Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School | |
---|---|
Address | |
1524 35th Street, N.W. 20007 United States | |
Coordinates | 38°54′34″N77°4′9″W / 38.90944°N 77.06917°W |
Information | |
Type | Private High School |
Motto | Fides et Scientia (Faith and Knowledge) |
Founded | 1799 |
School district | Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools [1] |
CEEB code | 090080 |
President | Sr. Mary Berchmans Hannan, VHM |
Dean | Sue Foreman |
Principal | Leonor Limarzi Ponzio |
Headmaster | Barbara McGraw Edmondson |
Faculty | 48 |
Grades | 9–12 |
Gender | Female |
Enrollment | Approximately 500 |
Student to teacher ratio | 9:1 |
Campus size | 45 acres (0.18 km2) |
Campus type | Urban |
Color(s) | Green, gold, white |
Song | Cor Jesu |
Athletics | 21 teams |
Athletics conference | Independent School League |
Sports | 13 sports |
Mascot | The Gold Team - Tigers The White Team - Bears |
Team name | The Cubs |
Accreditation | Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools [2] |
Tuition | $35,450 |
Website | www |
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School is a private college-preparatory school for girls located in the historic Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown. Founded in 1799 by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (also known as the Visitation Sisters), it is one of the oldest continuously-operating schools for girls in the country and the city [3] as well as the oldest Catholic school for girls in the original Thirteen Colonies. [4] It is located within the Archdiocese of Washington, but operates independently of the Archdiocese.
Georgetown Visitation was founded in 1799. It is the oldest Catholic school for girls in the original 13 colonies. The school opened near Georgetown College because its fourth President, Father Leonard Neale, S.J., (later Bishop and Archbishop) co-founded the Academy and Convent. He invited Alice Lalor, Maria McDermott and Maria Sharpe to join him; these founders would come to be called "The Three Pious Ladies." [5]
Rome recognized the Georgetown Visitation Order in 1816; on May 24, 1828, the Sisters were incorporated by Congress, an act signed by President John Quincy Adams, who, a few months later, handed out awards at the commencement exercises. [6] By this time, students were learning geography, history, mythology, astronomy, chemistry, French, Spanish, and vocal & instrumental music.
From 1800 to 1862, Georgetown Visitation subsidized its mission by the forced labor and sale of enslaved people, 121 of whom have been identified, either by name or brief description. Primary sources tell of manumissions, self-emancipations, and the freeing of all people whom Visitation enslaved with the District of Columbia Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862. [7]
The school continued to grow and evolve in the 20th century, focusing on high school and Junior College students. Beloved traditions such as Marshmallow Roast, a good-natured class competition with skits that "roast" faculty, and Gold-White, a school-wide intramural athletic competition, began in the early decades of this century. By the mid-sixties, the school started seeing a decline in the number of resident students and Junior College students; the Junior College was closed in 1964 and the boarding school was closed in 1975.[ citation needed ]
On July 8–9, 1993, a fire destroyed the historic main academic building of the campus, the Starkweather Academy Building, causing an initially estimated $3.5 million in damages. [8] Trailers were brought in to serve as temporary classrooms in time for the start of the 1993–1994 academic year. The building was restored and rededicated as Founders Hall on May 5, 1995. [9] [10] Since then, the campus has been revitalized with the Catharine E. Nolan Center for the Performing Arts and the Sarah and Charles T. Fisher Athletic Center completed for the bicentennial of the school in 1999, and the renovation of both St. Joseph's Hall and the St. Bernard Library in 2002 and 2003. In 2019, the school opened Berchmans Hall, named for Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan, VHM, '48 & '50, a two-story addition to St. Joseph's Hall with classrooms, science labs, and an art studio. The covered walkway between St. Bernard Library and St. Joseph’s Hall became the Saints Connector, with common areas and the McNabb Innovation Lab, named for Sister Mary de Sales McNabb, VHM, '48. Modern facilities are located side-by-side with historic buildings boasting a myriad of architectural styles, ranging from Victorian to Neo-Gothic. [11]
In the early 2000s, Visitation's focus and identity started to shift. An increase in interest and focus on science and mathematics courses led to the update and development of new lab spaces, a creators' space, more advanced equipment, and the hiring of doctorate-level biology, chemistry, and mathematics faculty.
Simultaneously, the school experienced a sharp decline in the number of religious sisters. This caused an increase in layperson involvement, with key leadership positions changing from priest or religious to laymen and women.
With these changes came a more progressive attitude and understanding of religious topics which mirrored the evolving priorities of the Washington Diocese. The 2010s and 2020s saw an increased emphasis on diversity, inclusion, equity, and social topics, with associated school-wide projects, initiatives, positions, and research. Visitation is committed to continuing these priorities in the coming years, and expanding to the critical issues of gender identity, transgender, environmental concerns, and Christian institutional identity in a complex historical context.
