FINDING OUR WORDS at Santiago Trade School
Allison Ellis spent the day reading Finding Our Words with students at the Santiago Trade School in Orange County, California, June 11, 2025.
“It was a great pleasure to read with the fine, disciplined young men there, to see the beautiful mountain retreat campus, and to meet the spirited leaders working to produce “excellent Christian tradesmen.”
A Word About Santiago Trade School
Santiago Catholic Trade School is a unique two-year formation program for young men that combines rigorous hands-on trade instruction with deep spiritual and intellectual development. Located at the Santiago Retreat Center in the mountains of Orange County, California, the school integrates the building of real-world skills—from concrete work and framing to electrical and mechanical trades—with a rich education in classical theology, philosophy, and manly friendship.
Students enter in small cohorts, with a student-to-teacher ratio under 5:1, ensuring personal mentorship and brotherhood as they train. Each day is anchored in Holy Mass, prayer, and physical labor, forming men who seek first the kingdom of God and then the skill to serve their communities with excellence.
“To pray and to work — ora et labora — is something of a summation of the Christian life, and yet that pair cannot be complete without the further foundation of study.”
At Santiago, students quite literally build the campus as part of their education — constructing housing projects that will expand the retreat center’s capacity and mission. Along the way, they gain not only technical mastery, but also what the school calls practical wisdom: the ability to bend toward the stream of hard work and rise again toward Heaven.
Learn more at www.santiagotradeschool.com »
