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Mary "Mickey" Deegan had been raised in 10 different foster homes in Queens that she describes as "horrible" when - as she neared the end of 8th grade - a parish priest offered to send her to Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset.
The experience at the all-girls school, which at the time had boarders, turned her life around. When Deegan graduated in 1952, she was president of the senior class, the student council and the Catholic Action Club, and was voted most popular.
"It was a miracle," said Deegan, 84, of Deer Park. "Our Lady of Mercy Academy was the happiest four years of my life, and I'm very proud to say I went there."
The nuns who ran the school "were wonderful," she added. "They gave me my love, my self-esteem - everything that I didn't have - security, confidence."
Our Lady of Mercy Academy, operated by the Sisters of Mercy, opened in 1928 with just seven students. Today, as it celebrates its 90th anniversary, the school has more than 400 students, what administrators call a promising future and some 7,500 alumnae, many of whom like Deegan still treasure memories of their time at the school on a bucolic 96-acre campus.
Our Lady of Mercy is a forerunner of a growing trend in the United States. While many all-women colleges have closed or gone co-ed, the number of all-girls high schools is growing, according to the Virginia-based National Coalition of Girls' Schools. So is the number of all-girls middle and elementary schools.
Long Island is home to two all-girls Catholic high schools. The other is Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year.
"We feel vibrant. We feel excited," said Margaret Myhan, president of Our Lady of Mercy and herself a graduate of the school. "We are not just surviving but thriving. We have all-girls schools on Long Island because they provide a unique opportunity to empower young women. It provides a faith-filled, mission-driven education that really drives them for the rest of their lives."
While there is no single database of the number of private and public all-girls schools, the national coalition group estimates there are 375 in the United States. The coalition has seen its...