BBC reality TV highlights Anchorage’s Holy Rosary Academy

Extreme School – Series 2 – Episode 4 – Alaska

CatholicAnchor.org

Anchorage’s Holy Rosary Academy was recently highlighted in the airing of a new reality television show in England. A film crew from the renowned British BBC network visited the school in December 2014 to film an episode of its “Extreme School” program. The show aired on Nov. 24.

The producers chose Holy Rosary, an independent Catholic school, because they saw it as a disciplined, academically challenging school in an exotic locale for UK viewers.

The K-12th grade school operates under a classical curriculum in the Catholic tradition. It employs a course of study that follows the three-lane path of grammar, logic and rhetoric, derived from the classical Greek system of education.

The recently aired episode of “Extreme School” features a pair of misbehaving and disruptive 13-year-old girls who traveled from England for a week at Holy Rosary. The girls donned Holy Rosary’s uniforms and attended classes alongside the school’s 116 students.

The program, which is aimed at children and young teens, takes a couple of ordinary British students, perhaps bright kids who are underachievers and a bit precocious. They show up at a school with high standards of discipline. Over the course of the week, the goal is to have them experience the affirmative values of a school that runs a tighter ship than they’re used to.

In the newly released show, the two girls arrive in Alaska with plenty of makeup, fingernail polish, teased hair, and some fairly showy winter garb.

On their first day at Holy Rosary, off came the nail polish and the makeup, down went the hair, and on went the uniforms.

The week begins with the girls protesting the strict rules and dress codes. They regularly disrupt class instruction and are even kicked out of a school assembly called in their honor. As the week progresses, however, they make some breakthroughs studying Latin, teaching younger students about WWII and even giving a public presentation before the entire school.

Principal Catherine Neumayr and her staff were determined that the school staff would not be the cause of any of the desired reality television drama. They maintained their calm sense of discipline throughout, refusing to play to the cameras or fabricate scenes for effect.

Holy Rosary parents and staff were advised that they could opt out of having their children filmed. Only one person, a staff member, chose that option.

Before agreeing to allow cameras in the school, Neumayr made clear that the Catholic identity of Holy Rosary “would not be muted” during the week for the girls’ benefit.

The episode gives hints of Holy Rosary’s strong Catholic tradition with saints statues, rosaries and religious art in the background of many of the scenes.

The girls did get into the rhythm of the school as the week progressed and seemed to enjoy the classes. They even got to meet Mayor Dan Sullivan, who visited on their last day.

The 28-minute show can be viewed online here.