New Season, New Podcast! Summer News from CASF
A revolutionary educational model is transforming young minds and it's about to open in beautiful downtown Charleston, SC.
As a conscientious Catholic parent or grandparent, you understand the critical need for an education system that not only imparts knowledge but also fosters character, faith, and joy in the next generation. The Chesterton Academy of St. Fin Bar, opening its doors in August 2025, offers a proven classical Catholic model that addresses the modern crisis in education by cultivating well-rounded, principled individuals ready to lead with purpose.
In this summer 2025 update with Mr. Michael MacKinnon you'll learn:
🌟 A Visionary Leadership Blueprint: How the momentum behind the opening Chesterton Academy St. Finbar's has accelerated
🔥 Faculty Updates: Head of School Dr. Michele McCoy has hired top-tier faculty ready to teach these new students from a classical, Catholic point of view
💡 How You Can Help: Hear from a board chair who turned a bold vision into reality, set to open this August
Play this episode now to gain exclusive insights from Michael McKinnon and fuel your leadership journey with the transformative power of classical education!
Each episode dives deep into a fascinating and timely topic: the role of faith-based education in shaping future leaders with emotional resilience, intellectual rigor, and a commitment to community.
This is about more than just schools—it's about a movement toward renewal and hope in a challenging world.
For more information visit www.stfinbar.org.
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LAURA: Welcome to Chesterton Academy, St. Fin Bar's podcast. This is season two, where we seek to inspire and inform you about all the things related to the wonders of classical education through the lens of the Catholic faith. I am your host, Laura Camacho, and today I am interviewing Mr. Michael McKinnon. Who is the chair of the board of directors. He and his wife Laurel, have been part of the Chesterton Academy, St. Finbar since it was an idea a couple of years ago. So welcome.
Well, everybody, welcome to season two of the Chesterton Academy St. Finbar podcast. I'm super excited to bring back the chair of the board of directors, Mr. Michael McKinnon, who is interviewing from New Orleans. That's so exciting. Welcome, Michael, and tell us why you're there in New Orleans.
MICHAEL: Thanks, Laura. Great to be back and having an opportunity to share with you kind of where we're at and the progress we've made here with Chesterton Academy of St. Finbar. I'm actually here in Orleans for the Chesterton School Networks Annual Summit. So we are here with 400 others from around the US and even globally. How their Chesterton academies are doing. How we continue to improve and build on the success that the Chesterton academies have seen across the globe. And, I think we're 90 plus schools by the time this fall rolls around. So exciting to be here in New Orleans and commiserating with our peers.
LAURA: That is so awesome. And what do you feel is the vibe, the energy, there just must be so much excitement. Because while Chesterton Academy as a model has been around a while, it just seems to have so much momentum right now.
MICHAEL: Yeah, that's a great point. And it was interesting as we kicked off a couple of days ago here, some of the folks who had been with Chesterton academies since the inception, Dale Alquist and others, commenting on how much the room has grown. Right? This was a homegrown effort outta Minneapolis, when they started in 2007, and now to have 400 people attending from across the globe. And, you’re right, the energy is phenomenal and people are coming to this with a sense that God really is driving, a purpose for a joyful classical Catholic education in the US and abroad. And that's really manifested by the amount of folks who are looking to this model for opening their schools, and that there's a ton of excitement in the room. You can definitely feel that the Chesterton Academy as a network is on the upward trend.
LAURA: That's wonderful. And so for those of you listening, if you, or by any chance knew. To the Chesterton Academy world, I strongly suggest you go back and listen to some of our Season one podcast episodes - they're all pretty short - to get the history. It is a model of a very authentic, Catholic classical education, but joy is the theme. Like it is not to be all down in the mouth and complaining about the sacrifices you're making, like I might be doing. No, you're gonna be joyful because Catholicism is such a beautiful gift to all of us. All right, well we gotta get crackalackin.
This school is gonna open very soon, in a couple of months. What do the new students, the new families, like, what do they have to look forward to or what's happened since we last talked?
MICHAEL: You mentioned, less than two months. That is both exciting and frightening at the same time, Laura, as we prepare for welcoming our inaugural class of students here in August. And we've been very busy, obviously. Getting all of our teachers hired, which is a huge development since the last time we spoke, for those who are not aware, we've hired five incredible teachers who will be joining Michelle McCo on our staff at Chesterton Academy of St. Finbar. Amazing backgrounds. I would encourage everybody to go onto the St. Finbar website and take a look at some of the biographies of the teachers we’re bringing on board. That was probably one of the larger developments that we're extremely excited about. We thought this was going to be a great opportunity to bring wonderful talent in. We were overwhelmed by the amount of folks who wanted to take part in this from an educator perspective. So, folks who've been either working in the education system or just outside of it in the periphery, but had a classical background. And that's been a real blessing. So, seeing Michelle, you know, develop her, her team, and as we come to the CSN summit here and seeing a lot of the other teachers who are teaching across the, the network, is really encouraging, to know that our students are gonna get an amazing experience, especially, you know, in these first few years as we're growing and scaling…They're gonna be really small, personal classes. The one-on-one ability for our teachers to engage with our students is gonna be amazing. So, you know, the teachers has been a big development. We're obviously finalizing the lease with the diocese to be moving in on July 1st. So we are, about less than two weeks away from taking our place there at the parish hall, at the cathedral. And so getting the classrooms ready and getting the tables and chairs and all the things that you need to have a school in place are where we're at right now. And so, an exciting time. A busy time. But, one that, you know, as we get into the summer and things heat up here in Charleston, they're heating up for us.
