COLORADO SPRINGS. When the Klein family moved to the Colorado Springs area in 2011 from Indiana, they had only one year in the local Catholic education community before their oldest daughter, Lucy, entered St. Mary’s. They made some connections during that one year with their children attending St. Paul Cahtolic School, but their community was small and high school would be a new experience for the family.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Empowered by Knowledge. The second part of St. Mary’s High School’s identity focuses on knowledge. Since its inception in 1885, St. Mary’s has been providing excellence in education for the Colorado Springs community.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Catholic education in Colorado Springs offers parents quality academics with a foundation in faith that will guide students for life. In the coming months and years, that commitment to excellence will only improve with the signing of a Strategic Alliance agreement between St. Mary’s High School and the Diocese of Colorado Springs.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Inspired by Faith. Everything at St. Mary’s High School is inspired by faith. The theological foundation that the school helps build in its students is one of the many reasons that families choose St. Mary’s for their children’s high school education.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Dreaming big requires sacrifice. Maryn Pierce, a senior at St. Mary’s High School, knew this before the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, but it is a lesson that has reared its head again and again over the last several months. Despite the constant adjustments, Pierce continues to pursue her dream of standing on the podium at the US Figure Skating Championships.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When St. Mary’s High School staff started planning the 44th Annual Golf Classic a few months ago, no one really knew what to expect. So much is different since March, as this year has brought changes to daily life that no one could have anticipated. Those changes have made it hard to use the metrics from past years to anticipate anything. So as the number of golfers continued to grow, the St. Mary’s staffers were surprised and excited.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Mid-August is fast approaching, and with it comes the rhythm of back-to-school activities. Schools across the nation are grappling with how best to approach the start of the 2020-2021 school year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect how we live our daily lives. The faculty and staff at St. Mary’s High School have been working all summer to prepare for the new year and the challenges it may bring.

COLORADO SPRINGS. St. Mary’s High School speech and debate team members Ben Bodnar and Daniel Zill had one goal going into the 2019-2020 season — qualify for nationals. That goal had been set last year, when they narrowly missed qualifying for the 2019 National Speech and Debate Tournament. The first weekend in March 2020 Bodnar and Zill accomplished their goal, finishing first in the region in duo interpretation at the Colorado Grande District NSDA National Qualifying Tournament. A week later the world began to change.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Very little about graduation for the St. Mary’s High School class of 2020 was what they had imagined it would be. However, in her valedictorian speech Katie Morales said the class has always considered itself to be special, so it was only fitting that the class go out in a special way.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Working full time at a homeless center in Boulder was not how Hannah McReavy envisioned spending the last months of her sophomore year at college. In February, McReavy, who graduated from St. Mary’s High School in 2018, was at Providence College in Rhode Island; a month later, she was in Boulder, where her parents now live, finishing the semester virtually as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When Colleen (Walker) Berenguer ‘11 graduated from St. Mary’s High School, a career in nursing wasn’t on her radar. Yet, nine years later, her days have been filled with caring for patients in Meridian, Idado, with a virus that just a few months ago no one could have imagined. Berenguer is one of several St. Mary’s graduates who are on the frontlines caring for COVID-19 patients across the nation.

COLORADO SPRINGS. A famous quote claims that “attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure,” a theory that has been tested during the last seven weeks of rapid change. When schools shut down their campuses in mid-March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, everyone was hopeful that the shutdown would be short lived. That included the events staff at St. Mary’s High School, who at that time were just weeks away from their annual gala.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When the 2019-2020 school year started seven months ago, no one in the St. Mary’s community could have fathomed how the spring semester would unfold. In August it would have been unthinkable that the week before spring break, the entire school would move to distance learning from home as schools closed statewide in an effort to suppress the spread of the COVID- 19 coronavirus.

COLORADO SPRINGS. In the last month, life has changed for Americans. Our current situation of social distancing and stay-at-home orders has, at the very least, disrupted plans and, at the worst, has completely changed lives. Life for those who attend St. Mary’s High School has, of course, also been affected. As plans are shifting, one thing remains consistent for those associated with St. Mary’s — the community.