Join the Mission

Campaign Overview

St. Martin’s Academy places boys in an environment abounding with space to grow in authentically masculine ways and provides an education for the whole person: body, mind, and soul. Having completed the construction of lodgings and main hall for our young men, we are continuing to look for friends and patrons who will support us in the actualization of our founding mission. We are looking to immediately build a fieldhouse and temporary chapel that will give us the breathing room to raise a chapel that is lasting, magnificent, and central to the campus and life of the school. Here are a few ways you can become a part of our movement.

Campus Development Timeline

From an untamed brushy hillside surrounded by mixed prairies and woodlands to its eventual transformation into a mature campus of sturdy buildings, fruitful farmland, and a magnificent chapel, St. Martin’s Academy is building a lasting home where generations of students can experience the profound difference of an education rooted in reality.

Picture

Theotokos Hall

The construction of Theotokos Hall, our largest planned building, was completed in 2019. Theotokos is sustainably constructed of native oak timbers and stone, and is our permanent dining hall and hearth.

2019

Movie

Ten Bunkhouses

In 2021 we completed construction of ten bunkhouses, each housing five to seven young men. The bunkhouses are spartan in nature but include basic amenities such as running water and electricity. Our students are responsible for their care and maintenance.

2021

Picture

ACADEMIC BUILDING, LIBRARY, AND AMPHITHEATRE

As our school and campus matures, we’ll add a beautiful academic building, with classrooms, faculty offices, and a robust library. An amphitheater for plays, concerts, and talent shows will nestle into the hillside.

2024

Location

Chapel

The crown jewel of our campus will be our chapel, built of native stone and situated on the highest point of campus. From Morning Prayer and Holy Mass to the recitation of the Rosary and the chanting of Compline, life will radiate outward from the Blessed Sacrament, endowing everything we do at St. Martin’s with purpose and eternal significance.

2026

Why St. Martin’s Academy is Different

A far cry from the typical school environment, St. Martin’s Academy gives young men proximity to creation and its maker, relief from the sedation and constant noise of screens, as well as meaningful challenges, discipline, and responsibility. In this environment of farm work, study and prayer, boys find the rich and fertile soil they need to grow into holy men.

60 Students from 20 Different States

Student to Faculty Ratio

18:1

Average Private School

4:1

St. Martin's Academy

Tuition + Room & Board

$67.2K

Average Boarding School
(source: educationdata.org)

$24K

St. Martin's Academy

Screen Time (Hours Per Week)

63

Average Teenager

0

SMA Student

63 hours is 3,780 minutes

Let's take a look at how those minutes breakdown in an average week at St. Martin's.

820 Minutes
Average Teenager: Screen Time
SMA Student: Attending Mass, reciting Lauds, praying the Rosary, chanting Compline, learning Gregorian Chant
590 Minutes
Average Teenager: Screen Time
SMA Student: Milking cows, chopping wood, butchering chickens, other farm chores
970 Minutes
Average Teenager: Screen Time
SMA Student: Practicing Rugby, running a woodland obstacle course, practicing bushcraft, fishing, camping, kayaking, sailing and other unscripted, creative free-time
610 Minutes
Average Teenager: Screen Time
SMA Student: READING, LEARNING FOLKS SONGS, RECITING POETRY, LEARNING TO PLAY INSTRUMENTS, JUGGLING
790 Minutes
Average Teenager: Screen Time
SMA Student: Eating meals together, doing the dishes, scrubbing a toilet, raking leaves or shoveling snow for neighbors in need
“As little as a century ago, a Christian gentleman could translate Horace, solve a related-rates problem, and read standard notation. He could sketch a cathedral, field dress a deer, and tie a half-Windsor, though he knew anything more than a Four-in-Hand was pretentious for most occasions. He was as comfortable with a hammer as he was with a fly rod. He was as conversant in Homer as he was in last year’s pennant race. He could hold his own at conversation, but he understood that the most boring person in the room was the one who talked about himself. He could win at cribbage. He could lose with grace. He had a good prose style, and he had good penmanship. He didn’t call the repairman. He was the repairman. He knew that courage was grace under fire. He knew that America was a patrimony of Greece and Rome, baptized in the Christian Age, and carried to these shores in 1492. He was a citizen of the Christian West.

The Christian West has faded, and so many who long for its return write checks in vain to political celebrities hoping they will restore its glory. I send my money to St. Martin’s Academy instead. St. Martin’s is the crucible of the restoration of the Christian West, for at this magnificent and joyful school, Christian gentleman—citizens of the West—are being formed yet again.”
Christopher Check
President, Catholic Answers

Advisory Board

Dale Ahlquist is President of the American Chesterton Society, and publisher of its flagship publication, GILBERT. Dale is also the creator and host of the popular EWTN series The Apostle of Common Sense, and he is the author of three books on Chesterton including G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton and The Complete Thinker.

Francis Bethel, O.S.B. attended the University of Kansas where he studied under John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Frank Nelick. In 1975, he entered the French Benedictine Abbey Notre Dame de Fontgombault, where he made his vows as a Benedictine monk in 1977 and was ordained a priest in 1983. In 1999 he returned to the United States and was among the founders of the Benedictine monastery of Our Lady of Clear Creek in Hulbert, Oklahoma. Fr. Bethel serves as Prior of that Abbey, as well as the Master of Novices and the Master of Oblates.

