Mount St. Mary Academy celebrated another milestone Feb. 2 with the 160th anniversary Founders’ Day Mass and solidified the school’s state-of-the-art position in the education scene with the blessing of its renovation and expansion by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor.
On Feb. 5, 1851, nine women from Ireland — Sisters of Mercy and postulants — began teaching in Little Rock, having arrived merely one day earlier.
“What makes it so special is the legacy of the original founding sisters who came from Ireland to the wilds of Arkansas,” said president Sister Deborah Troillett, RSM. “They were young women, and they left their home in Ireland and their families forever. They came here and offered what was most needed in a part of the world that was not very Catholic. But they offered what the families most needed for their children, which was a quality education.”
For the $7.2 million phase, the library space was doubled and a new theater, drama room and faculty area were added. The renovation bought the facilities’ infrastructure up-to-date for the digital age. It allows the school to implement programs like the one-to-one laptop program that starts in the fall.
“The school is now well-poised for the future,” Sister Deborah said. “We know technology is a tool, and young people must learn how to use it in the most positive way possible to support their learning and development of critical thinking skills. They really need those skills to function in this world that is so globally connected. We needed the facilities to support the breadth of curriculum here that Mount St. Mary offers.”
The tradition and spirit of Mount St. Mary is the reason Mary Birnbach Ballard, class of 1945, supported the Lasting Efforts Campaign. In her heart, she said, she’ll always be a Mount girl.
“Some of the happiest years of my life were spent here. I’m so grateful to be part of this wonderful institution. When I see the students here now, and I think of the girls dreaming of being Mount girls. I want to be sure their dreams are fulfilled. I feel so grateful to Mount St. Mary’s and the teachers I had,” she said with tears in her eyes. “They helped me realize my dreams, and I want these girls to realize that too.”
Ballard and her husband Claude made a $1 million donation to the campaign in 2009. The Liberal and Practical Arts building is named in her honor.
Mount St. Mary Academy is not one to sit back and wait, campaign co-chairman George Worthen said. Not when the school’s job is to prepare students for the future.
“This is the culmination of one of the phases of the Lasting Efforts Campaign. What it does for the school is prepare it now, and for the future, for state-of-the-art education,” he said. “It is certainly a facility that is responsive now to the needs of students and teachers that brings it up to the highest level for the digital age.”
Worthen’s two daughters attended the school, and he said he wants the school to continue to touch the lives of young women in Arkansas.
In addition to the renovation and expansion of facilities, the campaign is also raising funds for the school endowment — the largest part of which is student scholarships.
As a way to curb rising costs for students and their families, Sister Deborah said the endowment is critical.
“It can really make a difference long-term on the endowment side. It helps make sure we can slow down the cost of tuition increases,” she said. “They don’t go away, but you can minimize the rate that they have to increase if you can build the endowments.”
After Bishop Taylor blessed the renovated buildings and 6,000- square-foot expansion, and gave a final blessing to students over the intercom, students and alumnae came together for the Mass. A special alumnae choir joined the student choir.
Bishop Taylor wore an amethyst ring that once belonged to the first bishop of Little Rock, Irish-born Bishop Andrew Byrne. Bishop Byrne invited the Sisters of Mercy to Arkansas to provide education to the frontier state. The Sisters of Mercy gave him the ring in 1843 when he was named bishop of Little Rock. ( Read his homily here.)
“Today, I understand even better that the Mount is one of those special places where you can always come home,” Sister Deborah said. “It is one of those places that remind us day in and day out that God is present here and now within us and among us. God is always welcoming here.”
