Hello, Mercy Friends, and Happy New Year:

I sincerely hope that you and your family are healthy and well and — like all of us here on Randolph Road — hanging onto the promise of Spring, which is just eight weeks away!

Some of our students have been learning remotely this month, and although it has been challenging to adapt our teaching structure yet again, the experience has filled me with renewed appreciation for the flexibility, good humor, and grace of our faculty, staff, and students (and their parents).

And it has renewed my sense of pride, as well — pride in a community that knows how to pick itself up from setback, figure out new ways to problem-solve, and always, always remain focused on the mission at hand: Ensuring that our students feel seen, safe, loved, and challenged by a community of adults whose goal is to help them become the best possible versions of themselves.

Indeed, it was this shared sense of purpose that infused several months of prayer and discussion last year among faculty, staff, Board members, and students in the Class of ’22. Against the backdrop of our Catholic teachings and the charism of the Sisters of Mercy, we all took a close look at our Mission Statement to ensure that it was relevant and meaningful to the Mercy High School of today.

What emerged from that thoughtful process was a revised Mission Statement and, for the first time, a Vision Statement: the Vision Statement describes Mercy’s aspiration for each of our students, while the Mission Statement describes why our school is distinctive. Over the past few months, we have been hanging framed versions of these new statements in each of our classrooms and in the common areas of our building, and now I am pleased to share them with all of you:



Vision: To grow academically, spiritually and individually into inspiring, empowered and compassionate women who demonstrate lifelong learning, a moral compass, and awareness of their gifts, while meaningfully benefiting society.

Mission: Mercy High School provides a challenging college preparatory academic experience with a strong foundation of Catholic teachings, and traditions and values of the Sisters of Mercy, in a safe and nurturing environment that promotes service, confidence, ethical leadership and respect, encouraging each student to flourish individually while rooted in community.

We believe these statements capture what all of you know to be true: Mercy women make this world a better place, embodying the words of Catherine McAuley to be “shining lamps, giving light to all around us.”

Now, it is time to look to our future, to plan collectively for the Mercy of tomorrow, ensuring that our investments in program and plant are built upon our Mission and Vision and reflect our strategic priorities.

Toward that end, I have launched an exciting Strategic Planning process that will include all our constituencies in an effort to obtain the broadest and wisest thinking about what and where Mercy High School should be by the year 2024. I hope you will consider participating in this process!

There are two ways to participate:

• Volunteer to attend an alumnae or parent focus group - click here to sign up.

• Complete our Strategic Planning Survey, which we will email in March.



It is an honor and a joy for me to come to work, where I witness the compassion and kindness of the Mercy community every day, and I look forward to dreaming with you and so many others about how to sustain Mercy’s goodness well into the future by crafting a pragmatic and ambitious Strategic Plan for our school.



As always, I thank you and all the cherished members in our Circle of Mercy — the Board of Trustees, the Sisters of Mercy, alumnae, administration, faculty, staff, students, friends, and community partners — for all you do for Mercy High School, every single day.

In Mercy,

Alissa K. DeJonge ‘95

President