When students return to Atlantis Charter School later this month, they will find the high school’s business academy has a new, slightly longer name. At the June meeting of the Atlantis Charter School Board, the Board voted to name the business academy the Roger H. Saint-Pierre Business and Entrepreneurship Academy after its long-time board president.
“That’s got to be the longest business academy name in history,” Saint-Pierre joked as he recalled the meeting. “I expected a plaque. I didn’t expect them to name the business academy after me. I was just blown away.”
Saint-Pierre first became involved with Atlantis in 2002 at the urging of a friend. He soon became president of the board and served in that role until he reached his term limit in 2008. He remained active with Atlantis, becoming involved in the Atlantis Educational Foundation. In 2012 he was asked to rejoin the school board and became president. Six years later, he once again reached his term limit and stepped down on August 1, 2018.
“Roger Saint-Pierre has been a tireless advocate for Atlantis for the past 16 years. He did a lot of work behind the scenes to get us where we are today. He was instrumental in purchasing the land on which our new campus sits,” said Robert Beatty, executive director of Atlantis Charter School.
Atlantis purchased the land for the new campus on 
September 21, 2007 – Saint-Pierre’s birthday. He said seeing the building finally completed this year felt like a belated birthday present.
“I thought it would take a few years. We would raise some money and build a school. It took us 11 years, but we finally made it. And it’s pretty amazing,” said Saint-Pierre.
Saint-Pierre says he has done everything he can do as president of the school board, but he plans to stay on as president of the Atlantis Educational Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports Atlantis Charter School in fundraising and development initiatives.
He hopes to become more involved in the Business Academy now that it bears his name and share his business expertise with students. Saint-Pierre is a registered investment advisor. He used to own his own accounting business, and has been involved with many other businesses throughout his career.
“I truly cannot express the joy I feel at being a part of Atlantis. I’ve watched the school grow from about 600 kids when I first got involved to more than 1,200 today. We grew from one location to three, and today we have this beautiful $35 million school. It’s been an amazing 16-year run.”