90 Years: Our Work Moves us Forward

The energy filling every nook and cranny of our campus this year is extraordinary. Following a year and a half of remote learning, isolated cohorts, and other necessary safety measures, we now move about more freely, filling each learning space with collaboration and connection, and gradually adding back elements of the student experience reduced amid extra precaution. This is not to say safety is relaxed. Masks, health screenings, testing, and care in interaction happen daily. Many of these procedures and protocols have become second nature and, as we realize every day, very much worth the effort. Being together becomes us.

It is a good year to feel a bit closer to our true selves – who we are as a school and a community. We opened our doors this year for the 90th time. Ninety years. It may not be one of those big anniversaries like the golden 50th or century mark. Still, it is significant, especially as we reached it persisting through the big challenges of the pandemic deeply committed to our mission just as our founding Holy Child Sisters did in 1931. We are 90 years strong and 90 years grateful.

It is a year for anniversaries. We also celebrate our Holy Child Sisters this year. Cornelia Connelly founded the Society of the Holy Child Jesus 175 years ago this coming October. The school's connection with the SHCJ is deep. Our Holy Child heritage provides history and tradition - longevity and substance. The joyful learning that continues on this campus today was planted that day in 1846, again in 1862 when six sisters crossed the Atlantic to bring Holy Child education to the United States, and when we opened in 1931. At Mayfield, we honor and celebrate the 175 years of dedication and service of the Society and our own 90-year history through our work.

Mayfield has definitely grown over the last 90 years. In keeping with Cornelia Connelly's belief in "meeting the wants of the age," the what and how defining our school and the work we do has evolved. The why or reason we do the work we do remains. Administrators strive to think ahead - innovative yet prudent and intentional as they balance schedules, coordinate events, or improve learning environments. Wanting to reach every child and inspire discovery, teachers put in countless hours of careful preparation and bring passion to every class. Every day the work we do, from opening the gates in the morning to after-school care as the sun sets, honors those who came before us and builds upon this foundation for the next generation.