Cicero Prep Celebrates 10 Years with Monument Unveiling

It was a milestone day for the Great Hearts Cicero campus, home of Cicero Preparatory Academy and Archway Cicero. Select students and faculty gathered on small corner at the entrance of the campus to celebrate a decade of academic excellence and growth. The event featured the unveiling of a new monument sign that will welcome families, students, and faculty as they enter each school day.

But this is more than just an entrance sign, it also symbolizes the school’s commitment to its families and the legacy of classical education. Headmaster Christa Reichert expressed her excitement during the ceremony, noting the significance and timing of this monument. “We’ve now been here for 10 years. And today it is time to finally unveil our monument to really show the entrance to our academy,” she shared. “I think one of the special things about Cicero is that we have the privilege of being in the Scottsdale area, serving all the families here.”

Reichert highlighted the unique characteristics of the campus. “We’ve been small but mighty and keep growing, and keep winning championships in athletics, and our families are just really committed,” added Reichert. “We really want to show our families that we’re committed to them as well, and so we’re going to keep building and improving on our campus.”

The ceremony included five seniors from Cicero Prep, who have been part of the Great Hearts community since their time at Archway Cicero. They were joined by current students from Archway Cicero to help pull the ceremonial ribbons, revealing the monument. This collaboration between the upper and lower schools demonstrated the unity and shared growth of the Cicero campus.

It would not be a Great Hearts celebration without a literary touch. Mr. Bill Doolittle, a founding faculty member, 11th-grade Humane Letters teacher, and Master Teacher of History, delivered a reading of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “The Builders.” The poem’s themes of diligence and vision was fitting, pointing to the efforts of the Cicero community in building a strong foundation for future generations.

Reichert explained that the sign has accents that acknowledge the land that the campus shares with the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). “That’s just one of the things we really love about our community,” she shared. Tribal designs along the side of the signage are an homage to the SRPMIC, comprised of two distinct Native American tribes, the Pima and the Maricopa. The designs are inspired by the SRPMIC seal, which depicts the story of the Man in the Maze. This ancient pattern is representative of the journey a person makes through life, including obstacles and problems.

The unveiling of the monument commemorates the past ten years and serves as an inspiration for the future. Cicero’s dedication will continue to build on its legacy of excellence as they continue to cultivate the minds and hearts of students through the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

As the small ceremony came to an end, the attendees left feeling proud and motivated, ready to embrace whatever the next chapter of the campus brings. Please enjoy the poem, “The Builders” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in its entirety below:

All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And one boundless reach of sky.

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