St. Mary of the Assumption School was a dream come to fruition of Monsignor Francis Loughran, who in 1925 contacted the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), of Scranton, Pennsylvania and asked them if they would assist in staffing his new school. They accepted and their presence has continued until this very day. Over the decades, St. Mary’s school has seen many changes, as one of the first schools in the archdiocese to desegregate, new construction of school and convent in 1965, transformation from almost all religious staffing to now almost all lay teachers, modern instructional techniques and pedagogy (including Smart boards in every classroom) and in 2013 we’ve opened a 14,000 sq./ft. family life center complete with a full size gymnasium. As impressive as our facilities are they don’t represent the best that St. Mary has to offer.
St. Mary’s enjoys a stellar reputation with local high schools for graduating well prepared, well-rounded students. In keeping, with Pope Benedict XVI’s plea to embrace the New Evangelization, our school’s proudest attribute has always been the way we’ve embraced our core mission, which is to teach what Jesus commands us to teach, the good news, the message of salvation, which permeates our entire curriculum. Today, our pastor, Fr. Thomas LaHood welcomes new parents, confident that they will still find the same community spirit, the same “charism” that the IHM Sisters brought to Upper Marlboro, 93 years ago, a great love for children and a great joy for teaching. This perhaps captures best the history of St. Mary of the Assumption school and remains our cherished trademark: love of children and joy of teaching.
