Accepting Applications for the 2026-2027 School Year
Sixth graders listen closely as instructor Jon walks them through the next step in their wheel throwing process during a full-day visit to Queen City Clay in Norwood.
This Monday, XJA's sixth graders traded their desks for pottery wheels for a full day at Queen City Clay in Norwood, thanks to the generosity of longtime our friend and champion Harry Santen.
The students spent the day learning the fundamentals of wheel throwing with instructor Jon, who had a gift for meeting them right where they are. To help students find their footing, he drew on movements they already knew: cradling the clay the way you'd hold a football, shaping fingers into a butterfly to open the form. That kind of connection, linking something unfamiliar to something already living in the body, made the learning click.
Experiences like this are central to who we are at XJA. When young men work with their hands, solve problems in real time, and discover a skill they didn't know they had, something opens in them. Cura personalis means caring for the whole person, and that includes the creative, imaginative, and tactile dimensions of growth that no worksheet can reach.
We are grateful to Harry Santen for making this day possible, and to Queen City Clay for welcoming our students with such skill and enthusiasm.
