Rapp Up
Read below to hear the words of Dr. Shane Rapp, St. James Academy’s Principal
August 2026 Rapp Up
“Put out into the deep.” I thought this fitting advice from our Lord as we enter a new school year. This week we had our fourth annual “Parenting Teens Boot Camp,” and getting to enter into that with 130+ parents these last few nights has left me extremely grateful...
June/July 2026 Rapp Up
St. James Families, I hope everyone reading this is enjoying the dog days of summer! I am sure our students are all soaking up the sun poolside, summer reading in hand and a smile on their face… We are getting excited for a new school year! Before we look ahead, I’d...
March 2026 Rapp Up
A few months ago, I went to St. Louis for my cousin’s 40th birthday party. Before the party, I went to Mass at Cathedral Basilica there and had an encounter that has stuck with me since. If you’ve never been to the Basilica, it is incredibly beautiful, and I found...
February 2026 Rapp Up
As 2025 drew to a close, we had two opportunities to take stock of where we stand as a school through our Lumen accreditation surveys and our Strategic Planning subcommittee work. For my Rapp Up this month, I wanted to update you on the fruits of each of these...
January 2026 Rapp Up
Happy New Year! I pray each of you has encountered the Lord anew in this Christmas season! Following the October and December Rapp Ups, this is the third installment of my reflections on Pope Leo’s educational priorities in his letter “Drawing New Maps of Hope”. The...
December 2025 Rapp Up
Those who read the last Rapp Up know that I am reflecting on the three educational priorities named in Pope Leo’s letter “Drawing New Maps of Hope.” I am saving the second one, technology and artificial intelligence, for the new year, as it will be accompanied by some...
October 2025 Rapp Up
As many of you know, I am a dork. I get excited about things like Tolkien novels, philosophy textbooks, and folk music. If we’ve met, this is unsurprising. I also enjoy nerding out about educational theory and practice. So you can imagine my excitement when in October...
September 2025 Rapp Up
“So how’s the no-phones thing going?” I get asked that question a lot these days. Often, I simply say back, “You tell me!” I am happy to say I have been very encouraged to hear parents and students alike express that the move to a phone-free school day has been very...
August 2025 Rapp Up
As we entered this school year, I was worried about a lot of things. From new teachers to new uniforms, assigning phone lockers to assigning classrooms, there was a lot to get ready and a lot of things that I thought might go wrong. Thankfully, each of those things...
