This week Rollin and Akesha Jackson offer their reflections as parents of Rollin Jr. “RJ” ’17 and Paige. They credit the Academy for a wonderful foundation for their children and are grateful for their time at ASH.
Since our invitation to visit in 2008 with our son, we knew ASH was the right place for our family. Our family values have always been aligned with the Goals of Sacred Heart education. We are proud and blessed by the foundation built at the Academy which is rooted in faith, integrity, community, service and most importantly, the continued growth and success of our children, Rollin Jr. “RJ” and Paige.
Paige graduated with honors from St. Joseph’s Academy in 2024. She has earned the Girl Scout Trifecta Award (the highest awards, Bronze, Silver, and Gold) and her love for scouting was started and cultivated while at ASH. She is completing her freshman year at Fairfield University in Connecticut majoring in biology on a pre-medical track. She also plays field hockey for Fairfield as a goalkeeper, winning the NEC Championship in the 2024 season with her team.
RJ — ASH ’17, Chaminade ’21 and Morehouse College ’25 — is current president of the Morehouse College Student Government Association (SGA). While at Chaminade he became a member of the ‘Cardinal Circle’ and is a 2020 recipient of the National Presidential Service Award recognizing more than 200 hours of community service. RJ earned his Eagle Scout designation of Boy Scouts of America and the Greater St. Louis Area Scouting community and has received the highest honor in Scouting’s National Honor Society. He was Missouri’s 2017 Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) Scout of the Year! In May RJ will graduate with honors from Morehouse College. He will be returning to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to serve in his third summer internship before starting his master’s program at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in the fall.
From the relationships built with teachers and families, hosting an international student, Field Days, Country Fair, Christmas Basket deliveries — these values have long served our children well in all spaces they have encountered. Our children are change agents and impelled to action in all communities they are a part of. We are forever reflective and grateful that they have stayed true to their characters and for the foundation built as a Sacred Heart Family. They are “Academy-Made!”
Tomorrow, RJ will be speaking at Chaminade at 5 p.m.: “Back to my Roots: the Men of Morehouse College.” More information here. All are welcome.
