Friends of OLV Newsletter - May 27, 2022
Chesterton Schools Network (CSN) Partners with Franciscan University
The CSN and Franciscan University of Steubenville have entered a partnership that would allow our OLV students to earn Franciscan credits for our Chesterton classes (three college hours/credits each for our year-long 11th and 12th-grade theology and philosophy courses). OLV is pleased to extend the benefits of this partnership with Franciscan and provide unique opportunities for our current and future students.
OLV’s Move to Its New Home Is Just Weeks Away
OLV is grateful to generous donors who have covered more than half of our total furnishing needs, such as desks, lockers, bookshelves, whiteboards, and seating for classrooms and teacher workspace, as well as liturgical materials necessary to ensure a reverent, beautiful, and daily celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on campus. These liturgical materials include altar linens, sacred vessels, vestments, and a processional crucifix, among other items. OLV needs your support to fund the remaining half of the total cost for these furnishing needs – roughly $46,500. Your support for these critical capital expenses will be a long-term investment in OLV and its families.
Would you please support this worthy cause?
OLV Hires Excellent Theology, Sciences, Drama, and Music Teachers
OLV continues to be blessed by the quality of its faculty, including these three new additions to the OLV family for the 2022-23 school year:
Kirsten Grandon (Theology and History) “It is an absolute honor and joy to join the Our Lady of Victory community! I graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2018.
Since then, I’ve served as a year-long missionary in Belize, a Residence Director for Franciscan’s study abroad program in Gaming, Austria, and, most recently, an 8th and 9th grade teacher at Regina Caeli Academy here in Denver. In May 2022, I will graduate with a Master of Arts degree in Catholic Studies from Franciscan University.
Each of these experiences has allowed me to participate in Catholic communities and be formed by men and women eager to live deeply Catholic lives. Living abroad was a dream for me, but, in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, I returned home to Denver.
This transition from a fast-paced, exhilarating environment to a simple, ordered, humble life with family allowed me to hear the Lord inviting me to a new mission: a mission to family. I wanted to be a teacher because of how much I love learning, but I wanted to be a teacher at Our Lady of Victory because of how seriously they take their role as a support, rather than a replacement, to the Catholic family. I am so excited to meet each of you. Please pray for me as I pray for you!”
Madeline Miller (Music and English): Born and raised in Orlando, FL, Madeline Miller grew up in the Anglican tradition with a love for choral singing and the music of the liturgy. With two musicians for parents, Miss Miller also enjoyed a rich instrumental education, beginning violin at the age of five and playing in orchestras through high school.
She has a Bachelors of Music in Violin Performance from St. Olaf College, where she continued to perform in choirs and participated in the Great Conversation, a Great Books program that engaged with works of literature and art monumental in the formation of Western culture. During her years at St. Olaf, Miss Miller discovered the goodness, truth, and beauty of the Catholic faith, and in August 2020, she was received into the Church, where she has joyfully encountered Christ, as Gerard Manley Hopkins describes it, “in ten thousand places.”
She continued her studies at Florida State University, where she graduated this past May with a Masters of Music in Violin Performance. During her Masters degree, she taught as a graduate assistant and private violin teacher, as well as sang as a soprano staff singer at St. Peter’s Cathedral and played first violin in a residency string quartet. She is a published poet and enjoys spending time outdoors, playing chamber music, and singing polyphonic works. Having spent the last two years in a state university environment, Miss Miller is eager to return to the thriving and inquisitive community of a Classical school, especially one governed by the framework of the Catholic faith. As choir director at Our Lady of Victory, she is passionate about guiding students in a pursuit of the true Beauty that can only originate from and reflect the Creator.
Christina Ouyang (Biology, Chemistry, and Drama). Christina Ouyang grew up in a Washington, D.C. suburb in Maryland. She holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences with a concentration in neurobiology and physiology and a B.A. in Dance, both from the University of Maryland (UMD). Through her training at UMD’s school of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, Mrs. Ouyang became well versed in the theater arts. During her three years living in Los Angeles, she honed her passion for comedy at Second City Hollywood, where she studied the craft through the training center’s conservatory program.
Mrs. Ouyang began her teaching career upon moving to Los Angeles as a teaching fellow with a program at Loyola Marymount University, through which she earned an M.A. in Secondary Education and a Secondary Science teaching credential, while teaching middle school full time at Our Lady of Lourdes School in East Los Angeles. Simultaneously, she worked as a member of the faculty at the Los Angeles Music and Arts School, where she was able to participate in the training of young performing artists.
Her experience teaching religion to middle schoolers ultimately moved her to pursue further theological study. In Spring 2022, Mrs. Ouyang completed her M.A. in Theology with a concentration in Sacred Scripture at the Augustine Institute. Married in December 2021, she lives in North Denver with her cell biologist husband. In her spare time, she enjoys improv comedy, taking dance classes, analyzing movies and television, and studying biblical languages.
Next Year’s Freshman Class Is Full, and OLV Is Recruiting for the Fall of 2023
OLV is pleased to share we’ve reached full enrollment for our 2022-2023 freshman class, with a growing waitlist. OLV will continue to hold Shadow Days for prospective students on Thursdays. If you know prospective students who would thrive at OLV, please invite the families to request a Shadow Day at OLV to experience the difference! For families interested in the class of 2023-2024, encourage them to apply early!
Formation Fridays
Each Friday, OLV students and faculty have the opportunity to continue their formation outside the classroom in some way. This semester, a particular highlight was the Lenten pilgrimage to the Shroud of Turin Center in Colorado Springs. We also went to the Garden of the Gods for a brief hike to the Cathedral Spires. Founders Dr. John Jackson and his wife Rebecca, with the help of some of their team, presented compelling historical and scientific evidence pointing to the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin being the burial cloth of Christ. Their lifetime of scientific work, sacrifice, passion, and faith were deeply compelling and a powerful witness to Christ. One of the scientists on their team was after decades of research as an atheist was being received in the Church this Easter! We also participated together in the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in unison with the global Church in the midst of our time at the Shroud Center.
Catch the OLV All-School Choir’s Advent Concert
Every week, OLV’s entire student body practices as a single choir under the direction of Dr. Michael Kilcoyne. Before their hard work to prepare Mozart’s Missa Brevis in C Major for the Baccalaureate Mass, they shared an excellent Advent concert in December. You can now enjoy their performance on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2EEKfu3TrM
Thank You for Supporting OLV
We are grateful for your support of OLV. Please consider joining OLV’s Lepanto Monthly Giving Club by committing to recurring donations of at least $25 per month.
And did you know that you can make gifts including appreciated stock and Qualified Charitable Distributions through our partners at the Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado, which also facilitates planned giving to OLV?