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Spring 2010 A Catholic College Preparatory School Sponsored by the Xaverian Brothers ConnectionsA magazine for the St. Mary’s Ryken Community In this issue... The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth New feature: Spotlight on the Board of Directors Distinguished Alumni Award presented to Reverend Keith A. Woods The St. Mary’s Ryken Fund Tuition covers 83% of what it costs to educate a student. Your gifts to the 2009-2010 St. Mary’s Ryken Fund help us provide the rest: • over $700,000 in tuition assistance for 52% of our students • merit scholarships for 10% of our students • retreats and religious enrichment activities • new vestments, altar cloths and liturgical supplies for Mass • building upkeep and campus maintenance • upgrades to classroom technology and computers Thank you for investing in the students of St. Mary’s Ryken. From the President Table of Contents Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends, 2 The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth As we enter the final days of Lent and 7 A Day to Celebrate and can see the end of the academic year on To Remember the horizon, I pause to reflect on all of the 8 Board of Directors Spotlight wonderful moments that this school year 9 Athletics has held so far: the SMR STEM 100 10 Student News program is thriving in its second year - the 12 Alumni News honors physics classes visited the horizontal 14 Class Notes accelerator at the Pax Naval Base and the anatomy class had field 15 In Memoriam trips to witness an eye and a heart dissection. Almost 60 students 16 Distinguished Alumni Award participated in the spring musical Grease, whether on stage, behind 17 The Theodore Ryken Award the scenes or in the band. Several English classes visited St. Mary’s College of Maryland for a poetry workshop with Maryland’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Michael Glaser. The Easter food drive is wrapping up Spring 2010 and the juniors are completing Project X. Editor and Designer I urge you to read more about Project X on pages 10-11. The Denise Krumenacker community service outreach by our students is stronger than ever. Each year they regularly complete service-oriented projects linked to the mission of the school and the Xaverian philosophy. Photography Kristen Beck ’11 Over 74% of our students are Catholic and the focus of this issue is Robert Burke our commitment to Catholic education. I cannot help but marvel at DC Sports the drive and determination of the Sisters of Charity, the Xaverian Taylor Gregg Brothers, the local community, parents and teachers to firmly Donnamaria Jones establish a Catholic high school in Southern Maryland. Denise Krumenacker Steve Kupka Today, we stand on the foundations they have so carefully laid and, LifeTouch now, it is up to us to carry their legacy to the next generation. The Maryland Agricultural Bureau faculty and staff of St. Mary’s Ryken understand the importance Joan Stevens of the mission of Catholic education - that we are educating the leaders of tomorrow in academics and in the values of compassion, Cover photo: Jessica Sizemore ’11 simplicity, humility, trust and zeal. Every day, I see our successes. Some of the accolades the Class of 2010 has received so far include seven National Merit Commended Mission Statement Scholars, and 13 Maryland Distinguished Scholars, including one St. Mary’s Ryken is a Catholic coeducational finalist and one semi-finalist. college preparatory school, operated under Xaverian Brothers sponsorship, committed to We receive no funding from the Archdiocese of Washington or the academic excellence and to individualized Xaverian Brothers congregation and are able to bring about all of student growth in faith, moral probity, the above good things because of you. Tuition and the St. Mary’s physical health, social demeanor and Ryken Fund make possible all we offer our students. responsible citizenship. Thank you for your support of our students, of St. Mary’s Ryken and of Catholic education. St. Mary’s Ryken High School 22600 Camp Calvert Road Sincerely, Leonardtown, MD 20650 Mary Joy Hurlburt Tel: 301-475-2814 President E-mail: [email protected] “The love of Christ impels us” The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the Beginnings of Catholic Education in St. Mary’s County Spring 2010 3 Connections Many of us who grew up going to a Catholic school can tell plenty of stories: getting rasped on the knuckles with a ruler for misbehaving; being sent to the bathroom to scrub off makeup; or having to wear coveralls or a “napkin suit” if caught out of uniform. We did our best to exasperate the families from Maryland, and The Sisters opened their first school sisters, brothers and priests who did St. Mary’s County in particular, in 1814 and soon found themselves their best to turn us into responsible moved to the Kentucky frontier involved in a variety of ministries, and moral young adults. seeking a new start. They also all in response to their loving sought Catholic education for their commitment to serve others. In “I was a little rascal, the class children. 