Christopher Check is president of Catholic Answers. A graduate of Rice University, for nearly two decades he served as vice president of The Rockford Institute. Before that he served for seven years as a field artillery officer in the Marine Corps, attaining the grade of captain. He lectures on Church and military history.

Fr. Paul N. Check graduated from Rice University, TX with a BA in history, and then served as an officer in the US Marine Corps for nine years prior to entering the seminary. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT in 1997. He holds an STB from the Gregorian University and an STL from the University of the Holy Cross, both in Rome. In 2008, he was selected to succeed Fr John Harvey as the Executive Director of Courage International.

Bishop Conley studied in the University of Kansas’s Integrated Humanities Program under John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Frank Nelick. In 1980, Bishop Conley entered seminary for the Diocese of Wichita, and was ordained a priest on May 18, 1985. After serving the Church in many different roles, Conley was appointed as Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska by Pope Benedict XVI, and he was installed as the ninth Bishop of Lincoln on November 20, 2012.

Dr. John Cuddeback received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 1997. He writes and lectures on various topics including virtue, culture, natural law, contemplation, and friendship. His book, True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness, was republished in 2010. A Third Order lay Dominican, he currently teaches in the Philosophy department at Christendom College.

Dr. Anthony Esolen is a writer, translator of classical poetry, and professor of English Renaissance and classical literature. He has taught at Furman University and Providence College, and joined the faculty of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts as a professor in 2017. Esolen has translated into English Dante’s Divine Comedy, Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, and Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered.

Dr. William Edmund Fahey is the third president of Thomas More College in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He holds an A.B. in Classics and History from Xavier University in Cincinnati; an M.Phil. in Ancient History from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland); and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Classics from the Catholic University of America. Dr. Fahey has been published in both scholarly and popular journals, and is a Benedictine Oblate of Clear Creek Abbey.

Bishop Kemme was ordained to the priesthood on May 10, 1986, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, Illinois. After serving the Church in a variety of roles, he was appointed vicar general/moderator of the curia in 2002, and served as diocesan chancellor from January to June 2005. In 2014 Pope Francis appointed Kemme to be the eleventh bishop of Wichita, and he was consecrated by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas on May 1, 2014.

Dr. Whalen obtained his Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas where he studied in the Integrated Humanities Program under John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Frank Nelick. He taught at the University of Kansas and Belmont Abbey College before joining the faculty at Hillsdale College in 1994, where he now serves as Provost. Dr. Whalen is the author of The Consolation of Rhetoric, and has published articles on Renaissance poetry, non-fiction prose, and the history and philosophy of liberal arts education.

David Williams is a founder and Board Chairman of Valor Public Schools. A graduate of Fairfield University, he holds Masters degrees in History, Liberal Arts, and Theology from the University of Notre Dame, St. John’s College, and the John Paul II Pontifical Institute. Prior to starting Valor Public Schools, David served as Executive Director of Great Hearts in San Antonio for three years, and as the Founder and Headmaster of Glendale Preparatory Academy for five.

“John Senior wrote: 'A high school’s work is not to make boys into special kinds of men, but realize the rich potential of their age, which is to know and love the maker and the things He made, with all their mind, heart, strength as souls as boys.' Boys at St. Martin's are experiencing the beauty of courtesy, generosity, loyalty, courage, friendship. Grace builds on nature, and such education gives grace something very good to work with. Whatever happens as these boys go out into the adventure of life, they will have tasted deep truth and goodness that they cannot forget.”
Fr. Francis Bethel, O.S.B.
Prior, Clear Creek Abbey

Ways to Support Us

St. Martin’s Academy is building a beautiful, sustainable home that will form influential leaders by nurturing authentic masculinity, healing the imagination, awakening wonder, and developing attentiveness to reality. We invite you to join us by contributing to Saint Martin's, and in some cases, joining a society of givers.

  • General Fund: A one-time donation or stock gift
  • The Kingfisher's Guild: A recurring monthly gift
  • The Dr. Gerald F. Kerr Society: A planned legacy gift
  • The Doc Klassen Endowment: For the Faculty of Saint Martin's Academy

The Kingfisher's Guild

We invite you to join the Kingfisher's Guild, our giving society for anyone supporting Saint Martin's at a monthly rate. The opportunity to no longer be a spectator but join the mission of the school includes the following benefits:

Regular Updates

  • Receive monthly glimpses into the life of the school through direct communication with the development team

Learn from our Faculty

  • Receive the regular video series "Coffee with the Kingfishers" with school news from our President, and book, poetry, and song recommendations, glimpses into the classroom, and fun stories from our faculty

Connect with Patrons

  • Join a connected group of patrons from around the country who share your vision for a restored Catholic culture, and be invited to campus events to grow in friendship with our school and our friends.

Be an Ambassador

  • Become eligible to receive an invitation to act as an Ambassador for Saint Martin's Academy, joining our Development Team as a volunteer to spread the word, meet with prospective families or patrons, and broaden our reach!

Learn More About the Saint Martin's difference