St Jerome Institute NOVA

We extend our deepest thanks to Father Matt Fish, the pastor of St. Jerome Catholic Church, for delivering such an insightful, heartfelt commencement address to our DC campus graduates last week. Read the full speech on Fr. Fish’s substack: https://frfish.substack.com/p/commencement-address-for-saint-jerome

🎓

Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical released on May 25th, presents a resounding warning to modern educators across the world: without appropriate prudence and control over the use of artificial intelligence (AI), especially in the classroom, its cognitive effects bear a lofty threat against the development of our children’s capacity for critical inquiry and, in consequence, their understanding of the Truth. His Holiness’ address underscores the necessity of the caution that our teachers and staff at SJI exercise towards the integration of technology into education. Overreliance on cell phones, computers, and other devices — many of which, by default, now integrate AI into simple daily functions — perverts what might otherwise be useful tools to become obstructions to the fundamental sense of community and essential skills that help us to be fully alive.

In the last few weeks before their graduation, we asked each of our twelve DC campus graduates in the Class of 2026, “What is the greatest gift that the St. Jerome Institute has given you?”

Their responses not only reflect what they appreciate about SJI, but how much they have grown over the past four years. Scroll to read each of their reflections here.

🎓

On Thursday, we held our annual year-end awards ceremony on our DC campus featuring students who have achieved honors on the National Latin Exam (NLE) as well as the winners of our Arete Awards, which are given out for each course of study in each grade to students who exhibit exceptional academic achievement, effort, joy, and wonder.

This year, two of our students, Arie Wright and Mary Shivone (pictured on slide 4), achieved perfect papers on the Intermediate Latin Reading Comprehension Exam! SJI students have continued to perform admirably on the National Latin Exam. This year, of the 60 students who took the NLE, 35 students received honors. In addition, 58% percent of SJI students received an NLE award, surpassing the national average of 45%!

On the first of June, our DC campus Class of 2026 graduated from the St. Jerome Institute surrounded by their caring family members, teachers, classmates, and friends. Over the past four years, these twelve graduates have matured into confident, capable young men and women with a strong command of critical inquiry and expression, as well as a firm understanding of the precepts and intricacies of the Catholic faith. We are incredibly proud of what they have accomplished during their time at SJI, and pray for their success as they venture forth to college and other pursuits. Graduates, we can’t wait to see how the Lord’s magnificent design for your futures unfolds in the years to come!

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” -Jeremiah 29:11

The Senior Thesis serves as the capstone to the educational program at the St. Jerome Institute and the stage upon which a senior student publicly demonstrates his or her abilities in thinking logically, writing clearly, and speaking effectively. With regular guidance and support from a designated faculty advisor, each student spends a substantial portion of his or her senior year devoted to a Senior Thesis project in which (s)he develops a 12-16 page interpretive essay devoted to the focused study and analysis of 1-2 significant texts from the Classical/Great Books tradition. In May, at the culmination of the project, the student undertakes a one-hour defense of his or her thesis to a panel composed of members of the teaching faculty, responding to the panel’s questions and inquiries in a discussion that is open to the public.

All twelve of our DC campus Class of 2026 graduates (pictured together here) successfully completed their Senior Thesis projects and defenses before Monday’s graduation ceremony!

In Senior Mathematics, the last day of school is full of both fun and important learning. The four years of the Seminar in Mathematics culminates in having all the Seniors prove Euler’s Identity. Containing five of math’s most foundational constants (e, pi, 0, 1 and i) with three fundamental operations (addition, multiplication, and exponentiation), Euler’s Identity is considered one the most beautiful equations in all of mathematics. With the skills they have learned during their study of mathematics at SJI, students are able to not only complete the proof, but understand why it is so beautiful.

Our DC campus sophomore class has been hard at work in Fine Art Studio painting realistic flowers as the capstone project of their “God and Nature” year! At the same time, the seniors are also busy finishing fun, colorful, creative paintings based on a scene or photograph of their choice.

To supplement their study of projectile motion and properties of parabolas, the freshman class from our DC campus took an Adventure Day to the National Air and Space Museum last week to observe and study parabolic space antennae!

The Senior Mathematics class on our DC campus capitalized on the beautiful weather last week to take their learning to the sidewalks! Seniors end their year of calculus by studying Taylor Series. They found the Taylor Series centered at zero for cosine, sine, and the natural log.

From the SJI Mathematics Curriculum:
“It turns out that polynomials, the functions we have been studying for four years, are the basic building blocks of all functions. This is a major point and provides us with a culminating moment of not only the fourth-year curriculum, but indeed the entire mathematical experience over the last four years.”

Just for fun, the students also reviewed related rates with a problem about an expanding soap bubble while creating some soap bubbles of their own!