This year’s freshman class at Roger Bacon High School in Cincinnati will be its 100th class to graduate, immersed in the academic values and Franciscan tradition of their predecessors at the school named for the medieval friar and scientist.
“I am a proud 2011 graduate of this incredible place,” says Brandon Spaeth, who has carried forth his devotion to the Roger Bacon Spartans as Director of Advancement, where he is part of a $10 million fundraising campaign that is expected to nurture another century of students.
The school was established in 1928 as part of an archdiocesan high school system, formed in the Franciscan tradition of scholarship and service. With 550 students, Roger Bacon is known for its personable approach, where each student is known and nurtured.
Roger Bacon began as an all-boys school until 1984, when it merged with Our Lady of the Angels and became coeducational.
The school promotes 16 Franciscan values, one for each quarter. The idea is that students will be exposed to all the values by the time they graduate. Those values include fraternity, humility, holiness, hospitality, joyfulness, contemplation and discipline. Assisted by their lay peers, five Franciscans on staff promote those values. They are:
- Bro. Gene Mayer, OFM – Advancement/Franciscan liaison;
- Bro. Chris Cahill, OFM – Science Dept (robotics/engineering);
- Father Mark Hudak, OFM – Technology;
- Bro. Josh Richter, OFM – Theology, and,
- Bro. Angel Vasquez, OFM – Student Services Department.
Roger Bacon features the Assisi Scholars Program, through which students participate in a rigorous curriculum focused on academic, spiritual, and leadership development. As part of the reward for completion of this program, the Assisi Scholars embark on an all-expenses paid pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi the spring of their senior year. This trip is a true pilgrimage, with students walking in the footsteps of St. Francis and St. Clare, while visiting such historical sites as the tomb of St. Francis, the Sanctuary at La Verna, and the Basilica of St. Francis. To date more than 160 students have made the pilgrimage.
Students also participate in the San Juan Bautista Pilgrimage, a visit to the Franciscan missions in California.
Included are stops at San Juan Bautista, Monterey, Carmel and San Francisco.
Tuition is $10,900, but generous financial aid packages and scholarships are available. “The average tuition a student and their family are responsible for is under $2,000, which helps make affording Roger Bacon possible for all our families,” says Spaeth. Students come from both wealthy and low-income areas in the Cincinnati region.
“Roger Bacon takes students from across the board,” says Spaeth. “When you enter Roger Bacon, everyone is reminded every day that they have value, no matter who you are or where you come from.”
The school is looking towards celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2028. Roger Bacon looks to the future with confidence.
It has already raised more than half of its $10 million Capital Campaign, which will stretch over three years.
The fundraising effort is called “We Are the Good Soil,” based upon the parable in Matthew’s Gospel about a fertile plot in which faith is nurtured and grows. The campaign is aimed at improving school security, increase scholarships, expand academic programs and construct a chapel dedicated to reenforcing the school’s Franciscan values.
Joshua Becker, a senior, will be graduated from the school before the benefits of the campaign are evident, but sees it as a valuable addition for future Bacon students.
He offered this testimony:
“Roger Bacon is a safe place to express my beliefs and feel part of a community that cares about them. It has also given me a way to be active in my community and spread my faith to others. A dedicated chapel will be extremely beneficial to Roger Bacon as it will provide a space for reflecting, growing in faith, and spending time in the presence of God.”
A complete overview of the campaign, as well as a description of the Franciscan mission at Roger Bacon High School, can be found at – https://www.rogerbacon.org/giving/we-are-the-good-soil.
