Once a Mercy girl, always a Mercy girl

It was Fall 2000 all over again, in traffic for my 30+ minute commute to Mercy high school this morning en route to my meeting with SMAS aka Sr. Mary Anne Smith who in a prior life was my Spanish teacher turned Alumnae Director. Never mind the new score boards on the soccer fields, fresher than I remember coat of paint in the hallways and just ripped from their boxes, top of the line MAC/PCs in the west wing... it was the same Mercy I remember. Mr. Stoddard was copying away in the business office, Ms. Cumming was looking better than ever and all of my teachers had remembered my name as if I had sat in their lectures earlier that morning.

The Miss Maryland US sash has a funny way of drawing excitement from passerbys-- so imagine the students reactions as I sat down with them in the cafeteria, in my old lunch seat 2nd row from the back by the windows. My favorite moment was walking down the alumnae row with SMAS and passing the class of '01. I was witness to one of the worse photos taken of me in history, forever memorialized in this hallway. Haha.

"You named three people we should contact if we ever lost contact in your senior evaluation-- do you remember?"

Jen C, Megan R and Erin D.

Bingo. Such great friendships, turned college roomate and now conquering the east coast one state at a time. I wish I had made a greater effort to keep in touch since college! But Facebook is great for things like this, touching base with old friends and wishing them the best in their careers.

Ms. Simmons allowed me a brief interruption of her Geometry class in session. "Comment about your experience at Mercy and how it's helped you in your endeavors." The only piece of advice I had for this group of sophomores was to

believe in the system and the tools the institution is providing. You will soon realize the value of the Mercy tradition and the name that has been made in the community by alums.

In Baltimore, more than any other place I've heard, you will inevitably be asked where you went to school. Not elementary or college, high school. Your legacy and those of the women before you will be with you always.

It's great to be home-- looking forward to my many appearances at the school this year! For a list of events and more information about MHS visit their website: http://mercyhighschool.com/alumnae/newsevents.asp Last time I was on campus was last year's Career Day representing KPMG and the Accounting/Finance fields-- what a difference a year makes!