Mardi Gras at Donovan 2017

description

In the fall of 1949, under the careful direction of Father Walter J. Donovan, Saint Joseph Catholic Church began a school, with 35 students in grades one through six, on the bottom floor of the rectory. Fifty-four years after this initial class of Catholic school students entered those doors, the doors of Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School opened to 18 students, 7 full-time faculty and staff and one part-time counselor as a Catholic college preparatory high school serving the families of Northeast Georgia. Today, Donovan is thriving with 100 students and 30 faculty/staff members. The continuation of Catholic education in Athens, Georgia was the dream of many within the community. Donovan is proud to serve in this capacity and looks forward to a strong future educating students in the Catholic tradition first envisioned over fifty years ago.

The school is named after Monsignor Walter J. Donovan, who founded Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary School in 1949, just two years after he arrived in Athens as pastor of Saint Joseph Catholic Church. At the time, a community of nuns from Reading, Pennsylvania, sent several of their members to teach the children of less than a dozen Saint Joseph families in a two-story brick building on Prince Avenue.

Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School is located on 57 acres at 590 Lavender Road in Athens, Georgia. A reception area, administrative offices, lunch room (Donovan’s Den), Professional School Counselor’s office, Admission Director’s office, Development Director’s office, and the Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are located in the center of the facility. Twelve academic classrooms, including a computer lab, art room, band room, science laboratory, and media center, are located on two wings. A gymnasium for athletics is located on a third wing. A baseball field, ground’s maintenance shed, soccer field, cross country course, and outdoor seating area (Mater Dei Square) complete the campus.