LAURA: Yes, and I know you’ve had a lot of things donated to the school. Is there anything you’re looking for? and I think the students are so fortunate to be able to study in this particular method of the classical where your English class and your history class. Maybe other subjects like they cover the same time period. I think that's so cool. And then to be able to do that while in beautiful downtown Charleston, that is such a blessing.
I think I can just imagine that the relationships among the inaugural class, that they're gonna be like lifetime bonds because of being the first to be in the St. Finbar Chesterton Academy. Yeah. And I know you've had a lot of things donated to the school. Is there anything else you wanna put the word out that you're looking for? You know, in say, in this summer? Of course if you do, people need to act quickly, but is there something in particular?
MICHAEL: Yeah, I mean, as we obviously are getting the actual classroom set up we'd love for, whether it's TVs that we're using (we're not a high tech school), but we still want to be able to present when need be. We're looking for that.
Thankfully, the parish hall is in pretty good overall shape and it was previously a K-8, so the classrooms are in pretty good nick.
What we’re looking for is certainly, and we're gonna be sending out an email to all of those who have, you know, subscribed to us as an organization. So they'll be receiving an email here shortly around the physical things that we might need to help us get started. There is a list of those that we’ll be sharing with folks supporting us financially with a thousand dollars or greater gift. And as our vision really comes to fruition here in getting this inaugural class up and running, appreciate those donors who continue to come, and are supporting us in meaningful ways. And, that's fantastic. And, and to your point, these first students are gonna be, you know, they're gonna be right on the wall as the first. And there's something special about getting an incredible education, they’re going to be part of a history of what we’re building in downtown Charleston..
LAURA: Oh yes. And I can't, I just can't wait because I think the ripple effects were gonna feel throughout the diocese, really, of these young people. Having such an intense academic but joyful experience. And so if anybody is, about to, you know, send their teenager to ninth grade there, they might be able to work you in, but you definitely need to get on the stick.
MICHAEL: Yes.
LAURA: Michael, you've been behind this a long time. You've dedicated, I can't even imagine how many hours and talked to so many people. It must be pretty exciting for you. What are you most excited about with the school opening in August?
MICHAEL: Laura, you know, it's only been a couple of hours we've worked on this. It's been very easy.
LAURA: You're supernaturally productive.
MICHAEL: Yeah, it's, uh, and it's, uh, again, you know, commiserating with folks here in New Orleans, it's a lot of work. It's hard. It's been two years of effort from a lot of people to come together and tremendous excitement, to get to this point, is a real testament to God's grace and opening the right doors with the right people to help us, whether that's through our students, our teachers, our head of school, Michelle McCoy, or, the diocesan support that we've received. Father Wilson and Father LaCombe at the Catherdral. It's been really a blessing that we, as we've walked down this path, and of course, a lot of work and overcoming several hurdles along the way. But in doing that, it's amazing to see how God continues to open the next door, and the next door and never felt like it, totally shut off to us. And I think that's a testament that, you know, his arrows, right.
Absolutely.
You have to be able to either duck or take one and then, you know, know that you're, you're gonna, you're gonna heal from the wound and you're gonna move forward. That's what I think we're, you know, and just to, to be part of these first couple of weeks as we get started, I think is, you know, it's just gonna be the culmination of a lot of hard work and effort from so many. So, very excited about about the path.
LAURA: I am excited also. So this is wonderful news. It's great to hear from you. I'm so glad they have this conference for you to share ideas and experiences, like you're not the only one who's faced this thing. 'cause really folks, it's like a startup. It is, is you know, a startup, know, I coach people from startups all the time.
You have to have unbelievable tenacity. Because there's problems that you can never imagine are gonna come. And a lot of people, you know, they don't really, you know, some people can't believe in something until they see it. And yet you've had the vision. Laurel's had the vision, Michelle's had the vision, plus the great work of the. Chesterton Academy mothership. It has, you know, they are providing, you know, the model, but still, if you're here locally and you haven't been to a conference, what, what do they talk about? And then there's also been, I think, throughout the, past 10 years in Charleston, people talk about starting new schools all the time, and so there was probably a little bit of skepticism, but lo and behold, it is here.
MICHAEL: Yes.
LAURA: We have our student body, we have teachers. The next episode, I'll be interviewing Michelle McCoy. She's gonna tell us about our faculty, and then we're gonna get to talk to each faculty member. Because when you get to talk to someone who's teaching, who's not teaching to the test, it's totally different.
MICHAEL: Yeah.
LAURA: I mean, they are teaching from their heart and their minds, sharing what they are most passionate about, and I think these students are going to have the experience of a lifetime. So, is there anything else you would like to say in closing to our audience?
MICHAEL: Yeah. Again, and I think in every episode, I hope that this comes out as we would, you know, continued prayers for us as an organization in the Chesterton Academy of St. Finbar, for our students who will be joining us in August, for our teachers who've made a commitment to us, to lead and teach our children, to the diocesan support.
Basically just, laying out those prayers to continue to create the path forward for us as an organization and for our donors as well. That's the main thing, right? If we pray and we continue to lift it up, then I think we'll be in good stead. And again, encourage folks to continue to ask questions.
It's amazing Laura, that, you know, even in the last week we've had a new application from a military family. We're accepting applications through Labor Day. And so if you're still on the fence or not sure. And to your point, opening a school is hard. It takes a lot of work, and I totally understand. People standing on the sidelines, waiting to see. Right. The waiting is over. We are opening, you know, it is happening.
Yes.
If you're interested in joining us, let’s start the conversation.
LAURA: Absolutely. And if there's any question you would like answered on a future podcast, please email us at podcast@stfinbar.org.
Or you can feel free to reach out to info, so INFO at st finbar org as well.
All right. Thank you so much. Well enjoy the rest of your time in New Orleans and we'll see you when you get back to Charleston.ext goes here