WILMINGTON — St. Elizabeth School, after a year of transition and speculation outside the buildings, is looking ahead to 2026-27 with optimism and some new (or returning) offerings.
Last month, principal Adrienne Tolvaisa and her assistant, Stacey Reyburn, sent a letter home to families outlining some of the next steps in the school’s future. They reports enrollment is up more than 20 percent for the next school year for all age levels, from pre-kindergarten through high school.
Preschool students “will begin exploring Spanish” in age-appropriate ways, according to the letter. Elementary school students will have expanded offerings in Spanish.
In addition, St. Elizabeth will add a reading interventionist for the elementary grades. Students in grades one through eight also will have a computer-enrichment class that focuses on a number of skills.
Paul Rizzo, a 2003 graduate and the school’s director of communications, said the early education program is a strength and is fast-growing. St. Elizabeth has added a pre-kindergarten program for 2-year-olds.
As of May 13, the school had 316 students confirmed for 2026-27.
Similar improvements are coming to the high school. The school’s career pathways will expand. Currently, St. Elizabeth offers a business pathway. It will be expanding its medical/allied health pathway, making it a full-year elective with 75 hours of classroom instruction and clinical practicum opportunities during the school year or summer. They are working with the state on potential CNA certification for students.
A new pathway will concentrate on heating, ventilation and air conditioning careers. That will include an introduction to the field; workplace safety and practice; HVAC regulations; guest instructors and work experience under a certified professional.
“These initiatives are designed to strengthen our academic programs and ensure long-term sustainability, along with purposeful goal-setting to ensure clarity, consistency and strong academic outcomes,” administrators wrote.
In an interview at the school, Tolvaisa said she believes St. Elizabeth will be the only Catholic high school in the Diocese of Wilmington offering a CNA certificate and HVAC training.
“This is actually huge for us. This is something that most of the Catholic high schools do not have or do not offer. We have the people that can get this up and running, and these children can graduate with certificates if they want to and go right into the working field. They’re already ahead of the game,” she said.
Rizzo said a large number of St. Elizabeth graduates are in the trades or own their own businesses. It is a blue-collar school.
“We wanted to kind of get back in touch with that,” he said.
Much of what is being introduced came about as a result of surveys of students about what they would like to see at St. Elizabeth.
“The rising juniors have told us they are interested in the trades,” Reyburn said. “We listened to the kids and the parents. We’ve had meetings with the parents who’ve asked what we’re doing with the pathways and what we can do to help their kids beyond high school.”
The pathways program was introduced a few years ago, but they had been mostly sidelined as the school went through a number of changes in administration, said Tolvaisa, a member of the Class of 1998.
“We wanted to revamp them but also do something that no other school is doing, and also to enhance their experience with these particular pathways,” she said.
Tolvaisa and Reyburn will return in the same roles next year, bringing stability to the administration. The school has a new advisory board and finance council. The alumni association is becoming more active as well, Rizzo said.
He added that fundraising this year has been a success. St. Elizabeth received a $100,000 donation from the Benedictine Sisters, who founded the school in 1908 and staffed it for decades. Their charism still permeates the campus. The school challenged its supporters to match that amount, and a 1956 graduate did just that, Rizzo said.
All told, the school has raised approximately $300,000 from individuals and the Benedictines, all of it unrestricted, Rizzo said.
“It’s cool to see the progress that we’ve had in a short amount of time,” he said.
