In 2021, St. Vincent Pallotti High School in Laurel, Maryland marked the 100th anniversary of its founding as the first coeducational Catholic high school in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Originally established as St. Mildred’s Academy, it opened in 1921 and was later renamed as Pallotti and then St. Vincent Pallotti High School in honor of the founder of the religious order that has sponsored the school since 1934, the Pallottine Missionary Sisters.
As Pallotti’s centennial school year was drawing to a close in mid-May, the school’s president and two members of its class of 2021 reflected on what continues to make that school special.
In the principal’s office
Jeffrey Palumbo, St. Vincent Pallotti’s president and principal, noted how the school with its small size provides a personal approach to learning. Pallotti has about 400 students, and on May 25, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception would be hosting the graduation ceremony for the 86 young men and women in its senior class.
“It’s a special community because it is smaller, but we work harder to give all our kids the opportunities of a bigger high school with our academics, athletics and arts program,” he said. “We do it in a smaller environment. Everyone knows each other, and the teachers know our kids. It makes for a nice community where everybody knows each other and looks out for each other.”
Pallotti offers a broad range of classes, including many Advanced Placement courses, and the school has an Arts Academy. Its range of extracurricular activities includes more than 25 interscholastic sports teams. Reflecting the charitable spirit of its patron saint, the Catholic faith is central to school life there, through religion classes, liturgies, retreats and service programs. The school draws students from St. Mary of the Mills School across the street and from the Laurel area, and also from several surrounding counties and the District of Columbia.
Palumbo said the school’s teachers were “amazing” during the COVID-19 pandemic, transitioning over the weekend when the initial shutdown began in March 2020, and then that fall providing parents the option of hybrid learning, with either in-person or online classes, and this past August, reopening to full in-person learning for students.
Pallotti’s leader said teachers and students alike learned the importance of flexibility during that unprecedented time, and he said students saw how “there are people (here) who support them and have gone out of their way to give them the best high school experience.” He added that experiencing those challenges may help students later “overcome obstacles in their lives and work through them and come out stronger on the other end.”
A foundation for the future
Now at 6 feet and 2 inches tall and weighing 270 pounds, RJ Thornburg of St. Vincent Pallotti’s class of 2022 competed in football, wrestling and baseball for the Panthers during his years there. The first months of the COVID-19 pandemic were a difficult time for him and affected his football playing in that shortened season, he said.
In December 2020, Thornburg said he resolved to make changes in his life.
“I started (working) hard in school and in the weight room, and it translated into better results on the field and in the classroom,” he said, adding, “More importantly, I was a better person to be around. It goes back to discipline. It elevated me as a person.”
The discipline that he learned there, he said, “didn’t just help me in football. It gave me a foundation for life, to work hard at everything I do.”
Thornburg added, “I feel here I really learned everything happens for a reason. I realized I’ve got to do what I can do to focus on my craft and control what I can control.”
At the age of 5, he started playing football in a league, and at Pallotti, he played as a guard and center on the team’s offensive line. In baseball, he played first and third base for the Panthers, and in wrestling, he competed in the 285 lb. division, and as a freshman he squared off against wrestlers weighing 50 lbs. more than he did. “It got me stronger,” he said.
As a Pallotti senior, he balanced his time between his classwork, those three sports, and getting ready for college. His classes included AP government, AP English and pre-calculus.
“I found a way to get it done. I set my mind to it,” he said.
A Greenbelt resident, he is the son of Sonja Hughes and Jim Thornburg, and he graduated from St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School in Beltsville.
Thornburg said the school retreats at Pallotti helped him understand the importance of trusting in God.
“I’m confident whatever I do, He’s got me on the right track, and He’s got a plan for me,” the Pallotti senior said.
This fall, Thornburg will attend Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where he hopes to study criminal justice or business, and where he will play football. For his career, he is interested in one day becoming a federal agent, perhaps working as a U.S. marshal or for the FBI or CIA.
“There’s no other bigger honor than that, serving your country,” he said.
Reflecting on his years at Pallotti, Thornburg said, “This place has been special. It’s not just the academics, the sports. It’s the people, the friends I’ve made, the teachers, too.”
Taking to heart the school’s motto
Mia Gonzales Jackson, also a member of St. Vincent Pallotti’s class of 2022, participated in the school’s Arts Academy, playing flute in its Wind Ensemble.
“I started flute in the second grade… It (the flute) sounds pretty, I like it. I’ve enjoyed playing in the band since then,” said the 17-year-old Laurel resident.
She added, “Music has definitely been an anchor in hard times, and it’s definitely a good skill to have.”
In 2015, doctors diagnosed that she had a brain tumor, and after treatments, she is in stable condition. “It’s still there but not growing,” she said, noting that after receiving chemotherapy, she developed neuropathy, damage to nerves that left her needing to use braces on her legs.
“I can’t run or ride a bicycle anymore. I can still play the flute,” she said.
Gonzales Jackson praised the support she has received from her high school’s community during her years there.
“Pallotti students, staff and teachers have been an amazing support,” she said, praising how caring and respectful they have been to her. “They know it’s part of me, but it’s not who I am.”
The member of St. Nicholas Parish in Laurel said her Catholic faith has been a source of strength to her, not only through her health challenges, but also as she made the transition to high school and now as she prepares for college. Gonzales Jackson said she has also had to struggle with anxiety and depression.
“My faith has kept me going, (and) the community of faith, knowing I have the support of people and their prayers, definitely has kept me going,” she said.
Gonzales Jackson smiled and added that along the way, she has learned and come to accept that “God has a plan, and it will happen in His time and not mine.”
During the pandemic, she relied on the support of her close-knit family living in an apartment together, her mother Maria Gonzales-Jackson, her father Stephen Jackson, and her young sister Noelle.
“Having everyone close together, we butted heads, but we were there for each other. We talked about things,” she said.
The Pallotti senior noted that one of the most difficult things for her during the pandemic was not being able to go to church in person.
“At the beginning of this school year, we had our first school Mass at Pallotti, and I was so overjoyed, because that was the first time since the pandemic I was able to attend Mass in person,” she said. “Being able to celebrate the Eucharist and see other people together rather than just being at a computer screen was really a high moment.”
During her years there, Gonzales Jackson helped plan school retreats, and she said it was meaningful to hear about other students’ faith journeys and to get to know them on a deeper level.
Asked about it was like to be a student during St. Vincent Pallotti High School’s 100th anniversary, she said, “I attended and helped plan the centennial celebration (in November 2021)… It was really special to be a part of that.” She said the school’s traditions, including class competitions like a volleyball game between students and teachers, have been a fun part of her experience there.
This fall, Gonzales Jackson will attend Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, one of the elite Seven Sisters colleges for women in the northeastern United States. She’s interested in studying religion there, and also wants to look into creative writing or psychology. “We’ll see where music fits in at college,” she said.
Gonzales Jackson said that in college and in life after that, her Pallotti experience will guide her along the way.
“Our motto as said by St. Vincent Pallotti is, ‘Seek God and you will find God, seek God in all things, and you will find God in all things.’ I think I will take that with me, seeking God in the challenges of college in the community at Mount Holyoke, and seeking God in the experiences and opportunities in the future.”
Noting that she had earned all A’s in her classes and had no more high school exams to take, the Pallotti senior smiled and said, “I’m all set!”
