Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison and the Diocese of Madison Office of Catholic Schools celebrated two remarkable students on June 4.
That evening, a Baccalaureate Mass and graduation ceremony were held in the Holy Name Oratory at Holy Name Heights in Madison, for the graduates of Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy, the diocesan virtual middle and high school.
The graduates, Clare Speece and Santa Cecilia Trassare, mark the academy’s second graduating class; it’s first was in 2023.
Due to her family’s military background and current assignment at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Trassare was unable to take part in the ceremony.
Bishop Hying celebrated the Mass, and Catholic Schools Assistant Superintendent Therese Milbrath conducted the graduation ceremony.
Milbrath also serves as the academy’s principal.
Catholic Schools Superintendent Michael Lancaster also attended the Mass and ceremony honoring the graduates.
About the graduates
Speece is a parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Monona, part of Stella Maris Parish, with her family.
Because Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy is virtual, Speece was able to obtain her high school diploma in three years.
“I loved that I could move at my own pace,” she said after the Mass, explaining that the combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning “gave me time to be able to work and to do other things that I wanted to, that you couldn’t do in a usual brick and mortar school.”
About Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy, Speece said that she “also really liked that it was very centered around the Faith,” especially with synchronous lessons.
“We always started with prayer, and we always ended with prayer,” Speece said.
After starting high school at Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy, Speece transferred and completed one semester at a local public school, but after that semester, she returned to the virtual high school.
“I realized how not loving the environment was,” Speece said about that semester away.
After returning, “even though I was by myself, I still had my teachers supporting me and I had Therese [Milbrath] supporting me.
“It was really nice to have that support system that I didn’t have in the public school,” she said.
In her “last year of being a kid,” Speece plans to continue working and living at home.
When she turns 18, Speece wants “to follow what my dad does,” and obtain an insurance license and begin work as an agent.
Trassare started with Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy when the school opened, in the fall of 2022.
At that time, her family was stationed in Hawaii.
Trassare’s mother, Harmony, said that “Santa Cecilia is your average military child, moving around the world every few years” due to her father’s military assignments.
“[Santa Cecilia] knew that the flexibility of asynchronous classes would serve her very well,” Harmony explained, and after only a year with Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy, the Trassare family was reassigned to South Korea in 2023.
Part of what made Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy appealing to Trassare was “the personal support and the end goal of a high school diploma from the Diocese of Madison,” her mother said.
Harmony added that “Santa Cecilia plans to attend Holy Apostles College online in the fall of 2025 to study theology and sacred art.”
‘Another option’
“It has opened up another option for families,” said Milbrath about the academy.
She said in 2021, the Office of Catholic Schools took a hard look into Catholic education throughout the diocese and where potential needs were.
After surveys and meetings with parents, “We heard loud and clear we needed a virtual high school because the only Catholic high schools we have are within Dane County,” Milbrath explained.
With Bishop Hying’s approval, the Office of Catholic Schools partnered with Catholic Virtual, and the academy opened.
Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy serves students grades five through 12 and offers both part-time and full-time enrollment options and synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous (at their own pace) classes.
Aside from full-time students, Milbrath mentioned another interested group: Homeschooling families who “are just looking for ways to supplement their child’s education,” whether that’s through a particular course, subject, or more.
Later this year, the academy will be renamed St. Carlo Acutis Academy to reflect its patron’s beatification.
Registration is open now, and can be completed at madisondiocese.org/bca.
To ask questions or for more information, contact [email protected].