When Dale Ahlquist created Chesterton Academy in Hopkins, Minnesota in 2008, he wanted to offer an ideal learning environment for his two younger children and some of their friends. His older children graduated from a conventional private school and there was much he appreciated about their experience; but he believed he could build something even better.
Ahlquist’s vision was a school focused on a classical educational philosophy, embracing the traditional liberal arts, within a Catholic religious worldview that would be both joyful and affordable.
What began as a tiny school with only 10 students now enrolls more than 150 high schoolers. That flagship school is one of more than 70 independently operated high schools within the fast-growing Chesterton Schools Network, also founded by Ahlquist, educating more than 2,000 students.