A Vision for Our Lady of Mercy: Building a Purposeful Life

This is the ultimate goal we have for our students—to give them the right foundation for life.

We work each day to build a community of faith, hope, and love, so that each student can learn and grow to be the person God is calling him or her to be.

Our rigorous curriculum instills a love of learning in our students, skillfully preparing them to move on to any high school they choose with self-confidence and poise. Our exceptional faculty inspire students to become passionate, well-rounded, and highly principled individuals who know they are loved and have a purpose to serve in our world.

Mercy Through the years

Since our founding in 1957 as a K-8 school with the Sisters of St. Joseph from Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, Our Lady of Mercy School has lovingly placed students on their path to a purposeful life. From our simple beginning on Banner Avenue (near UNC School of the Arts), we have done all we can to meet the needs of our students. In those early years, we housed up to 340 students in the limited quarters at that location, having four trailers to hold the overflow. Mass was held in the basement of the auditorium during that time, for Our Lady of Mercy Church did not have its own building.

The school moved from the Banner Avenue location to the renovated former Bishop McGuinness High School on Link Road in the fall of 2002. The church was then constructed next door and dedicated in 2006; the same year we added a PreK program. Though many things have changed over the years, our commitment to our purpose has not.

Enrollment is currently holding at just under 220 children, under the leadership of Sr. Geri Rogers, the last of the Sisters of St. Joseph on staff. Our student population has grown wonderfully diverse, in keeping with our true Catholic heritage—over 35% belong to a racial or ethnic minority group.

Living our Mission

Our Lady of Mercy School’s mission is “to develop and honor each student spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, socially, creatively, and physically. Guided by Catholic beliefs, our diverse community invites each child to live and serve in a changing society as a self-respecting and responsible citizen.”

We put this mission into action each day. Students learn not only in the classroom, but through other important experiences that Mercy is able to provide. From our Buddy program that pairs middle schoolers with our youngest students, encouraging responsibility and creating role models, to the Helping Hands of Mercy group that cultivates a life-long commitment to service and social awareness, our students learn the foundations of leadership and personal responsibility.

Our parents tell us how pleased they are with how we accomplish our mission:

-"Every morning I drop my children off at OLM school, I have peace of mind knowing they will be not only be getting a great intellectual education but also a spiritual education as they will be surrounded by Christian moral beliefs." – Lilia Vieyra

-“My children are receiving the best education, due to the quality of the teaching staff, in a loving and caring environment that is very respectful.” – Katy O’Kennedy

-“It is amazing to walk in the doors of the school and feel the atmosphere of a tight knit family.” – Rebecca Seeber

-“Our Lady of Mercy is an amazing school which offers its students an incredibly rigorous and top notch education. The academics are second to none--but to us, the true sense of family and the warmth which exudes from this school is unlike anything we had ever experienced.” – Denise Steele

The Cost of a Mercy Education

As with every meaningful endeavor, there is cost involved. Our school is no different.

There are three main areas that we would like to focus on for continued donor support so that we can continually provide the best education possible for our students: Filling the Gap,Tuition Assistance, and Technology.

Filling the Gap

Tuition and fees cover just over 60% of our annual budget. Though we get support from OLM parish and the other parishes where our students attend, these subsidies and other fees cover just another 20%. We need to raise nearly 20% every year to cover our annual budget. We need support from donors like you to enable us to carry out our mission for our students.

Tuition assistance

We take our mission seriously enough that we work hard to help as many families as possible to provide their children with a Catholic education. This year, we gave $140,197 in assistance funds, which went to 44 families (30%) to help them their children attend Our Lady of Mercy School. Portions of these funds come from our Triad Catholic Schools Foundation annual giving campaign, a parish second collection during Catholic Schools Week, and other individual donors. Over $42,000 of these monies were “unfunded,” which means we would like to find donors willing to help cover the $42,000 tuition assistance gap this year.

The need for tuition assistance will not go away and seems to grow each year. We need to raise approximately $150,000 per year. We are looking for donors who would be willing to commit to partial tuition-scholarships. The average grant is $1,900 per student—would you be willing to donate a student grant?

Technology

Our mission of preparing students for our changing society demands that technology is part of their early education. Therefore, tradition meets innovation in our classrooms, as Mercy has invested in a complete upgrade in our technology offerings to students. There are interactive whiteboards in all our classrooms and teachers have new computers by which to “drive” the content on those boards. Our students now have access to tablet devices, giving them new ways to learn concepts and practice skills. Textbooks are already on their way to being electronic---our science textbooks have already been replaced by Discovery Education tech books—and we need to ready for the day that textbooks are no longer on paper. This technology requires constant investment.

Investment for our future

In our changing world, one thing is certain: providing for our children is the best investment we can make. After all, our children will create the future. Your financial support will touch their lives, and the lives of all they influence. Important today, your support will have lasting impact on tomorrow.

Please make your gift today by clicking on the Click to Donate button above, or sending in a check to Our Lady of Mercy School. If you would like more information, please contact Katrina Capistrano, Director of Advancement.

“Education is one of the most important ways
by which the Church fulfills its commitment
to the dignity of the person and the building of community.”
– To Teach as Jesus Did, 1972, #13 (USCCB)

  

• OLM-CampaignOverview-final.pdf