Five years after first opening the doors of
St. Augustine Preparatory Academy on Milwaukee’s south side,
Gus Ramirez former CEO of Waukesha-based Husco International and founder of the Ramirez Family Foundation, stood in the middle of a brand-new stage in a brand-new building on Tuesday morning, to celebrate another major milestone for the growing private Christian school.
Ramirez, his family, and legions of school choice supporters, were there to celebrate and unveil a new, $49 million elementary school for the K-12 Aug Prep campus that now serves roughly 1,800 students.
“This is truly a joyous occasion. Almost nine years ago, the vision for this school started to come into my being. Becky (his wife) and I thought about it, and we came up with a vision of a school that would serve 2,500 students, and graduate 215 each year. If we could do that, we thought we could start changing the negative momentum we see in schools today,” Ramirez said of the high-performing choice school that serves predominantly low-income Hispanic students. “We (constructed) these amazing buildings, but in the end, it is that magic that happens in the classroom that creates the outcomes.”
In addition to providing a dedicated campus to serve St. Augustine Preparatory Academy students in grades K4 through 5, the new building will provide the space needed to educate 900 more students and help the south side school reach an overall enrollment goal of 2,400 students.
The new elementary school is located across West Harrison Avenue from the school’s 2017 building – a structure that will now primarily serve middle and high school students – and includes state-of-the art classrooms and multipurpose spaces along with a library, music wing, full-sized gymnasium, an auxiliary gym, a rooftop play space, as well as a performing arts center with seating for 600.
Pewaukee-based VJS Construction Services was the project’s construction manager.
For two years in a row, Aug Prep has achieved a five-star rating on the state of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) report card, states an Aug Prep press release. The school currently has an active waiting list of over 200 students across all grades. In its most recent application cycle in February 2023, it had over 2,300 applications for 1,800 choice seats.
“Our city’s students and their families deserve brighter futures, and providing access to a high-quality education is by far the most consequential thing we can do to help them achieve that,” Ramirez added. “The students who walk through our doors are filled with many God-given talents, and it’s our calling to help them fulfill their given potential. At Aug Prep, we are putting more students on a path to prosperity and, in turn, creating engaged citizens and leaders of tomorrow.”
Aug Prep says more than 95% of its students come from diverse backgrounds and 81% qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program. The school has a 94% student attendance rate and re-enrolled nearly 97% of its students for the upcoming year, according to the school.
The institution has also had an impact on the community, according to information provided by the school. Since its opening, crime in the area has dropped by more than 43% according to data from the Milwaukee Police Department, school staff said.
This fall, the school will directly employ over 250 people.
“At Aug Prep, our job is to equip our students with the tools and resources they need to take purposeful and flourishing next steps academically, spiritually and socially. This expansion gives us a larger platform to reach even more students,” said
Abby Andrietsch, president and CEO of Aug Prep in a press release. “We know the need for high-quality education is dire for students and families in Milwaukee. Yet since our founding in 2017, our dedicated and loving team has consistently shown that it is indeed possible to achieve better outcomes for Milwaukee’s students. We take immense pride in the fact that every year we have grown bigger, we have also gotten better. As we grow again, we are committed to making sure this continues.”
The new school year at Aug Prep begins on Thursday, Aug. 24.
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