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Regina Luminis Academy (RLA) is an academy in Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA. It is a private Catholic co-educational academy, independent of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but listed in the diocesan directory. Its name is Latin for "Queen of Light" and is a reference to Mary (mother of Jesus) who is the patron saint of the school. The academy opened its doors on September 8, 2008, at its present location at 40 West Pennsylvania Avenue. Regina Luminis Academy is affiliated with Regina Coeli Academy (Queen of Heaven) in Abington, Pennsylvania, and Regina Angelorum Academy (Queen of Angels) in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Together, the three schools form the Regina Academies. RLA was accredited in early 2013 by the National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools (NAPCIS). In early 2014, RLA's high school was named to the National Catholic High School Honor Roll.

1. History

The academy was founded in 2008 by Deborah Giardini and Cynthia O'Brien. Each had enrolled at least one of her children for the 2007-2008 academic year in Regina Coeli Academy, and found that school to be exactly what they wanted for their children, but too far from home. During that year, the two researched, planned, incorporated, selected a curriculum, found a building and hired staff. The academy opened with 32 students from thirteen families and seven full-time staff members. While modeling itself after Regina Coeli Academy, it remained a separate institution.

Diane Toler joined the Board of Directors in early 2009 to assist with curriculum development and to add a high school. Through her efforts, the academy added one high school grade per year since 2010, with the first 12th-grade class enrolled in the fall of 2013. Enrollment as of early 2014 was 89 students from 38 families, including 28 high school students, employing ten full-time and ten part-time staff.

2. Mission

Regina Luminis Academy was founded to assist parents in the education and formation of their children by providing a classical liberal arts education in the Western tradition, faithful to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. The course of study at Regina Luminis Academy aims to produce a student who is trained in Christian virtue, and who is one with the tradition of learning that sustains Western Civilization. The end result is gentlemen and ladies who are at home in the Catholic Church, at home in the cultural heritage of the West, and ready to evangelize and undertake positions of leadership in the twenty-first century.

3. Academics

The Academy provides a Classical Liberal Arts Education. Classical Education attempts to recover and to make available for today’s students the wisdom of traditional educational models reaching back to the Trivium of the Middle Ages. The medieval Trivium—Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric—describes the course by which a child acquires mastery of a subject. In the Grammar stage (elementary school), a child focuses on learning “facts”—vocabulary, spelling, multiplication tables, historical dates, etc.—and exercising the memory by learning poetry by heart. In the Logic stage (the middle school years), a child explores the relations between facts—for example, the causes of historical events—and masters the rules of logical reasoning. In the Rhetoric stage (the high school years), the focus is on excellence in both written and spoken expression. The goal of classical schooling is a graduate who knows a great deal, who understands what he knows, and who can communicate persuasively with others. The pursuit of excellence in education has long had the goal of producing men and women intellectually and emotionally able to enter into, and affect, the world around them.The classical term to refer to the skills necessary to produce such well-formed individuals is “liberal arts” – arts that, when mastered, make one free.

The curriculum at Regina Luminis Academy reflects the Academy’s mission to form children who are faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and educated in the classical liberal arts tradition. To this end, the Catholic faith is present in every aspect of the classroom. The curriculum is structured to reflect the medieval Trivium and thereby cultivate a rational and disciplined mind. Grammar and logic stages are completed at the elementary school level to prepare the student for the rhetoric stage studied in the high school years. Accordingly, course content in the humanities is integrated so factual content is reinforced and interconnections are established between literature, history, and religion. Moreover, the indebtedness of the humanities to the Latin language is highlighted by the student’s mastery of that language. The course of study at Regina Luminis Academy produces a student who is trained in Christian virtue, and who is one with the tradition of learning that sustains Western Civilization. The end result is gentlemen and ladies who are at home in the Catholic Church, at home in the cultural heritage of the West, and ready to evangelize and undertake positions of leadership in the twenty-first century.

4. Athletics

Regina Luminis Academy students may elect to be in the fencing program. The program began in 2012 with the formation the academy's club under the direction of a fencing master. The school competes with three other local clubs.

5. References

6. External Links.