Rich Leonardi points us to an article in today’s Enquirer about St. Peter Claver Latin School for Boys in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

In an Over-the-Rhine elementary school, a couple of dozen boys learn Latin and Spanish beginning in kindergarten.

In later grades, they play music and take art with a rigorous mix of academics. A college instructor teaches classical literature.

For six years, St. Peter Claver Latin School for Boys has been instructing boys from poor neighborhoods in the classics and developing leadership skills. The goal, school leaders say, is to help raise young men who can change their communities.

While helping boys overcome obstacles, the five-year-old independent Catholic school has had to overcome obstacles of its own.

Most recently, the school’s Latin teacher retired for health reasons, and its part-time music teacher left for family reasons.

And for much of its existence, the school has struggled financially, existing mostly on donations and grants, because most of its students’ families can’t afford its $4,000 tuition.

But school leaders aren’t considering pulling back or closing, they say. They’re negotiating to lease more storefront space in Over-the-Rhine for classrooms next year.

With 28 students, the school has its first seventh-grader this year. It’s one step closer to the dream of its founder, the Rev. Al Lauer.

Lauer, who died a year after founding the school in 2001, had planned for the school to become a combination elementary and high school by 2010.

"He died shortly after the school began, but his vision is still here and growing," said principal Vivian Jansen.

The school’s contact info, in case you’d like to help:

Saint Peter Claver Latin School for Boys
PO Box 14686
Cincinnati, Ohio   45250-0686

Phone: 513-929-9164

INFO@STPTCLV.ORG

A very, very worthy cause!