St. Mary’s honored with Volunteer Tennessee Award of Excellence

St. Mary’s Episcopal School was honored with the 2024–2025 Award of Excellence at the Tennessee Conference for Volunteerism and Service Learning, held March 8–9, 2026, in Franklin. The statewide award from Volunteer Tennessee recognizes schools that demonstrate outstanding, sustained commitment to community service and civic engagement. This year’s judging placed special emphasis on projects addressing food security, safe housing, and youth mentorship, areas where St. Mary’s programs made a measurable impact.

“Service at St. Mary’s is a habit of the heart,” said Head of School Albert Throckmorton. “When our students step into the community to tutor, fundraise, organize drives, or build partnerships, they gain confidence, practical leadership skills, and a clearer sense of responsibility to others. That learning benefits our students and strengthens the entire Mid-South.”

During the 2024–2025 school year, students across St. Mary’s campus gave more than 10,000 service hours. These hours supported organizations serving children, families, and vulnerable populations across Memphis through tutoring, meal delivery, donation drives, mentoring, fundraising, grantmaking, and environmental stewardship.

Service at St. Mary’s is rooted in our Episcopal identity and our Bridge to Caring character program, which focuses on key traits including Respect, Responsibility, Kindness, Honesty, Thankfulness, Courage, Self-Control, and Cooperation. From Early Childhood classrooms to Upper School capstones, students move from awareness to action. Along the way, girls develop empathy, civic knowledge, project management, and the confidence to lead sustained community partnerships.

Additionally, St. Mary’s faculty and staff extend their service beyond campus, serving on nonprofit boards, coaching youth teams, mentoring students, leading arts outreach, and volunteering with local social-service organizations. Community partners, including MIFA, Emmanuel Center, Madonna Learning Center, and many others, regularly collaborate with students on program design and implementation. Plus, our parents and alumnae also support logistics, fundraising, and volunteer supervision, making our initiatives truly communitywide.

Earning the Volunteer Tennessee Award of Excellence reflects years of student leadership, thoughtful curriculum design, and deep community partnerships. We are grateful to our students, families, faculty, staff, and partners whose dedication turned empathy into measurable impact across Memphis.

“Celebration is also a call to action. Our world needs St. Mary’s girls and alumnae now more than ever,” Throckmorton said. “May this recognition renew and redouble our commitment to service-learning and community partnership, so our students leave St. Mary’s not only with academic excellence but with the courage, compassion, and conviction to build a more just and caring world."

Learn more about service at St. Mary's.