St James Academy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious what is going on here...is this for home schooled children or do they actually have a school? are they trying to become an IMG Academy? Any insight?

They use an online schooling program that students take at their desks while they are there. This is a new thing there. I wouldn't put my kids there with online education but that is just me. That said if over time the idea is to turn it into a real school so it functions more like a traditional sport academy it might be worth considering. I have no idea if that is what the actual plan is and if it is how long in the future that might be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And college admissions officers at D1 schools don’t consider your straight A online performance academy kid to be a true straight A student. You still have to get admitted even if your kid is that good, which is unlikely.

Huh? Alabama or Georgia or some other power 4 school just cares if you scored an 800 (total) on the SAT and yeah they are fine with your online transcript (BTW…they do offer 12 AP classes) if you are a really strong athlete.

I’m talking about hockey specifically. Look at the D1 schools who offer hockey. Um no - your St James online Performance Academy kid is not getting into Harvard, Boston College, Colgate, U Mass Amherst, etc. These college admissions offices wouldn’t even know how to evaluate your online school. There are plenty of other D1 athletes they can chose from that - you know - went to school. And if you look at Tier 3 - yea - Middlebury, Colby, Amherst, and the likes are going to literally laugh at your rink schooled kid.

UMass or Minnesota would be no different than GA or Bama for football…especially if your kid is NHL draft material.

Heck, MN accepts nearly everyone anyway, so it’s nonsensical to think they would turn away a star hockey player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This post made me check out the St James academy. I laughed out loud when I saw under leadership that they had hired Darryl Overton to be head of football. Then I closed out my looking. St James has no credibility with that clown. Good luck parents.

The guy gets football results…not sure what made you “laugh out loud”.

Overton is a joke. So she laughed. Thats how good jokes work.

He sends plenty of kids to D1 programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And college admissions officers at D1 schools don’t consider your straight A online performance academy kid to be a true straight A student. You still have to get admitted even if your kid is that good, which is unlikely.

Huh? Alabama or Georgia or some other power 4 school just cares if you scored an 800 (total) on the SAT and yeah they are fine with your online transcript (BTW…they do offer 12 AP classes) if you are a really strong athlete.

I’m talking about hockey specifically. Look at the D1 schools who offer hockey. Um no - your St James online Performance Academy kid is not getting into Harvard, Boston College, Colgate, U Mass Amherst, etc. These college admissions offices wouldn’t even know how to evaluate your online school. There are plenty of other D1 athletes they can chose from that - you know - went to school. And if you look at Tier 3 - yea - Middlebury, Colby, Amherst, and the likes are going to literally laugh at your rink schooled kid.

UMass or Minnesota would be no different than GA or Bama for football…especially if your kid is NHL draft material.

Heck, MN accepts nearly everyone anyway, so it’s nonsensical to think they would turn away a star hockey player.

Ok. Fair enough. I’ll take UMass of the list. But I stand by all of the others I mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And college admissions officers at D1 schools don’t consider your straight A online performance academy kid to be a true straight A student. You still have to get admitted even if your kid is that good, which is unlikely.

Huh? Alabama or Georgia or some other power 4 school just cares if you scored an 800 (total) on the SAT and yeah they are fine with your online transcript (BTW…they do offer 12 AP classes) if you are a really strong athlete.

I’m talking about hockey specifically. Look at the D1 schools who offer hockey. Um no - your St James online Performance Academy kid is not getting into Harvard, Boston College, Colgate, U Mass Amherst, etc. These college admissions offices wouldn’t even know how to evaluate your online school. There are plenty of other D1 athletes they can chose from that - you know - went to school. And if you look at Tier 3 - yea - Middlebury, Colby, Amherst, and the likes are going to literally laugh at your rink schooled kid.

UMass or Minnesota would be no different than GA or Bama for football…especially if your kid is NHL draft material.

Heck, MN accepts nearly everyone anyway, so it’s nonsensical to think they would turn away a star hockey player.

Ok. Fair enough. I’ll take UMass of the list. But I stand by all of the others I mentioned.

Well, Ok…but if a kid wants to play D1 hockey, then they are fine with UMass or Minnesota.

You happened to select a sport with a professional league where academic schools are also top ranked. Thats not the case with basketball, football or baseball.

Duke couldn’t give a rats ass if Cooper Flagg had strong grades or test scores…why would they care when kids are only there to play for one year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And college admissions officers at D1 schools don’t consider your straight A online performance academy kid to be a true straight A student. You still have to get admitted even if your kid is that good, which is unlikely.

Huh? Alabama or Georgia or some other power 4 school just cares if you scored an 800 (total) on the SAT and yeah they are fine with your online transcript (BTW…they do offer 12 AP classes) if you are a really strong athlete.

I’m talking about hockey specifically. Look at the D1 schools who offer hockey. Um no - your St James online Performance Academy kid is not getting into Harvard, Boston College, Colgate, U Mass Amherst, etc. These college admissions offices wouldn’t even know how to evaluate your online school. There are plenty of other D1 athletes they can chose from that - you know - went to school. And if you look at Tier 3 - yea - Middlebury, Colby, Amherst, and the likes are going to literally laugh at your rink schooled kid.

