Mount de Sales Academy (Georgia)

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Mount de Sales Academy
File:Sheridan Hall.JPG
Touching hearts, shaping lives
Address
851 Orange Street
Macon, Georgia 31201
United States
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Information
Type Private
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic
Denomination Catholic
Established 1876
Founder Sisters of Mercy
Authority Independent
President David Held
Dean Mary Pat Dadisman
Principal Michael C. Franklin (upper school),
Kari Alderman (middle school)
Chaplain Monsignor John Cuddy
Grades 6–12
Gender Coeducational
Student to teacher ratio 17:1
Color(s) Blue and Gold         
Sports Football, basketball, soccer, cross country, track and field, baseball, softball, swimming, wrestling, cheerleading, tennis, golf, volleyball, lacrosse[citation needed]
Mascot Cavaliers
Accreditation Southern Association of Colleges and Schools;[1]
Southern Association of Independent Schools
Publication de Sales Sheet
Yearbook Salesian
Affiliation National Catholic Educational Association[2]
Website http://www.mountdesales.net

Mount de Sales Academy is an independent Catholic college preparatory school in Macon, Georgia. It was founded in 1876 by five Sisters of Mercy as a boarding school for girls across the South; in 1959 it became coeducational and closed boarding school operations in 1963. The Sisters served in an administrative capacity until 2002, when the first lay head of school in the school's history was selected by the Mount de Sales Academy Board of Trustees. The school is operated by its trustees and continues to be sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah.

Over its one hundred and forty-seven-year history, the school has remained at its original location atop Beall's Hill, the former home of Georgia Governor George W. Towns (1801—1854), in downtown Macon and overlooking the antebellum city. Opened in 1998, Cavalier Fields athletic complex is located apart from the academic campus. Mount de Sales—often referred to as MDS—is the oldest school in Macon and was the first school in Middle Georgia to desegregate in 1963.

While it has a Catholic heritage, the school has enrolled students of all faiths. Students are enrolled in grades 6-12. Its athletic teams as well as academic, literary, debate, and thespian clubs, nicknamed the Cavaliers, compete in the Georgia High School Association.

History

Early history

In 1871, a group of five Sisters of Mercy from Columbus, Georgia, began a small school known as the Academy of the Sacred Heart Jesus on the corner of Fourth and Walnut streets in Macon, Georgia.[3] The school taught students of a variety of faiths, and along with a free school that was operated out of the basement of Saint Joseph Church, predated the Bibb County public school system by nearly a year. The free school became one of the area's first public schools in 1872.[4]

File:Towns mansion.jpg
The former mansion of Governor George Towns c. 1880s, the original building and site of Mount de Sales Academy

When the mother house of the Sisters relocated from Columbus to Macon in 1876, the Sisters, area Catholics, and other donors provided funds to purchase the former governor's mansion on Beall's Hill on the corner of Orange and Columbus streets as the new home for the sisters and novices as well as the boarding students at the Academy.[3] The name of the school was changed to Mount de Sales, in honor of Saint Francis de Sales, and the new school was chartered as a women's junior college with the right to confer degrees by the state of Georgia in 1876. The school grew quickly, and a second building was completed by 1877. When the school's first graduation exercises were held in 1882, Mount de Sales had expanded to comprise three divisions: primary, preparatory, and senior, and was a boarding school for girls in grades one through twelve, housing girls from around the southeastern United States and Cuba.[4]

Modernization and expansion

Mount de Sales discontinued its primary school in 1936, but continued to serve as a girls' secondary school for both boarding and day students until 1959 when the first boys were admitted as day students. The girls' boarding school closed in 1963. The school's movement toward becoming a coeducational facility was at the request of the Bishop of Savannah, and the first coeducational graduating class included 16 boys of 46 total graduates in 1963. The fall of 1963 also marked the racial integration of Mount de Sales, making it the first school in Middle Georgia to do so.[4]

The admission of boys and the racial integration of the school was the culmination of the expansion and modernization of the school that began in the 1950s. In addition to the already existing Cavalier Hall, newly constructed buildings on the campus included St. Joseph's Hall, McAuley Hall, Burke Hall, Mercy Hall, and De Sales Hall. In 1970, the original convent and boarding school building was demolished after the Sisters moved to a new convent building that had been erected on College Street. Mount de Sales' expansion and modernization continued at a steady pace throughout the last quarter of the 20th century. In 1975, the middle school was reinstated with the re-addition of an eighth grade to the school. A seventh grade was re-added in 1988.[4]

Late 20th to 21st centuries

In 1990, a new classroom building, Sheridan Hall, was completed and dedicated on the site of the original boarding school building. In addition to classrooms, the building houses a computer lab, administrative offices and a chapel. The building was the newest and most modern building on the campus until the completion of the Zuver Performing Arts Center in 2004. The site for the school's athletic complex, located near Macon State College, was acquired and dedicated in 1996, and was fully completed in 2002 with the opening of the field house. The athletic complex, Cavalier Fields, is home to the school's football stadium and practice fields; soccer, baseball, and softball fields; tennis courts, and track. The site also includes a concession stand and patio, as well as a practice cross-country course.[4]

The completion of the Zuver Performing Arts Center in 2004 expanded the classroom space for art, drama, and music programs.[4]

In 2004 a sixth grade was added. Membership for this class is split between Mount de Sales and the nearby elementary school, St. Joseph Catholic School.[4]

In 2008, a new secured student parking lot was constructed on Columbus Street. In 2014, the $3.6M Middle School-only building, Father John Cuddy Hall, was constructed on College Street.[5]

Accreditation and membership

Notable alumni

See also

References

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External links

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