New school for underprivileged in Paterson is changing lives

Augustina Angelica Brutus was so excited to walk into the new Brilla Paterson Charter School on Aug. 14 — opening day — as part of its very first “class” of 225 students.

This 5th-grader soon learned her greatest lesson at the new public charter elementary school: how to fall in love with learning. For fun, Brutus repeated at home an experiment from science class — watching how Gummy Bears expand in water and dissolve in vinegar.

A tuition-free school, Brilla gives underprivileged children in the city a quality education and instills them with a passion for learning and self-discipline. Brilla — Spanish for “shine” — is housed in the $5 million catechetical center of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on DeGrasse Street.

“I’m learning more here than in my old school,” said Brutus, a parishioner of the cathedral. “I was bullied in my other school. I feel safe here. I’ve been making friends. I have people [Brilla staff] I can talk to about how I’m feeling.”

This public school partners with a separate after-school Catholic faith-formation program called El Camino — Spanish for “The Way.” This voluntary program imparts faith to students through classroom learning, hands-on activities, and spiritual traditions. It complements what students learn in their parishes and instructs non-Catholics.

El Camino also offers sports, character development, and homework help.

Brilla is made possible through a partnership with Seton Education Partners, a non-profit Catholic foundation, which has other schools around the United States; the cathedral; and benefactors. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney has encouraged this endeavor, which brought the first Brilla school to New Jersey.

“We want the underserved children of Paterson to have a safe, joyful place to get a great education and faith formation,” said Msgr. Geno Sylva, St. John’s rector and diocesan vicar for special projects, adding most students are Hispanic or African-American. “Brilla and El Camino are gifts to these children and their families.”

Brilla also gets students ready for life through Love & Logic, a research-driven philosophy or approach that influences its behavior management, said Kelly O’Brien, principal.

“We partner with families to help reinforce at-home lessons and virtues they learn at school, such as courage,” O’Brien said.

For its first academic year, Brilla started with 75 students each in kindergarten, 1st grade, and 5th grade. After 2023, the school will add two grades each year until it matures to K-8 in 2026.

Brilla already outgrew St. John’s 13-classroom catechetical center, which opened in 2021. The cathedral, the school’s board of trustees, and other donors are working to raise the funds to renovate the former Cathedral High School building across the street.

Bringing Brilla to Paterson was a two-year process that included applying for a charter with the State of New Jersey, which funds the school.

Donations for the renovations of the former Cathedral High School can be made to the Building on Tradition campaign on St. John’s website buildingontradition.org.

For more about Brilla, visit www.brillaschools.org. To stay informed about enrollment events and lottery openings for Brilla, email [email protected].

Join Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director Jai Agnish for a conversation about Brilla on episode 22 of Beyond The Beacon, a podcast of the Diocese of Paterson. They welcomed Msgr. Sylva and Ivannia Vega-McTighe, the cathedral’s pastoral associate, for the discussion. Listen on any major podcast platform or watch the episode on the bishop’s YouTube channel.