The Story

In 1999, officials from Santa Clara University asked Father Mateo Sheedy, Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, to recommend children from his parish for the Juan Diego Scholarship program.  Father Mateo conducted an exhaustive search to find candidates who could attend and succeed at this four-year college, but he was unable to find a single qualified student.  He was appalled that, of the hundreds of children in his parish, none had received the education necessary to attend Santa Clara.

Fr. Mateo decided that all of the children of the parish should have an alternative to their local public school.  He convinced the founders of Downtown College Preparatory to locate their charter high school in the area around the parish.  He convinced the Jesuits to open a middle school, Sacred Heart Nativity School.  John Danner, the founder of Rocketship Education and Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary School became a co-founder of Sacred Heart Nativity School with Fr. Peter Pabst.  Fr. Mateo also convinced John that some day the children of the parish also needed an elementary school. 

John came back to San Jose in 2006 in order to found Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary School and complete Fr. Mateo’s dream of offering an alternative education for the children of downtown San Jose. We hope that by the time Rocketship's first class of Kindergarteners goes to college, Santa Clara University will be overwhelmed by the number of qualified applicants for the Juan Diego scholarship.