We welcome back Sr. Maria Karol, O.P., to PBVM for the 2019-2020 school year!

Virtue Program

In second grade at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary School, our class follows a unique virtue formation program through shadowing the Middle Ages theme of knighthood. St. Dominic de Guzman, for whom the Court is named, lived during this time period in history, and he as well as other well-known saints had a longing to be a knight, but not just any kind of knight. He recognized that God needed "knights" or soldiers for His army to fight against the devil and to win souls for God. To grow in virtue we know that it takes effort and hard work, just as becoming a knight doesn't happen overnight. It would involve a lot of effort and training. A young boy used to progress over time from the stages of page, squire, and, if they're lucky, they would be recognized by the king for skill in battle and make it all the way to full knighthood.

So too in our class, all students start out in the "kingdom" as peasants, then after proving themselves in virtue over several weeks, they move to page, then again after more time they are raised to squire, and lastly at the end of the year, if they have demonstrated consistency and excellence in virtue, they become knights. In class throughout the year, virtues are highlighted, and discussions occur on what each virtue sounds like and looks like for a second grader. Our ultimate goal is striving to be a great "Knight of Christ"...which means to work on becoming the saint that God is calling us to be. And because Christ is our King, we also take Mary as our Mother and Queen.

Sr. Maria Karol, O.P.