St. John’s Northwestern Academies (SJNA) announced that their Board of Trustees approved plans to launch a new Middle School Academy (MSA). The plan establishes the MSA for 7th and 8th-grade cadets/students beginning for the 2021-2022 academic year, segmenting from the existing Military and Leadership Academies. In addition, SJNA plans to integrate a 6th-grade level into the MSA as early as the 2022-2023 academic year.
The Middle School Academy’s educational experience will center on SJNA’s four foundational pillars of Academics, Athletics, Spiritual/Character Development, and Leadership. The leadership curriculum will focus on social/emotional development. In addition, the MSA will provide a unique educational experience called the Academic Center, beginning in the 2022-2023 academic year. The Academic Center will allow for the selective enrollment of highly motivated (and gifted) young people to qualify and participate as MSA students in 9th-grade courses.
St. John’s Northwestern Academies has offered grades 7 and 8 education for many years. Traditionally, these grades were part of the Military Academy. In addition to the introduction of the Leadership Academy in 2020, SJNA saw a need to broaden the Middle School experience, establish a MSA athletic program to compete with other middle schools, and advance its own academic space and identity.
Mr. Jon Picklemann has been named to serve as the Academic Dean of the Middle School Academy. Picklemann joined SJNA in 2019 and brings nearly 20 years of teaching and school administration experience.
Enrollment inquiries for the upcoming year can be made by visiting sjnacademies.org.
