be? With you, God. Always with you.
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