PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The CIRCUS COACH
Angel St-Jacques teaches middle school math at Renaissance Charter School as well as managing a circus school, Momentum Academy, with her husband.
When Mylene St-Jacques was a child in Canada, she
dreamed of growing up to marry a man who spoke
English and to live among palm trees, the only tree
she could draw well. It was an unlikely future for a little girl
in Quebec, where French is the official language. And with
temperatures dipping to -30 F, there’s also nary a palm tree
in sight.
St-Jacques’s parents both taught physical education before
her father went into law enforcement.
“They were great role models for my brother and me,”
says St-Jacques, whose mother nicknamed her “Angel,” an
endearment that stuck.
School came easily to her and she enjoyed math especially.
“Math is awesome, magical, logical. Everything works
together.”
At 15, St-Jacques began working at odd jobs — Kentucky
ANTHONY INSWASTY PHOTOS
Fried Chicken, a perfume store, a pharmacy. She eventually
attended McGill University as a personal challenge, because
all instruction was in English.
“It was a big step for me,” she says, “opening doors to
other opportunities and travel.”
After graduation, a job with Club Med allowed her to
travel to a Club Med in Cancun, Mexico, in 2005 where she
met her future husband, Billy Havik, an American in charge
of the hotel’s circus program, and they hit it off immediately.
“We were together within a week and got engaged a year
later.”
She was fascinated by Havik and his fellow circus performers,
especially the flying trapeze artists. It took her several
months to build up enough courage to try the trapeze and
since she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of him, she
waited until he was in a meeting,
32 Port St. Lucie Magazine
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BY ELLEN GILLETTE