One of the best ways to begin a new school year is to return to the source of what we are trying to accomplish together. For Cincinnati Classical Academy, that source is our commitment to a classical education, and one of the great privileges of being a Hillsdale College k-12 Member School is that we do not pursue that mission alone.
We begin each summer by attending the Classical Education Conference at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. Because we are a Member School, our entire faculty and staff are invited to participate in this outstanding professional-development opportunity. This year, 55 members of our faculty and staff made the trip to Hillsdale, spending the week learning, discussing, and preparing for the year ahead.
Even more remarkably, five members of our own faculty and leadership team served as presenters at the conference, leading sessions in art, physical education, rhetoric, literacy, and school leadership. This is something of which we should all be proud. Our teachers are not simply recipients of the wisdom and experience of the Hillsdale network. They are increasingly contributors to it.
Our affiliation with Hillsdale College is one of the great strengths of Cincinnati Classical Academy. Hillsdale provides us with a comprehensive classical curriculum, ongoing faculty support, an extensive online resource library, and, perhaps most importantly, a community of educators committed to the same fundamental vision of education. That community stretches across the country, connecting our teachers with colleagues who are engaged in the same work in schools from coast to coast.
This affiliation also gives our teachers opportunities to grow professionally in ways that are difficult for an individual school to provide on its own. They can learn from master teachers, observe successful practices from other schools, participate in discussions about curriculum and pedagogy, and return to Cincinnati with new ideas and renewed enthusiasm for their work.
We are especially honored that Cincinnati Classical Academy has been awarded the Salvatori Prize for Excellence in Education for the second consecutive year. The Salvatori Prize is an annual competition sponsored by Hillsdale College open to classical schools throughout the United States. In many respects, it represents a recognition of excellence at the highest level within the classical-school movement.
But while we are proud of this recognition, I believe it is important to understand what it really represents. It is, above all, a testament to the extraordinary faculty we have here.
A great curriculum is essential. A strong educational philosophy is essential. Excellent resources and institutional support are essential. But none of these things accomplish very much without excellent teachers. The curriculum comes alive in the classroom through the knowledge, skill, dedication, and example of the men and women who teach our children every day. The Salvatori Prize belongs in large measure to them.
Hillsdale has also recognized three of our veteran teachers by naming them Master Teachers for the Hillsdale College K-12 Network: Mr. Slonkosky in physical education, Mr. Mittermeier in U.S. Humanities, and Mrs. DiCristoforo in third grade. This distinction recognizes teachers whose experience and excellence make them models for their colleagues throughout the Hillsdale network. We are grateful for their leadership and proud that their expertise is being shared beyond our own school.
As we prepare to welcome our students back, we are reminded that Cincinnati Classical Academy is part of something larger than itself. We are part of a growing national movement committed to recovering an education rooted in the Western intellectual tradition, ordered toward truth and virtue, and directed toward the formation of young men and women who are prepared to live lives of wisdom, responsibility, and service.
We are deeply grateful for our affiliation with Hillsdale College and for the opportunities, resources, and support it provides to our school. Most of all, we are grateful for the people who make this partnership fruitful: our teachers and staff, who devote themselves each day to the education of your children.
We look forward to another incredible year as a Hillsdale Member School, and we are excited to see what this next year will bring.
Torches Up!
Mr. Rose
Mr. Michael Rose, Head of School
“Before opening CLASSICAL in 2022, Mr. Rose spent 17 years in education as a middle school, high school, and college instructor. He has taught architecture, grammar, composition, literature, logic, and rhetoric. His academic formation reflects the interdisciplinary spirit of classical education itself. A frequent lecturer and writer, Mr. Rose is the author of The Art of Being Human (Angelico Press, 2023) and The Subversive Art of a Classical Education (Regnery, 2026). His essays and public commentary explore the relationship between beauty, truth, and human flourishing in the face of technological distraction and cultural fragmentation.” Read More