Our Lady of Good Hope School

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, 7215 Saint Joe Road; kindergarten through eighth grade; works under the short name Our Lady School; opened August 15, 2016, forty seven years after its parish

A Parish of 1969: Bishop Leo Pursley established Our Lady of Good Hope parish on March 2, 1969, on property donated by Albert and Mary Poinsatte, on the northeast side of the city. The bishop had wanted the name St. Albert; the Poinsattes' devotion to Mary produced Our Lady of Good Hope instead. The first pastor, the Reverend William Hodde, celebrated the parish's first Sunday Mass on October 5, 1969, at Bishop Dwenger High School, and the church was dedicated on August 13, 1972, on ground the parish history identifies as the former Richardville Reserve. None of those dates is the school's. The parish waited forty seven years for one.

A School of 2016: The school began with the parents. They approached the pastor, Father Mark Gurtner, and a three year process of discernment, planning and preparation followed before a door opened. In the school's own words: "Our Lady's School (K-8) opened on the Feast of the Assumption, Monday, August 15, 2016 with 175 students." Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades blessed the school the following month. The school works under a short name, Our Lady School, in its own site's text, in its social accounts and in the diocesan newspaper's usage, and the agreement settles a loose end in this history's inventory, which carried an unverified state listing, "Our Lady School" (code A106), among its open items: the school's own pesticide notification registry names Our Lady School at 7215 Saint Joe Road, with Principal Beatrice Royal, and the listing is this school.

The Classical School: The school's mission is a Catholic Classical Liberal Arts curriculum, and the diocesan newspaper has made it the school's public signature. Latin is taught through the grades, from songs and repetition in kindergarten through second grade to the grammar work of the upper grades, on the Memoria Press curriculum; teachers Julianne Grignol, Liz Sorg and Lisa Craw explained the method to Today's Catholic in 2019. The school is accredited within the diocese through Lumen, a program of The Catholic University of America. Its students attend Mass four days a week and weekly Adoration, and its stated vision is "Cultivating Saints."

The Gymnasium: For its first seasons the school's teams could not host a game at home. Ground was broken on September 10, 2023, for a gymnasium of the parish's own, and on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, Father Royce Gregerson, the pastor, cut the ribbon to open it, in a project Father Gurtner, by then the diocese's Vicar General, had carried from the pastor's office. The stands seat two hundred, and athletic director Adam Schillinger stated the change plainly: "The students and coaches are so excited to finally be able to host basketball and volleyball games." In football the school combines with St. Jude and St. John the Baptist of New Haven, as St. Jude's athletics page records.

Today: Bea Royal is the school's principal, named across the parish bulletins of 2025; the school's own registry filing gives her full name, Beatrice Royal. The enrollment figures stand with their instruments and do not merge: one hundred seventy five students at the opening in 2016; the principal's count of one hundred fifty six students and eighteen staff in September 2024; this history's group entry's one hundred fifty eight students in the 2024 to 2025 school year; and the federal private school survey's one hundred students in kindergarten through eighth grade, with eleven teachers. No source consulted gives the school a team name: the word Warrior in the parish's print belongs to a prayer ministry, and this entry claims no mascot.

Sources:

1. Our Lady of Good Hope parish history (the parish's own account): Bishop Leo Pursley established the parish March 2, 1969; Albert and Mary Poinsatte donated the property; the bishop's St. Albert naming and the Poinsattes' Marian devotion; the Reverend William Hodde, first pastor; the first Sunday Mass on October 5, 1969 at Bishop Dwenger High School; the church dedicated August 13, 1972; the ground the former Richardville Reserve.
2. Our Lady of Good Hope School, the school's own site and description (ourladyfortwayne.org): "Our Lady's School (K-8) opened on the Feast of the Assumption, Monday, August 15, 2016 with 175 students"; the Catholic Classical Liberal Arts curriculum; accreditation within the diocese through Lumen (The Catholic University of America); Mass four days a week and weekly Adoration; the vision, "Cultivating Saints"; 7215 Saint Joe Road and phone 260-485-5289; the short name Our Lady School in the site's own text.
3. Today's Catholic, October 13, 2017: the parents' approach to Father Gurtner and the three year discernment process; June 11, 2019: the classical curriculum, Memoria Press and the teaching of Latin, with teachers Julianne Grignol, Liz Sorg and Lisa Craw; September 24, 2024: the new gymnasium, ground broken September 10, 2023, the ribbon cutting of Tuesday, September 17, 2024 by Father Royce Gregerson, the stands seating 200, athletic director Adam Schillinger, and Principal Bea Royal's count of 156 students and 18 staff.
4. Our Lady of Good Hope parish bulletin, May 18, 2025: School Principal Bea Royal, 260-485-5289.
5. Our Lady School, Pesticide Notification Registry (the school's own filing, state school code A106): Our Lady School, 7215 Saint Joe Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46835, phone 260-485-5289, Principal Beatrice Royal.
6. National Center for Education Statistics, as republished by Private School Review, Our Lady School profile: 100 students in kindergarten through 8th grade, 11 teachers.
7. St. Jude School athletics page: football combined with St. John the Baptist, New Haven, and Our Lady of Good Hope.
8. This history's published group entry, The Catholic Grade Schools of Fort Wayne and Allen County: Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades blessed the school in September 2016; 158 students in 2024-25.