Visitation traditionally held its graduation ceremonies in the Odeon, an auditorium where John Quincy Adams addressed the graduates of 1828. [8] After the Odeon was destroyed in the fire of Founder's Hall, graduation ceremonies were moved to Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall.[ citation needed ]
In 1850, John H. Hewitt wrote the Grand Promenade March and dedicated it to the "Sisters of the Academy of Visitation, Georgetown." [12]
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in northern and western Maryland in the United States. It is the metropolitan see of the Ecclesiastical Province of Baltimore.
The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, abbreviated VSM and also known as the Visitandines, is a Catholic religious order of Pontifical Right for women. Members of the order are also known as the Salesian Sisters or, more commonly as the Visitation Sisters.
The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church for the District of Columbia and several Maryland counties in the United States.
Leonard Neale was an American Catholic prelate and Jesuit who became the second Archbishop of Baltimore and the first Catholic bishop to be ordained in the United States. While president of Georgetown College, Neale became the coadjutor bishop to Bishop John Carroll and founded the Georgetown Visitation Monastery and Academy.
Mount Saint Joseph College is a Catholic college preparatory school and secondary school / high school for young men from ninth to twelfth grade sponsored by the Xaverian Brothers and founded in 1876. It is located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland.
Mount de Sales Academy is an all-girls secondary school located in Catonsville in unincorporated Baltimore County, Maryland. The school is located near the city of Baltimore and within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.
St. Mary's Ryken High School, located on an 87-acre (350,000 m2) waterfront campus on Breton Bay, is a coeducational, secondary school sponsored by the Xaverian Brothers. SMR is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and recognized as an independent, Catholic school by the Archdiocese of Washington and the Maryland State Department of Education.
West Catholic Preparatory High School is a co-educational Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 45th and Chestnut Streets, the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia.
The history of Georgetown University spans nearly four hundred years, from the early European settlement of America to the present day. Georgetown University has grown with both its city, Washington, D.C., and the United States, each of which date their founding to the period from 1788 to 1790. Georgetown's origins are in the establishment of the Maryland colony in the seventeenth century. Bishop John Carroll established the school at its present location by the Potomac River after the American Revolution allowed for free religious practice.
Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS)
Saint John's Catholic Prep is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational, college preparatory high school in Buckeystown, Maryland, located just southwest of Frederick City. At the time of its founding in 1829, it was located on Second Street in eastern downtown Frederick. Beginning in 1958 and for 45 years thereafter, the school was housed in the historic "Prospect Hall" mansion, (1787–1803), also just southwest of Frederick. St. John's was the first independent Roman Catholic school in the state of Maryland. It was also the first Roman Catholic secondary school in the state of Maryland.
Visitation Academy of St. Louis is a private, all-girls, Roman Catholic school in Town and Country, Missouri, in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. It is a work of the Visitation Sisters who founded it in 1833.
The Monastery of the Visitation, Georgetown is a monastery of the Visitation Order in the District of Columbia, United States of America.
Teresa Lalor, V.H.M. was an Irish immigrant to the United States, and a nun, co-foundress, with the Most Rev. Leonard Neale, S.J., the second Archbishop of Baltimore, of the Visitation Order's first monastery in the United States.
St. Anselm's Abbey School is an all-boys preparatory school for grades six through twelve in Washington D.C., United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. The school sits on a 40-acre wooded campus in the Michigan Park neighborhood of the city's Northeast quadrant. It is run by the Benedictine monks of Saint Anselm's Abbey.
Juana de Dios María Francisca Ramona Ignacia de Iturbide y Huarte, was the third child of Agustín I of Mexico and Empress Ana María. She died at a young age at the Georgetown Visitation Monastery in Washington, D.C.
The Church of St. John is a parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 3021 Kingsbridge Avenue, Bronx, New York City. The parish was established in 1877 and has had long ties with the Religious of Jesus and Mary as their main base in New York.
William Matthews, occasionally spelled Mathews, was an American who became the fifth Roman Catholic priest ordained in the United States and the first such person born in British America. Born in the colonial Province of Maryland, he was briefly a novice in the Society of Jesus. After being ordained, he became influential in establishing Catholic parochial and educational institutions in Washington, D.C. He was the second pastor of St. Patrick's Church, serving for most of his life. He served as the sixth president of Georgetown College, later known as Georgetown University. Matthews acted as president of the Washington Catholic Seminary, which became Gonzaga College High School, and oversaw the continuity of the school during suppression by the church and financial insecurity.
Joseph Anton Lopez was a Mexican Catholic priest and Jesuit. Born in Michoacán, he studied canon law at the Colegio de San Nicolás and the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. He became acquainted with the future Empress consort Ana María Huarte and was made chaplain to the future imperial family. He was later put in charge of the education of all the princes in Mexico. Lopez was a close ally of Emperor Agustín de Iturbide, residing in Madrid for four years as his attorney and political informant, and accompanying him during his exile to Italy and England.
Mary Paulina Finn, known to the literary world by her pen name, M. S. Pine, was a Roman Catholic nun at the Georgetown Visitation Monastery in Washington, DC. Known as Sister Paulina, she was a playwright, poet, and author, and she headed the school's English Department for 50 of her 68 years at Visitation.