1832, when Catherine Spalding clown,” admits Maria “Lou” Briscoe Gardiner ’44. “I like to have fun and enjoy life.” While Lou tells tales of annoying the Sisters with her gum chewing (“Once I had to put it on my nose and sit in the corner.”), she is quick to point out that the Sisters “made me what I am today, especially Sister Sara Ann [Abell]. ” The Sisters are the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, the religious order from Kentucky that answered a request in the late 1800s to establish a Catholic school in the very rural, very hard to reach St. Mary’s County, and who are responsible for (Above) The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth take time to enjoy a picnic lunch and educating generations of Southern (shown left) the Sisters at Camp Maria. Marylanders in morals and values. Father Jean Baptiste Marie The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth brought home two orphans left David, who was in the process trace their roots back to 1812 at the wharf in Louisville, they of establishing a seminary near when, in the newly-formed diocese began their social work ministry. Bardstown, put out a call for young of Bardstown, Kentucky, Bishop The following year, when cholera women willing to devote their lives Benedict Joseph Flaget saw an struck, the Sisters nursed victims to the service of the Church. From overwhelming need to provide of the disease and began their among the first group of women religious education for the children ministry to the sick. In 1884, they to respond, Catherine Spalding, a of Catholic families who had received another request to provide 19-year-old originally from Charles migrated there from Maryland. religious education for the children County, Maryland, was chosen of Catholic families. This time After the Revolutionary War, with as first superior of the religious the request came from St. Mary’s farmland becoming scarce and congregation named the Sisters of County, Maryland. depleted from years of tobacco Charity of Nazareth. growing, many large, Catholic 4 Spring 2010 During the first year, the number of pupils increased to 33. The Sisters faced many hardships in the beginning. Furniture was in short supply, so as they moved from St. Mary’s Ryken room to room, their chairs went with them. The cooking was done in an open fireplace and it wasn’t until 1887 that a windmill was installed to supply the building with hot, running water. Always finding their calling in Sisters of Charity of Nazareth at their General Assembly in India in 2008. Sr. Judy is ministering to the needs of the seated in the second row on the left side in the blue/green salvar. community, the Sisters stepped In 1884, shortly before her death, twelfth order Father Jenkins had in to help nearby families with Mrs. Mary Miles bequeathed her appealed to – took up the challenge domestic tasks and with nursing Leonardtown home, Rose Hill in the spirit of their motto “The love the sick during a flu outbreak. Farm, to Father Charles K. Jenkins, of Christ impels us.” When several parishes in the S.J., pastor of St. Aloysius with the county opened Catholic elementary instruction that it must be used In August 1885, the steamer, schools, including St. John’s, Little by “a religious order to conduct a Thompson, arrived in Breton Bay Flower and, later, Mother Catherine Catholic school.” Father Jenkins carrying Mother Helena, Sister Spalding, they began teaching there began writing to various religious Rosanne, Sister Gregorita, Sister as well. orders. Several visited the site, Bertilla and Sister Madaline. The When summer heat became stifling, but came away discouraged by the Sisters were immediately impressed the Sisters and students escaped to dilapidation of the building and the with the hospitality of the people Camp Maria for an afternoon of isolation of the district whose main who came to the Leonardtown swimming in Breton Bay. Some means of transportation was by boat. wharf to welcome them. The next month, in September, St. Mary’s days, the boys up the road at Camp After much consideration, the Academy opened with 17 pupils, Calvert, the summer camp operated Sisters of Charity of Nazareth – the two of whom were boarders. by the Xaverian Brothers, paid a visit. Founded by the Sisters in 1937 Alumni Maria “Lou” Briscoe Gardiner Isabelle ’44 grew up in St. Mary’s Waring County. Lou, her two sisters, Raley Hilda Briscoe Dale ’42 and ’48 and Adriana Briscoe Gillespy ’49, her late and her brother, The Honorable husband, John Hanson Briscoe ’52, all James, attended St.