Stella Maris Academy Opens New High School

DULUTH, Minn. — Tuesday was the first day of school for many students, and some stepped foot inside Stella Maris Academy’s new High School for the first time.

Nestled away in the woodland neighborhood, sits a new Stella Maris Academy High School.

About 5 years ago, all of the Catholic Schools in the Duluth area decided to combine, resulting in three campuses for pre-k to 8th grade students.

Now, a campus for ninth graders has been added to the mix.

“It was always in the plans to have a high school, but kind of the first step in the process was to bring all of the schools together under one entity, which is Stella Maris Academy,” said Principal Chris Lemke.

The new high school was originally a St. James Orphanage in 1910 , operated by the diocese of Duluth.

It then became Hills Youth and Family Services, which abruptly closed in 2021.

Principal Chris Lemke says Stella Maris jumped on the closure, and the price to buy was a hefty 4 million dollars.

“As you can imagine, buying the building with 130 acres and all of the buildings that are associated with it, was wonderful, but we’re changing it into a school. So that’s also a financial investment. We have a capital campaign that’s been working on that, that’s kind of an ongoing funding program.”

It’s a five-floor facility, built on a grassland of acreage.

Lemke said half of the building is still under construction, which is why 12 students in ninth grade will be the only ones there this semester.

“One of the things that we did this morning was we took the students and we went into one of the areas that’s still getting ready for classes, and all of them signed a wall. That will eventually go away, you won’t see it, but their signatures will still be there. Just to kind of help people understand what a significant event it is. They can go back into that hallway four years from now, 20 years from now and say hey, I was apart of this.”

According to Lemke, Stella Maris plans to bring other grades to campus within the next few years.

“We’re in the process of phase 1, we’ll be going to phase 2 where we’ll be adding another 10 classrooms. For sure by the second semester we’re going to be moving everyone over to the other side of the building into the brand new classrooms. Going forward, we’re going to have enough class space for even up to 7th to 12th grade if that’s the direction we end up going.”

Lemke said he has hopes of adding a new science wing and performing arts area to the school.

Although ninth graders are the only ones in the High School classrooms, students from other grades will utilize some areas such as the band hall throughout the year.