Our Mission
The mission of St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School, in partnership with parents, is to form Christian leaders who are faithful, prepared, and courageous.
Embracing the Family
Nurturing the Spirit
Challenging the Mind
Supporting the Journey
Preparing the Way
Embracing the Family
When we enroll a student, we welcome the entire family. Families have an open invitation to attend Mass, parent prayer, Stations of the Cross, and parent lunches. Annual events that promote family involvement include PTO Events, athletic dinners, community service projects, and our annual Memorial Day program, Christmas program, and Gingerbread Day. A weekly e-newsletter also keeps families abreast of special events and classroom updates.
Nurturing the Spirit
To teach as Jesus did, by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is the backbone of the Catholic school system. St. Mary’s School teaches the Christian message to form a Christian community and reach out in service to all our neighbors. Through daily prayer, daily religious instruction, weekly Mass (the reception of the sacraments for Catholics), and the performance of some of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, our students grow closer to their Creator and learn to recognize Him and His people.
Challenging the Mind
Formulated per diocesan directives, the curriculum at St. Mary’s builds on a solid foundation of math and reading skills. The academic program includes language arts (English, spelling, vocabulary development, composition skills, and handwriting), social studies, science, computer literacy, health and safety, and religion. Enrichment is provided through courses in music, art, physical education, foreign language, and library skills.
Supporting the Journey
St. Mary’s provides the opportunity to participate in various, enriching academic activities including academic fairs, clubs, Area 1 Spelling Bee, National Geographic’s Geography Bee, and various art and essay contests.
Preparing the Way
All of our students are encouraged to become “good citizens of this world, loving God and neighbor and enriching society with the leaven of the Gospel, and who will also be citizens of the world to come, thus fulfilling their destiny to become saints” (Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools).
Our Administrative Staff
Matthew Kuhn
Assistant Principal and Teacher
Agnes Hobson
Interim Assistant Principal and Teacher
Phyllis Waters
Bookkeeper
Monica Ibarra
Officer Manager
Very Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF
Pastor
The history of St. Mary Help of Christians School goes back to the turn of the century. Established by Ursuline nuns in 1900 as a boarding school for wealthy young ladies, St. Angela Academy received its name from the Ursulines’ founder, St. Angela Merici. In 1906, at the request of their bishop, the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy from Charleston, South Carolina, assumed the school’s operation. The school then served the educational needs of female boarding students as well as both male and female day students. In 1939, Bernard Baruch, a friend of James Byrnes, helped the Sisters finance a red brick building, an addition to the old school that is now a part of St. Mary Help of Christians Parochial School.
When the Savannah River Plant came to Aiken in 1950, the Catholic population skyrocketed. Bishop Emmet Michael Walsh wanted a parochial grammar school established. Accordingly, the brick building on York Street became St. Mary Help of Christians Parochial School supported by student tuition and the hard work of the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy. Thus, St. Angela’s private grammar school ceased to be, and only the high school retained that name.
The Sisters continued in the grade school, a parochial school under the jurisdiction and support of St. Mary Help of Christians Parish. In 1955, the Dominican Sisters from Adrian, Michigan took charge of St. Mary Help of Christians School, staffing it until 1970 when they left. Again, the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy assumed the administration and continued to provide a Catholic education to those parents seeking one for their children at St. Mary Help of Christians School until the close of St. Angela Academy in June 1988. Since that date, the administrative duties of the school have been the responsibility of a Catholic lay principal.
For more than a century, St. Mary’s School has fostered faith while cultivating curiosity and character in every student. Today, St. Mary’s School continues its mission of Preparing the Way with its addition of the St. Mary’s STEM Center and its continued commitment to excellence.