November 25, 2024
Visitation Catholic School was founded in 1895, and over the last 129 years has served as both a grade school and high school. Today, in 2024, Visitation is flourishing with classrooms of preschool ages 3 and 4 up to 8th grade. Known for high success in academics, Visitation has obtained Full Recognition by the State of Illinois under the guidelines for Recognition of Non-
Public Elementary Schools, as well as received full accreditation by AdvancEd.

At Visitation Catholic School, students not only excel academically, but are able to grow spiritually. The long history of the school has continuously seen academic success with student achievement scores exceeding the national average at every grade level. This foundation prepares our students for success as they transfer to one of the area's public high schools. For example, a recent study showed that over the last 20 years the valedictorian from Kewanee High School was a graduate of Visitation over 60% of the time. Many of those years, Kewanee High School had more than one valedictorian, which resulted in multiple valedictorians that were Visitation graduates. The salutatorian was a Visitation graduate more than half the time. These statistics clearly prove academic excellence and establish Visitation as a premier institution of learning.

At Visitation Catholic School we focus on students' character, morals, and beliefs, where faith is integrated into every aspect of the school. While many of our students are Catholic, around 25% are non-Catholic, believing in a different religion or having no faith denomination. Our students recite and live the mission, “To inspire excellence and to develop future leaders for Christ, through quality education grounded in Catholic values, principles, and traditions.” Our students
engage in activities with the church, have daily religion classes, volunteer, participate in Mass as altar servers, lectors (readers), gift bearers and more, and are encouraged to live a life focusing on virtues such as respect, honesty, empathy, and cooperation. This is a unique facet of a faith-based education, with a focus on teaching the student as a whole person, infusing a traditional academic pathway with spiritual, physical, and emotional learning.

As part of our longstanding history of excellence, we see families return generation after generation. Many families currently at Visitation Catholic School are second, third, fourth, fifth, and even sixth generations. We are proud to continue to offer a superior education, where families can build a legacy steeped in faith and virtue. We invite you to learn more about our history and current offerings, like Spanish language classes for kindergarten through 8th grade
and all-day preschool, by taking a tour led by one of our esteemed faculty. Visit visitationcatholic.com to get started or give us a call at (309) 856-7451, we would love to talk to you about how you can begin your Giant journey.

 Special thanks & appreciation to Visitation Catholic School staff member, 1992 graduate & current parent, 
 Amy Duru, for compiling the historical information about the school.