Merion Mercy Academy is a female Catholic, college preparatory school, teaching grades 9 through 12, sponsored by the
Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...
located in
Merion, Pennsylvania
Merion Station, also known as Merion, is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It borders Philadelphia to its west and is one of the communities that make up the Philadelphia Main Line. Merion Station is part of Lower Me ...
, just outside
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. It is an independent school located in the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. It covers the City and County of Philadelphia as well a ...
and was previously known as the "Mater Misericordiae Academy" prior to 1968.
History
Significant changes have taken place from 1987 to the present. Recent events include the merger of the lower school with Waldron Academy for Boys next door in 1987, thereby giving the entire Merion Mercy building, built in 1954, to the education of high school girls. The new grade school was named
Waldron Mercy Academy
Waldron Mercy Academy is a K- 8 Catholic private elementary school, sponsored by thSisters of Mercyand located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, located in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, USA. The school is accredited by the Midd ...
.
Academically, the school earned a
Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...
Award in 1996 as recognition from the
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
.
A addition to the MMA building in 2003 added a new
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, administrative offices, classrooms and meeting rooms, new athletic facilities, and a study center for students. Some other significant renovations took place in the summer of 2004. The school's principal since 2007 is Sister Barbara Buckley, who is also an alumna. Recently, Merion-Mercy won the 92.5 WXTU radio station contest in each of two consecutive years. On December 19, 2007, country artist Kellie Pickler performed for the student body, and on December 2, 2008, Dancing with the Stars' winner Julianna Hough performed on the school's stage.
Athletics
Merion Mercy joined the
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., also known by its acronymn PIAA, is one of the governing bodies of high school and middle school athletics for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States.
The PIAA's main ...
(
PIAA) in 1994 for scholastic athletic competition. The very next year the
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team won the state PIAA Class AA championship. Continuing their success, the
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
team won the PIAA state championship in 1998 and in 2001, and the
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
team won the PIAA state championship in 2001 and 2003. The volleyball team earned back-to-back-to-back-to-back state championships in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The crew team won the Groton Cup at the Henley Regatta in 2011 and both the Freshmen 8 and Varsity 4 won Stotesbury in 2012. The building houses the Patricia Waldron Fitness Center.
Notable alumnae
*
Patricia McGuire, president,
Trinity Washington University
Trinity Washington University is a private Catholic university in Washington, D.C. Trinity is a comprehensive university with five schools; the undergraduate College of Arts & Sciences maintains its original mission as a liberal arts women's ...
*Alyse Wojciechowski (Alyse Alan Louis) currently stars on Broadway's "Mamma Mia" as bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan
*
Gianna Yanelli, on Broadway in ''
Mean Girls the Musical''
*
Patricia Carbine
Patricia Theresa Carbine (born January 31, 1931) is an American feminist and magazine editor. She was executive editor of ''Look'', which was the highest position held by a woman at a general interest magazine, and the vice president and edit ...
, co-founder, editor, and publisher,
Ms. (magazine)
''Ms.'' is an American feminist magazine co-founded in 1971 by journalist and social/political activist Gloria Steinem. It was the first national American feminist magazine. The original editors were Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Patricia Car ...
Notes and references
External links
The Merion Mercy Academy@ Private School ReviewSearch Committee Posting
{{authority control
Catholic secondary schools in Pennsylvania
Girls' schools in Pennsylvania
Educational institutions established in 1884
Schools in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Sisters of Mercy schools
1884 establishments in Pennsylvania