Merion Mercy Academy
1967-1973
Merion Station, PA
After several miserable years at Our lady of Lourdes School in Philadelphia, my parents transferred me to Mater Misercordia Academy at the end of sixth grade. They thought a smaller, private school might be the answer to all of my academic problems. It wasn't but nothing would have helped me at that time. I was dyslexic and none of us know anything about this learning disability. In hindsight, I don't think I would have been successful anywhere at that time.
- AKA- Mater Micercorida Academy
- Private, Catholic, all female school
- Saddle shoes and navy blue knee socks
- Lots of smart classmates.
- Lots of academic failure. I failed most of my tests and some of my classes. I felt stupid.
- A complete disinterest in my academic career. My social life was far more important.
- I had my first taste of beer in the PE locker room.
- We shared the campus with the convent house for the Sisters of Mercy; 100s of nuns lived on the premise.
- First Friday Mass- the first Friday of every month, we sent the morning in mass. That allowed me to daydream all morning and then tolerate classes that were reduced to fifteen minutes each. These were painless days.
- Harvest Moon Dance- last weekend in October. Finding a date in an all girls school was a challenge.
- Weenie Roasts- an all school event in October, filled with a barbecue picnic and class skits.
- Senior trip to Italy- 20 of us went to Italy over Easter break.
- Bullying and being bullied- thank god those days are over.
- Algebra and Geometry- two skills I have never used again.
- French classes for five years; I flunked 11th grade french so I dropped it for my senior year. I have used my French four times in the last 45 years.
- Nuns and lay women; no male teachers.
- History of Art and Music (HAM)- one of the few classes that I remember and liked.
- Mrs. Jordan taught Social Studies. She wasn't Catholic and always seemed uncomfortable with our opening prayer. She was the most humane of all my teachers. She had a passion for the world that was infectious. When Nixon announced that we were ending our engagement in Viet Nam, it was Mrs. Jordan that I sought out to discuss this great news.
- Exploring the convent after school. There were four or five of us who were obsessed with understanding life in the convent. We climbed through tunnels and back hallways and stairways.
- Religious retreats; we only got to go in 9th and 10th grade because a few girls stole some of the religious artifacts from the retreat house and that ended retreats for all of us.
- Fifty classmates in my graduating class; really there were 45; the year before, five classmates graduated early.
- Plains skirt, white blouse, blue blazer, saddle shoes and heavy will socks- we were beautiful.
