Austin Academy to Welcome 1st Freshman Class in August

It’s taken a decade to bring this coed Catholic high school to Macomb County, so when the Austin Catholic Academy opens in August, organizers will definitely be pleased.

“We are very excited, it’s been a long road,” said Sal Simone, a member of the academy’s board of directors.  

The academy will welcome its first freshman class on Aug. 18, operating out of the old Siefert Elementary School at 26 Mile and North Avenue in New Haven.

Leonard Brillati, president of the academy’s board of directors, said the first year will include only freshman students, but the plan is to add an additional grade each year until they house up to 500 students in grades nine through 12.

“We are starting off very small but hoping, within four years, to be full,” Brillati said.

College preparatory courses will fill the academic schedule and be rounded out with religious courses and daily mass. There will be no competitive sports this first year, just intramural activities for students but a full range of varsity sports are expected to be added in the fall of 2012. 

Father David Brecht will be the principal and headmaster of the academy and Brillati will also have an office and presence at the school, too.

Planned under the Archdiocese of Detroit and an independent board of business people in the area, the Austin Academy is the first coed school to open under the Archdiocese of Detroit in the state in 40 years, Brillati said.

“It’s been a number of years in the planning and yes, it has been a big dream,” Brillati said.

The Plan

Simone, who owns Simone Companies in Sterling Heights, is one of the academy’s founding board members. He, along with a small group of laypeople, has volunteered his time to make the Catholic high school a reality. 

“We believe in promoting Catholic education, especially here in Macomb County,” Simone said. “We started this project and there have been lots of ups and downs with financing and donations, too.”

An office at in Macomb Township kept the project on track over the last three years. Simone said St. Isidore is one of five founding parishes that have been involved in supporting the project, with time and monetary donations, over the last few years.

Looking ahead, Simone said a 100-acre parcel of land at 23 Mile and Card in Macomb Township, that was donated by the Archdiocese of Detroit, will hopefully house a brand-new building in the future.

Fast Facts

Location: 24125 26 Mile Road
Student body: Coed, freshman class only, 2011
Curriculum: College preparatory
Tuition: 2011-12 $6,750 per year; $200 registration fee. Tuition assistance is available.

In an earlier version of this article it was mistakenly reported that Austin would be the first ever coed high school to open in Macomb County. St. Clement High School of Centerline, which closed in 2004-05, was coed.