Upper School

Last week, we celebrated the Class of 2023 at St. Mary's 138th Commencement. Congratulations to the 63 deserving graduates. This impressive class earned acceptance to 157 universities and will venture to 45 different colleges and universities in 23 states.

For more than eight years, St. Mary’s students have chronicled the restoration of local historic buildings for the Legacy Project. A brainchild of Upper School Art History Teacher Nancy Prillaman, the project's goal is to document the restoration of neglected sites in Memphis through photos and notes.

Last weekend, 41 St. Mary’s students traveled to Nashville to participate in the Youth in Government Conference (YIG) organized by the YMCA of Middle Tennessee Center for Civic Engagement. St. Mary’s students shined at this year’s conference, earning several accolades and leadership positions. 

The summer before her senior year, Dowling spent six months working on a research project with a team at Rhodes College. She’s one of nearly a hundred students who, in the last 10 years, have conducted high-level research alongside local experts as part of St. Mary’s Honors Independent Research Study (HIRS).

This month, the Association of Muslim Students invited former University of Memphis basketball player Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir to speak at South Campus Chapel. While at Memphis, she was the first person in NCAA history to play in a Division I basketball game wearing a hijab.

Every year, Senior students are tasked with delivering one of the most introspective assignments of their St. Mary’s career, the Senior Speech. Each twelfth-grade student must speak to her peers in Chapel, reflecting on her St. Mary's experience. The tradition was introduced in 2005 by English Department Chair Shari Ray. The speeches aim to help the girls improve their public speaking and communication skills.

Congratulations to Leah Balkaran ’23! Balkaran was named a QuestBridge Scholar, an honor that includes a full scholarship to Washington and Lee University.

Two St. Mary’s students and a faculty member are helping to shape the global curriculum here and across the country. The school is one of 22 named as a Leading Partner in Global Dialogues by Global Education Benchmark Group (GEBG), a collection of K-12 schools that researches and establishes model practices in global education.