Celebrating The 175th Anniversary Of St Mary's College Of Maryland
Floor Speech
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on May 16, 2015, students, faculty, and staff will gather in historic St. Mary's City, Maryland, to celebrate the St. Mary's College of Maryland Class of 2015 Commencement. They--along with many others across Maryland and our country--will also be marking the 175th anniversary of the College's founding.
Since its humble beginnings in 1840 as a public, nonsectarian boarding school for girls at the elementary through secondary levels, St. Mary's College of Maryland has been a center of learning and educational empowerment. Set along the St. Mary's River, where Leonard Calvert and the first English settlers disembarked from the Ark and Dove in 1634 to found the colony of Maryland, it expanded in the early twentieth century to become the State's first junior college and became co-educational. In the 1960's, the school transitioned into a four-year college and granted its first undergraduate degrees in 1971. Recognizing its tradition of excellence in liberal arts education, its high standards, and its unique history, the Maryland General Assembly formalized St. Mary's College of Maryland as a public honors college in 1992. Today, it continues to graduate some of Maryland's best and brightest students from thirty-one academic programs.
I am proud to represent the students, faculty, and staff of St. Mary's College of Maryland in Congress as well as to have served as a member of its Board of Trustees since 1995. Alumni of the College run businesses, contribute to the arts and athletics, conduct research in marine biology and the environment, report the news through national outlets, and serve in government--including in my Congressional office. They are continuing their alma mater's tradition of preparing graduates to make a difference wherever they live and work throughout Maryland and across our country.
I hope my colleagues will join me in congratulating the entire St. Mary's College of Maryland community, led by its dynamic new President, Tuajuanda Jordan, on reaching its 175th year of serving as a living memorial to those first Maryland colonists' commitment to religious freedom, tolerance, and opportunity.
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