Cardinal Wilton Gregory visited Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 28 to celebrate an opening of the school year Mass, to bless the high school’s new engineering lab and to commission students who participate in peer ministry there.

The cardinal noted that his visit to the school was occurring on a day marked by two significant events: the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and the feast day of St. Augustine, the patron saint of Archbishop Carroll High School.

Speaking about the anniversary of the march, he said the 250,000 participants in that historic event “sought the direction of peace and justice.”

“Some progress has been made, but we still have a long way to go,” the cardinal lamented.

Referring to Dr. King’s statement “our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives,” Cardinal Gregory said, “we pray that what they marched for will one day be achieved – that we become that ‘beloved community’.”

Marking the feast day of St. Augustine, Cardinal Gregory noted the Augustinian order originally sponsored Archbishop Carroll High School, which opened in 1951 as an all-boys school. Carroll is now a coeducational high school sponsored by The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.

The cardinal said St. Augustine “was absolutely brilliant, but also a bit of a rascal” whose mother, St. Monica, prayed for his conversion.

“He had St. Monica – just like you have your mothers and grandmothers – who could see the greatness within,” the cardinal told the students. “Today, we celebrate the greatness that is within you. And we pray you have people in your family who will just insist that you be all you can be.”

In blessing the new engineering lab and all who will use it, Cardinal Gregory prayed to our “all-knowing God” that the lab would “serve this community and help students prepare for their future.”

He reminded those gathered for the blessing that “all disciplines and sciences and teachings must have as a final purpose the truth,” and he prayed that “human wisdom of the truth of God be enriched here.”

Carroll’s new innovation engineering laboratory is named for Dr. Mark E. Dean, a pioneering African American inventor and computer engineer. Dr. Dean holds three of IBM’s nine original patents. A member of the National Academy of Engineers, he is the first African American to be named an IMB Fellow and he has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

The lab is a hybrid space that includes a classroom and an adjoining area for working on projects, including those involving drones and robotics.

“We offer this so that our students know that this (careers in engineering) is not out of the realm of their reach,” said Michelle Ming, director of Carroll’s Project Lead the Way/Engineering Pathway. “We are doing what God had meant for us to do by using our minds. Our minds were made this for this kind of thinking.”

In a 2022 interview with the Catholic Standard, Larry Savoy, president of Archbishop Carroll High School, said that Carroll was in the process of creating “a dedicated space” in the school that would be solely used for the Engineering Pathway program and its students. “We are planning to not only invest in the program, but in the infrastructure of the program,” he said at the time. “We want to have one of the best maker spaces around with students using the best equipment.”

With the dedication on Aug. 28, Ming said she is “amazed and shocked” that the project came to fruition and now the school has “not only this dedicated space, but the ability to bring in middle school and lower-grade students and host STEM events for them.” 

The Engineering Pathway program began during the 2015-16 school year, and offers classes for students who wish to study engineering. It is offered in partnership with Project Lead the Way.

Project Lead the Way is a nationwide program that has created kindergarten through 12th grade applied learning STEM courses that it says will “engage students in hands-on activities, projects, and problems; empower them to solve real-world challenges; and inspire them to reimagine how they see themselves.” It also provides teachers with training, resources, and support to better serve their students.

Carroll students who embark on the Engineering Pathway take math and science classes that are interactive and involve critical thinking. Among the courses offered are Introduction to Engineering, Principles of Engineering, Digital Electronics, Engineering Design and Development, and Computer Science Principles.

For Carroll senior Mahlio Pointer, the computer science and design and development aspects of the new engineering lab are what “I look forward to the most.” He added that because of his engineering classes at Carroll, his goal is to enter Georgia Tech next year and major in either aerospace engineering or computer science.

Pointer added that through his Engineering Pathway participation, he has already earned 12 college credits – six of them in the engineering field.

Junior Jhai Banks said in the new lab he is anxious to get started on hands-on learning because “I like engineering and this makes me think a lot.”