Mercy Academy breaks ground on 12,000-square-foot innovation center

Mercy Academy donors, school board members, staff and alumni gathered on a windy April 16 to break ground on an expansion of the nation’s first all-girls STEM certified school. 

A recently purchased 5.5-acre plot located behind the school will house its new Science, Technology, Art and Math Innovation Center. Funded by the school’s ongoing Mercy BOLD fundraising campaign, the 12,000-square-foot center will adjoin the pre-existing school building.

“Mercy is proud of its leadership in STEAM education and its long-standing commitment to taking bold steps that equip, empower and prepare students for the future,” said Mercy President Becky Montague. “The groundbreaking of this new innovation center marks an exciting new chapter in that commitment to excellence. 

“In this building, we will have Science, Technology, and Art,” classes, said Montague. “All of those things break down barriers for young women to feel as though they are quite capable of stepping into those roles.”

The STEAM Innovation Center will include two “state-of-the-art STEAM shops,” a Health Science Lab, a technology classroom, an outdoor classroom and courtyard, two studios for 2D art and ceramics and four collaborative spaces for project-based learning, according to a press release from Mercy. 

It will be named in honor of the late Dr. Shari Sauer Kalbfleish, an “influential alumna” and Louisville physician who graduated from Mercy in 1965. Her husband, Paul, donated $2 million to the Mercy BOLD campaign in memory of his wife. 

During the ceremony, Nora Brown, a member of Mercy’s class of 2027, represented the student body. 

“Here at Mercy,” she said, “our teachers invest every ounce of their compassion into our learning. They deserve a center that reflects this dedication and gives them every resource to apply it.”

Montague said teachers already have plans to hold outdoor class discussions, dubbed “Socratic Seminars,” in the outdoor spaces.

Father Jason Harris, chaplain of Mercy Academy, proclaimed a blessing over the site of the groundbreaking ceremony and read a passage from the first Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians:

“ ‘According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it,’ ” he quoted. “ ‘But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is here, namely, Jesus Christ.’ ”

Montague said that the school is planning for completion in late spring or early summer of 2027.