CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Tate MacDonald anticipates a sense of pride will come over her this fall when she pulls on the Mount Academy Saints jersey for the first time.
“I am going to be really excited,” said the Stratford native, who recently turned 14. “I am really looking forward to the hockey season this year.”
MacDonald was one of the 21 students who attended the Mount Academy in Charlottetown last year in its first academic year. She played for Charlottetown’s bantam A hockey team last season, but with the academy adding more sports teams to its offerings this year, MacDonald will make the move to the Saints.
“It’s going to be a big change, but I am ready for it,” MacDonald said. “I have been working hard all summer. I am excited.”
Headmaster Kenny MacDougall believed there was a need for the Mount Academy in Prince Edward Island and along with other business partners took the leap of faith to start the institution.
It capped the student population to 21 in Grades 8-10 in its first year but anticipates about 70 students in Grades 6-12 when classes begin Sept. 10.
MacDougall sees it as a vindication their idea had merits.
“For us to be able to triple in one year, it tells me that there’s value in a private school education and there’s value in giving students the opportunity to have success in the classroom, in the gym and in their individual or team sport.”
RELATED: Click here for a story from before its first year.
MacDonald had seen promotion about the academy on social media a year ago and took the idea to her parents, Bonnie and Kent. Tate had gone to Stratford elementary where MacDougall had been principal, so there was a built-in comfort level for the family. Tate went to Stonepark for Grade 7 and hadn’t considered private school until seeing the Mount information.
“The largest feature for us, I think, was the student-to-teacher ratio and the fact they were going to be able to get more one-on-one time and extra study time through the day,” Kent said, “so when Tate would return home in the evenings, your evenings were available to do family things and to play hockey and other activities.”
“I really liked that,” Tate said. “I feel like I had more time to concentrate on hockey and do other stuff at home instead of sitting at the kitchen table all night doing homework.”
MacDougall said all 21 students passed their programs last year.
“Students thrive in this environment,” he said.
After 21 years in the public-school system, MacDougall thought there had to be a better way. He saw the fatigue on students involved with sports in the public-school system.
At the Mount, students are at the Charlottetown facility from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but they are able to do their schoolwork, off-ice training, team or individual sport training and study hall at the end of the day with less disruptions.
MacDougall has heard the naysayers.
“I hear it all the time: ‘You won’t be able to do that, you can’t do that, that’s unrealistic, that’s not going to happen’. That motivates me,” he said. “A year ago, we didn't have a school. And then we had 21 believers take that leap of faith that first year and now we’re looking at tripling that size.”
The Mount participated in the Prince Edward Island School Athletic Association’s badminton, flag football and track and field competitions last year. This year it will add girls field hockey.
MacDougall said each student comes with a main sport and is asked to play a secondary sport, which enables the academy to field multiple team sports.
Hockey is the top sport, but it also has soccer, golf, gymnastics and ringette.
This year the Saints will have under-16 boys’ and girls’ hockey teams as well as a bantam boys’ squad.
The bantam squad has been granted Hockey Canada Sport School status and will play in tournaments in Quebec and Connecticut and has applied to Maritime tournaments.
The under-16 boys will play in the East Coast Elite League and the girls are in the Junior Women’s Hockey League. Both are in the United States.
It means more travel and increased costs.
Tuition is based on grade level and sports selected. Varsity team players have additional fees to cover other expenses.
Tuition is $7,500 for Grade 7 and 8 students, $8,000 for Grade 9 and 10 and $8,500 for Grade 11 and 12 students.
The program fee for bantam hockey is $3,500 and $5,000 for the under-16 squads, but MacDougall said many people were already paying their registration fees and skills programs and gym membership while this brings it all together under one roof.
The academy got through its first year and is looking to continue grow steadily.
A new facility that will include a gymnasium is under construction on the site and is anticipated to be ready for the end of September.
RELATED: Click here to find out more on the expansion.
The school has attracted some well-known people in the sporting community, including Lewis Page (soccer), Sean Joyce (golf), Ashley Hollis (ringette) as well as Jason Gallant and Tim MacPhee (hockey).
Next spring, the Mount is expected to have its first graduating class.
“It’s going to be exciting,” MacDougall said. “We’ll have our first graduates, small in number, but mighty in terms of commitment and top, top-notch students that are coming here. . . We’ll have a ceremonial and we’ll have the gowns and everything and it will only grow.”
