'Catholic education is a wonderful opportunity'

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

Photography: TOM TRACY | FC

KEY WEST | A lot has changed in the lower Florida Keys since the 1980s, when declining enrollment led to the closure of the Catholic high school in the oldest and southernmost parish of the Archdiocese of Miami.

But a surge in local economic development, tourism jobs and a renewed demand for private and Catholic education in Monroe County culminated Dec. 13, 2024, in the dedication Mass and grand opening of a refurbished Basilica High School building and facility at the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish and School in Key West.

The new facility will allow for full enrollment in 2025 of all four grades under the leadership of principal and president Robert Wright and will serve as an answered prayer for local parents who had few options for private education in Monroe County.

The nearest Catholic high school was located in Miami-Dade County, meaning some families left the Key West area in search of a Catholic education for their children, while others settled for public education.

“For the past 40 years, we have only served students through eighth grade, and families had no choice but to enroll in the public school system for high school,” told the Florida Catholic Angela Wallace, spokesperson for the school.

“However, there has been a significant thirst and demand to re-establish a Catholic high school. Thanks to our incredible community, we began that very endeavor two and a half years ago with a pilot program for ninth grade only,” she said.

Last school year, the Basilica school added tenth grade students to its current student body serving grades nine through 11, “and we look forward to welcoming a senior class next fall,” Wallace added.

Both the elementary and secondary programs currently share existing campus facilities, and this lack of classroom space was impeding enrollment growth until a plan was announced to refurbish an aging auditorium facility that had being rented out as a gymnastics studio, she added.

The new high school building was renovated into a three-story classroom building complete with a state-of-the-art chemistry lab, seven classrooms, a library, and multiple flex-use spaces.

The parish broke ground last year, and construction is now complete, with a last-minute installation of a bronze statue artwork, Stella Maris, Saint Mary Star of the Sea, created by Natalie Plasencia of Miami. Plasencia also created the signature statue gracing the exterior of the newly rebuilt St. Peter Parish in Big Pine Key following landfall from Hurricane Irma there in 2018.

Classes at Basilica High School will begin using the new building at the start of the spring semester.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski presided at the dedication Mass and grand opening of the new Basilica High School building at St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish and School.

In attendance were construction project leaders, members of the local community, donors, parishioners, and the new Basilica rector, Father Christopher Marino, along with Basilica rector emeritus Father John Baker, who retired after 16 years of service at St. Mary Star of the Sea.

Student Elishka Balmaceda, a junior, was a member of the founding freshman class at the Basilica High School and recalled making the brave step to join some 13 other eighth-graders from the parochial school to choose a Catholic high school education when the project was first announced.

“It was definitely something out of the norm; in the very beginning there was a huge divide in our eighth grade class with some people going to the Key West High School and some going to the Basilica high, which wasn’t officially started yet,” said Balmaceda, who said she was born in Key West to a Czech Republic mother and Nicaraguan father.

“It was a very big step forward, but I do not regret it one bit; we started with 13 kids and now we have 16 kids as (students) came in and came out of the class,” she said, noting that her younger sister is a sophomore at the high school.

After high school, Balmaceda said she hopes to attend the University of Florida in North Florida, where she has some relatives.

“I don’t think the social experience of a huge (public) high school is as personal as it is over here,” said Balmaceda, adding that she has developed many close relationships with teachers and classmates over the years.

David Prada, senior director of the Office of Building and Property for the Archdiocese of Miami, said a considerable amount of design work and innovation went into converting a former theater facility into the new high school building. He credited principal Wright for his hands-on leadership at the Basilica school.

And whereas the archdiocese was very cautious about opening a new high school, internal studies showed the demand was there, and a financial plan was put together to show that it was feasible before Archbishop Wenski’s final approval, Prada added.

Also attending the dedication Mass were Nick and Lorie Howley of the Howley Foundation, whose name graces the new high school building.

Nick Howley is also a former national chairman of the Cristo Rey Network Board, which oversees 40 Catholic and college preparatory schools that serve more than 12,000 economically disadvantaged students in 25 states, including Florida, where there is a Cristo Rey school in Miami.

He said his foundation saw an opportunity to help expand high quality education at St. Mary Star of the Sea High School by supporting the new building project here.

“My wife and I were lucky enough to make some money during our lives, and about 20 years ago, we began to look for ways to give it back. We are just thrilled with the school and Florida has the school voucher program, which makes things like this economically feasible, so we invested here,” said Howley, a part-time resident of Monroe County and the Midwest.

“We think Catholic education is a wonderful opportunity. There is a need here because there is no opportunity for Catholic education (otherwise) and we are big believers in this,” Howley said, noting that a high percentage of the workforce in the lower Florida Keys identifies as Catholic. “If you didn’t want to send your kid to a public school, you basically had to leave.”