On graduation day, a young woman approached Dr. Eric DeMeuse and said, “This place has saved my life.” He did not take credit. “In light of that testimony, I merely marvel at the ways in which God has worked in this place.”

DeMeuse has served as Headmaster of Chesterton Academy of Milwaukee since the school’s third year, when 15 students attended classes in an office park. With so few students, there was constant pressure to think about enrollment and who might fill future seats. DeMeuse concentrated on the students already there. “My constant focus was on loving those 15 students entrusted to me and serving those families,” he says. Those families became what he calls “the pioneers and catalysts of our school,” helping it grow into a thriving institution of roughly 180 students.

His own formation began at home. DeMeuse credits his parents with fostering in him the gifts of his baptism and teaching him the natural virtues of discipline and hard work. Priests and professors also played an important role, helping him “to see the Lord and reality more clearly through prayer, patience, and study.” He was introduced to classical education at Hillsdale College. Only after leaving did he realize how unique the environment had been, with faculty and students together seeking truth and a life of virtue. The “robust and difficult formation” he received there prepared him for the varied responsibilities of leading a school, from reviewing curriculum and forming children to speaking with donors.

Chesterton Academy seeks to provide its students with a similarly broad formation. Its curriculum emphasizes a common core of studies encompassing mathematics, science, literature, philosophy, drama, and music. “While most schools focus on electives, our focus is on a wide-ranging core of studies that forms a student in an enduring and holistic way,” DeMeuse says. He sees the fruit of that approach most clearly in the school’s seniors. “I often look at our seniors in their final months and marvel at the men and women they have become. They are thoughtful young men and women who can paint and sing and act and dance; they excel in the classroom and on the athletic field, and they are pursuing a life of virtue and holiness.”

The sacramental life of the Church is woven into that formation. When DeMeuse arrived at Chesterton Academy, he sought recognition for the academy as a Catholic school within the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The Archbishop and Superintendent of Catholic Schools met with the school and helped chart a path toward recognition, which came in June 2019. Today, students have a daily opportunity to attend Mass and weekly opportunities for confession. DeMeuse draws on St. John Bosco’s teaching that confession and Communion are the two strongest pillars sustaining young people on the way to heaven. “Our school is strong because our students have a daily opportunity to receive the Lord in the Eucharist, and weekly opportunities to receive His healing power in confession,” he says. “I firmly believe that the way to transform Catholic education in America is to provide more opportunities to students to receive these two sacraments. We’re seeing it at Chesterton Academy, and I hope to see it all across the nation.”

DeMeuse places families, parishes, and benefactors alongside the school in sustaining that culture. “A school is a culture, and a culture can only be sustained by the work of families, parishes, and benefactors,” he says. “Our families must cultivate this culture at home; our parishes must provide a rich sacramental life to our young people; and our benefactors must see the good that is being done within our walls for future generations.” Demand for classical education in the Milwaukee area has grown as well. Chesterton Academy was the first recognized classical school in the Archdiocese, and since its recognition two other schools have received approval, with additional pastors and educators seeking to follow suit.

The broader Chesterton Schools Network has grown rapidly, and DeMeuse, who also serves as its Senior Academic Dean, points to stability as an important part of that growth. The Network provides a consistent curriculum and branding, which he says can be difficult to maintain in classical schools as leadership changes. “The CSN is built to become a lasting institution in the educational landscape for generations to come.” His description of his own role is more immediate. “I am not a man of ambition, and I rarely look for ‘what’s next.’ I see my role as one to serve and love the faculty and families entrusted to me, and to constantly be attentive to the Lord’s voice in this work.”

Being a headmaster has also required DeMeuse, in the words of St. Paul, to be “all things to all people.” On a given day he may relate to 14-year-old boys, mothers and fathers, benefactors and teachers, discuss curriculum and athletics, train faculty, vacuum floors, or clean bathrooms. The work has required what he calls prudence “in abundance,” but above all it has taught him the importance of holy indifference: “surrendering this great work to the Lord and never clinging too tightly to my own ways.”

Years ago, there were 15 students in an office park. DeMeuse did not know what the school would become. He knew who had been entrusted to him.