Annunciation Catholic School’s proximity to the international embassies in Washington, D.C., could be seen in April 2008, when a group of its students walked to the Vatican’s Apostolic Nunciature during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the nation’s capital and serenaded the pontiff, singing “Happy Birthday” to him in his native German and in English on his 81st birthday.
For the past two years, Annunciation Catholic School has expanded its reach to more far-flung neighbors, as it has launched an innovative virtual Global Campus initiative to serve students around the world, across the United States and throughout the Washington area.
“It allows students to have a faith-based Catholic education no matter where they are, and no matter what the situation is in their families,” said Nicole Peltier-Lewis, Annunciation’s principal.
Annunciation now has 140 students enrolled in its pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school, with 121 students attending classes there in-person, and another 19 students in the fourth through the seventh grades joining their classmates by participating in its online Global Campus program.
Peltier-Lewis noted that the students in Annunciation’s Global Campus are connecting to the school from other countries, including in South America and the Caribbean, and from other states including South Carolina, and from Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.
She explained that the online academy had its genesis after Annunciation like other local Catholic schools transitioned to virtual learning in March 2020 when campuses were closed in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.
“We noticed some families had to leave us, student were going back to their home countries. It was heart-wrenching for students and their families,” she said, adding that school officials decided that to serve their families in this challenging time, “we needed to cast a wider net.”
Students returned to in-person learning at Annunciation Catholic School in the fall of 2020, and that school year, the Global Campus program was launched to offer an educational alternative to students and families who wanted to remain connected to the school, and also to families in the metropolitan area, in other states and countries who sought to have an online Catholic educational option during the pandemic. Peltier-Lewis said some participating families faced the challenge of immunocompromised children or adults in their households, and other families who traditionally home-schooled their children were drawn to the program.
Msgr. Michael Mellone, Annunciation’s pastor, said the Global Campus, the first such program among Catholic schools in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has offered “an adaption to education,” just as colleges have increasingly been offering online courses. “To reach down in a K-8 school was the result of answering what the pandemic presented to us,” he said, adding that their program offered a faith-based alternative to the other online educational programs.
Peltier-Lewis said the students in Annunciation’s Global Campus program remain connected with their classmates attending classes in the brick-and-mortar school building.
“The main thing is connecting students who would have been disconnected at home, (and) are now part of a community of faith,” she said.
Wendy Anderson, the Associate Superintendent for Catholic schools in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, praised the school’s efforts, saying, “Even before the pandemic the leadership at Annunciation School recognized that desire and need for an academic excellent Catholic education to be accessible to more families. By using the latest technology they are now able to bring this to families throughout the world!”
That community began when Annunciation Catholic School opened in 1954, staffed by the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and the school’s mission and curriculum continue to reflect the foundation that religious order began there.
Annunciation’s students taking classes in-person and virtually begin their school days together each morning with a Town Hall, for a prayer service and to celebrate students’ birthdays, academic successes and victories by the school’s sports teams. A key feature of the Global Campus program is that each student is connected with an academic coach for support.
In addition to participating in live classroom instruction and small group discussions with their classmates, the students in the Global Campus program can “have lunch with friends online, via Google Meet,” Peltier-Lewis said.
Msgr. Mellone noted that the congregation for the schoolwide Masses each Friday includes Annunciation’s students attending classes in person and the Global Campus students viewing the livestreamed liturgies. He said that enables him to bring the Gospel stories and talk about Jesus to all the school’s students.
“We’re all a part of the life the Lord gives us, and that life is sacred,” he said.
Peltier-Lewis said the school’s Catholic identity is central to the education it offers its student body, which is about 65 percent non-Catholic and 35 percent Catholic. She noted how a Muslim mother said having her son attend the school had made him more reverent in his Muslim faith. And she added that some students attending classes there have been inspired to become Catholic.
Annunciation’s principal pointed out how the students taking classes in-person and virtually there have participated in service projects together, collecting Christmas gifts for children in need by ordering them online, participating in food drives, and creating Valentine’s Day cards and sending them electronically to the Food & Friends program serving children and adults with life-challenging illnesses.
By making those connections inside and outside the classroom, students “don’t feel isolated. Even for adults during the pandemic, social connection is so vital,” said Peltier-Lewis.
The importance of keeping students connected was also emphasized by the school’s two assistant principals.
That helps students “understand even though you are at a distance, you can connect in other ways,” said Coretta Streat, an Annunciation assistant principal who leads the Learning Center there, which serves students with diverse academic learning needs. She also manages the school’s team of academic support coaches.
Richard Kightlinger, Annunciation’s other assistant principal, also teaches art there, and has been a faculty member at the school for 23 years.