UMass or Minnesota would be no different than GA or Bama for football…especially if your kid is NHL draft material.

Heck, MN accepts nearly everyone anyway, so it’s nonsensical to think they would turn away a star hockey player.

Ok. Fair enough. I’ll take UMass of the list. But I stand by all of the others I mentioned.

Well, Ok…but if a kid wants to play D1 hockey, then they are fine with UMass or Minnesota.

You happened to select a sport with a professional league where academic schools are also top ranked. Thats not the case with basketball, football or baseball.

Duke couldn’t give a rats ass if Cooper Flagg had strong grades or test scores…why would they care when kids are only there to play for one year.

Outside of the Ivy schools that offer D1 hockey, any of the other schools in D1 are going to lower the bar significantly for talented hockey players. Heck, wasn't the big celebrity scandal with William H Macy over using rowing to get his underperforming child into a school?

[Anonymous]

Will St James Academy teams be an option for kids that choose to stay at their home school but not play for their home school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will St James Academy teams be an option for kids that choose to stay at their home school but not play for their home school?

No. It will only be for students enrolled in their academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will St James Academy teams be an option for kids that choose to stay at their home school but not play for their home school?

If I am reading the tea leaves correctly from some information I got- some of the programs will have kids enrolled in just the sport- not for kids who are just at the academy. Seems like STJ is also going to absorb some clubs too that will allow kids to enroll.

[Anonymous]

I literally cannot believe parents actually consider this a viable schooling option for their kids. Seriously, what are you thinking? Do you assume your kids are going to be professional athletes? Do you know how unlikely that is? This is an honest question. I’m not trying to be snarky. I really want to understand the thought process.

[Anonymous]

We are not considering the option but I see why it is appealing. A lot of the HS coaches around here are terrible (and they think they are good) and FCPS is also kind of a let down. STJ is cheaper than other privates and there is a good amount of money and opportunity available for college athletes. Your kids doesn’t have to be a pro to benefit from college sports

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not considering the option but I see why it is appealing. A lot of the HS coaches around here are terrible (and they think they are good) and FCPS is also kind of a let down. STJ is cheaper than other privates and there is a good amount of money and opportunity available for college athletes. Your kids doesn’t have to be a pro to benefit from college sports

At the expense of an education? The STJ academics is a glorified online instructions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not considering the option but I see why it is appealing. A lot of the HS coaches around here are terrible (and they think they are good) and FCPS is also kind of a let down. STJ is cheaper than other privates and there is a good amount of money and opportunity available for college athletes. Your kids doesn’t have to be a pro to benefit from college sports

Ok. I guess I get that but the odds of most of these kids going D1 is slim and D3 school admissions are still going to focus on academics. I can’t see how they could consider a kid from STJ as a legit academic candidate. Wouldn’t a catholic school or cheaper private be a better route coupled with a better club sport option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are not considering the option but I see why it is appealing. A lot of the HS coaches around here are terrible (and they think they are good) and FCPS is also kind of a let down. STJ is cheaper than other privates and there is a good amount of money and opportunity available for college athletes. Your kids doesn’t have to be a pro to benefit from college sports

Ok. I guess I get that but the odds of most of these kids going D1 is slim and D3 school admissions are still going to focus on academics. I can’t see how they could consider a kid from STJ as a legit academic candidate. Wouldn’t a catholic school or cheaper private be a better route coupled with a better club sport option?

You are missing the bigger picture. Significant NIL money is happening with HS athletes and schools like this will have staff out arranging deals for their athletes. There is a local HS basketball player at Highland that just signed a Reebok endorsement for 6 figures.

Also, they poached the women’s basketball coach from Sidwell who is very connected at top colleges…and the football coach is connected at D1 programs.

They will absolutely attract D1 athletes and they can do it in a way that no DMV private school will allow.

Most of these athletes find the school part annoying…so this removes most of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are not considering the option but I see why it is appealing. A lot of the HS coaches around here are terrible (and they think they are good) and FCPS is also kind of a let down. STJ is cheaper than other privates and there is a good amount of money and opportunity available for college athletes. Your kids doesn’t have to be a pro to benefit from college sports

Ok. I guess I get that but the odds of most of these kids going D1 is slim and D3 school admissions are still going to focus on academics. I can’t see how they could consider a kid from STJ as a legit academic candidate. Wouldn’t a catholic school or cheaper private be a better route coupled with a better club sport option?

You are missing the bigger picture. Significant NIL money is happening with HS athletes and schools like this will have staff out arranging deals for their athletes. There is a local HS basketball player at Highland that just signed a Reebok endorsement for 6 figures.

Also, they poached the women’s basketball coach from Sidwell who is very connected at top colleges…and the football coach is connected at D1 programs.

They will absolutely attract D1 athletes and they can do it in a way that no DMV private school will allow.

Most of these athletes find the school part annoying…so this removes most of that.

I’ll believe that when I see it. I’m sure Sidwell players will be just fine staying where they are - at a top notch school and working their chances while getting an amazing education.