Infant of Prague Catholic School has officially started the new year with its first ever high school classes and new upper campus.

The school opened in the 1950s at 501 Bordeaux Street in Jacksonville, where it’s sat ever since. Principal Jennifer Feldhaus Bryson said an increase in enrollment has led to the need for another facility, so an expansion was announced last October.

The new campus, located at 501 Anne Street, houses grades 5-12 and officially opened to students for the first day of school on Aug. 22. A grand opening for the community will be held on Sunday, Aug. 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“I think it’s exciting for the future of Catholic education but also for parents of high school-aged students in our community, that they have a choice of where they send their child to school,” Bryson said. “Catholic schools and the North Carolina Opportunity scholarships were big supporters of parent’s choice.”

Bryson said parents are the first and primary educators of their children, so they should be able to find a school with a program best for the development of their child.

“That is what we’re happy to have as an option,” Bryson said. “We have an option that is based in faith, that is academically rigorous and will prepare them for their future.”

Infant of Prague Catholic School is the only Catholic school in Onslow County and surrounding counties to offer a high school education, Bryson said, and she knows other churches, schools and communities are watching to see how it goes.

Bryson added there is a big movement throughout the Diocese towards expanding the Catholic school up to 12th grade, as it traditionally ends in eighth. Additionally, as enrollment continues to increase, so does that need.

Infant of Prague has more than doubled in enrollment in the last decade, Bryson said, and offering a high school education isn’t the only benefit coming from the school’s expansion. She explained there is now the space to offer two classes per grade level instead of just the one they’ve had in the past.

Bryson added the school has a waiting list for pre-k, kindergarten and first grade every year, so, the additional classes will make a big difference. It will also be a benefit to military families coming to the area.

“What we hear from our military families is the consistency Catholic schools provide when they move from station to station,” Bryson said. “It’s nice to be able to serve our military community and give them an option that they’ll be able to move to their next station.”

On top of adding classes, the expansion has doubled the school’s staff, the resources available to students and service to the community and church.

Currently, there are 325 students enrolled at Infant of Prague Catholic School.

“Throughout the expansion, we’ve been very intentional not to lose our Catholic identity,” Bryson said. “That comes from, first and foremost, the partnership with our parents. It’s just as much the parent wanting to come here as the student being part of our school.”

Students are also required to take part in service hours, a tenant of the Catholic faith. Bryson said they, as Catholics, are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, which is why they’ve created these projects.

It’s not just buying the canned good, Bryson said, but it’s what you do along with it, whether that be creating a card or saying a prayer.

“To be able to be continually formed in their faith everyday by teachers, by peers, that’s the difference that we can provide here, and our focus is academics,” Bryson said. “We offer a lot of extracurricular activities, but we say we’re unapologetically Catholic in this model to serve students. If we try to have everything, we lose what we do best.”

Another positive to offering a high school education is the easier transition from middle to high school, Bryson said, adding they didn’t want to build a separate stand-alone high school, but instead expand up to have continuity within their footprint.

The school has families come from surrounding regions too, everywhere from Morehead City to Hampstead, Sneads Ferry, Swansboro and Hubert. One of the reasons the school works like it does, Bryson said, is because of their staff.

Much of the staff consists of retired public school teachers and administrators, and Bryson said combined, the staff has 130 years of experience.

“Here, we love the kids first and the content and the faith, it all comes second,” Bryson said. “We truly love the kids and it’s a great place to be.”

Vice Principal Maria Johnson had been considering retiring from the public school system but knew she still wanted to work. When she found out Infant of Prague was expanding, it made her decision much easier.

As someone who grew up in the area, had her first communion, confirmation and sacraments at Infant of Prague, it’s a wonderful way of coming full circle, Johnson said. Her grandmother was also a secretary at a Catholic school in New York, so she felt it would pay homage to her.

Students also see the value in what the school is providing them, though.

“I think it’s a really important thing to have our faith life and our education,” said freshman Cecelia Nunemacher. “Education and faith are both very important to all of us in our classroom as we’re all Catholic and we’re all students and we’re all growing. Being able to grow in an environment where we’re fully safe in both education and our faith is an amazing thing to have and I’m really grateful I’m able to come here.”

But Infant of Prague Catholic School isn’t done growing just yet.

Phase two of the expansion will start in just a couple weeks, renovating the chapel and additional classrooms underneath. The school has already reached 54% of its financial goal.

For more information on Infant of Prague Catholic School or to submit an application, visit iopcs.wordpress.com, or call the school at 910-455-0838.

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