“To create art with students in any form, (whether they are attending class) in-person or virtually, is always fun,” he said, adding that however his students are joining him, “I just see them as my students sitting there.”
The veteran teacher added, “Annunciation has always been a loving, accepting school where we open our doors and accept students from all places. The Global Campus allows us to reach students from all around the world and bring them into our family.”
Some of Annunciation’s students have family roots in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe.
As months have passed during the pandemic, some Annunciation students who had been attending classes virtually have returned to in-person learning there, and Peltier-Lewis said that when that has happened, the school has celebrated the return of those students with a pizza party or a McDonald’s lunch for everyone.
Peltier-Lewis said that when the COVID-19 shutdown of Washington-area Catholic schools happened in March 2020, Annunciation Catholic School had planned for that possibility and was prepared to transition to virtual learning, with packets prepared for them and each student having a laptop or Chromebook to connect with their classes online.
Reflecting on that transition and the ones that followed, she said, “We had to learn to be flexible. We saw how COVID impacted schools around the world.” She added, “We’ve continuously worked to learn new skills. We’re constantly pivoting and changing to meet the needs of our students.”
Annunciation’s assistant principals said the adjustments the school made during the pandemic provided a learning experience for both the students and their teachers, and reinforced the importance of staying connected. Kightlinger noted, “Even if we weren’t in person, they (students) still made that connection with us and felt safe.”
Streat pointed out that, “As administrators, we say to students that learning never stops. We (educators) had to really learn when the pandemic started. I tried to learn new techniques for teaching every day. The students were relying on us to deliver their education.” The assistant principal said that through that experience, “I think the students learned how to handle challenges… They got to see us handle and manage those challenges.”
Through it all, Annunciation Catholic School has sought ways to strengthen its academic program. The school offers a S.T.R.E.A.M. curriculum (Science, Technology, Reading/Religion, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). That initiative having a Maker Space Lab, a hands-on learning environment with a 3-D printer and other technology, where students can tackle creative and challenging engineering projects like building robots.
Beginning in pre-kindergarten, Annunciation students take Spanish classes. That requirement, Peltier-Lewis said, “really goes along with our international foundation. We have to have them equipped to be global citizens.” The school’s fifth and sixth graders also take Latin classes.
Annunciation Catholic School is a candidate in the International Baccalaureate program to become an IB World School for the elementary education level.
For its kindergarten through third grade students, Annunciation has partnered with Catholic Virtual to provide special online classes.
In addition to its academics, Annunciation sponsors a variety of clubs, including clubs for students interested in dance, math, art, literature, music, film and drama, and an Environmental Club. This past fall, trees were planted around the school’s campus as part of the Laudato Trees initiative inspired by Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ encyclical on caring for the environment.
During Catholic Schools Week between Jan. 30 and Feb. 5, Annunciation Catholic School participated in fun activities including Crazy Hat Day, trivia contests, races and a talent show, and they also had synod discussions about their faith, at a time when parishes and dioceses are having synod gatherings in preparation for the 2023 worldwide Synod of Bishops.
In interviews, Annunciation eighth graders and student ambassadors Cai Roberson and Caleb Acuna reflected on their educational experience there.
“This school has taught me to be my best ever since I’ve gotten here,” said Acuna, who began attending Annunciation in kindergarten. He added, “We as a school learned to treat each other with respect, to treat each other kindly.”
Roberson, who has been a student there since the sixth grade, said, “It’s definitely taught me how to be more dedicated and determined in my work.”
Noting how the school community has done during the pandemic, Acuna said, “We’ve adjusted pretty well to online and readjusted to in-person education. Our teachers are very dedicated, and I don’t feel like we missed anything.”
Acuna said Annunciation’s High School Prep Program, which helps students prepare for the high school placement test and offers interview practice and essay writing support, “prepared the entire class for the new high school experience” that they will all have.
Peltier-Lewis noted that in that program, students also discuss making decisions in high school, and “how to make sure your actions and life gives honor to God.”
Like her fellow educators there, the principal has pitched in to help however she can during the past few challenging years, including teaching math and religion classes. “We feel very blessed. We feel it’s a vocation” to teach at their Catholic school, she said, adding, “We’re doing God’s work.”
Walking through the hallway after describing Annunciation Catholic School’s Global Campus, Peltier-Lewis noted how the doors to the classrooms for the different grades were decorated to reflect individual countries, including China and the Year of the Tiger for the pre-kindergarten classroom, the Philippines for the fourth grade, Japan for the fifth grade, Ethiopia for the sixth grade and Colombia for the seventh grade.
Reflecting on her school, she said, “That’s our goal, that we empower our scholars with the tools necessary to be faith-filled and global citizens and create a better world.”
