St. Jerome Regional School in Tamaqua was recently honored for its high enrollment numbers.

The Healey Education Foundation awarded the school with a $5,000 School Advancement Grants for Excellence grant for having the highest enrollment growth out of 29 Catholic schools in six dioceses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Minnesota that have adopted the Healey methodology.

A total of nine awards were given to recognize performance in the areas of enrollment, development and innovation.

Amy Hannis-Miskar, principal, said St. Jerome has 260 students enrolled this year, and already has 236 registered for next school year.

“First and foremost, we provide a strong Catholic education in a Christ-centered environment,” Hannis-Miskar said. “Over the past couple of years, we have made many advancements to not only our facility, but also to our academics. We also have a very experienced group of certified teachers, and a dedicated staff who play a key role in our school’s continuous enrollment growth.”

Some new tools the school is using as part of its education, which has helped attract students, include a new reading series for kindergarten through sixth grades; a STEM lab that aims to help students become problem-solvers through hands-on activities; and a new mathematics curriculum that focuses on one-to-one personalized instruction.

Manda Smarr Beers, advancement director, said another thing the school offers its students is the weekly special subject classes such as art, music, STEM and physical education.

“Not only do we provide these courses once a week, but we also have specialized teachers for instruction,” Smarr Beers said.

Smarr Beers said those special classes, coupled with the school’s rigorous curriculum and focus on Catholic values, “has allowed us to find success and grow our school enrollment to over 260 students from over six different school districts.

“All of these great things that St. Jerome is able to offer is because of the generosity of our supporters,” she said.

Smarr Beers noted that the school will hold its first official day of online giving on Dec. 17, in the hopes of raising $5,000 in 24 hours for the school.

Information for the online giving can be found on the school’s Facebook page and website sjrschool.com/donate.

Open enrollment for the 2019-20 school year is now open.

For more information on registering, contact Smarr Beers at 570-668-2757.

“We wholeheartedly believe that, as our mission statement reflects: Our base is family, our mission is faith, and our future rests in the courage to leave behind a legacy,” Hannis-Miskar said. “It is truly a privilege to be part of a family where parents, teachers, and students care for each other and help each other to live fearlessly through faith.”

Robert T. Healey Sr., founder, and Christine L. Healey, president, announced the recipients of this year’s awards via a video conference hosted at the Healey Education Foundation’s office in Haddonfield, New Jersey.