History & Tradition
St. Maria Goretti Catholic High School first opened its doors to students in the fall of 1955. Since then, the school has continued to carry out its mission of preparing students for college and helping them grow academically, spiritually, socially, athletically, and artistically.
Located in Hagerstown, Maryland, Goretti serves students from around the region including Washington and Frederick counties in Maryland, Franklin and Adams counties in Pennsylvania, and Berkeley and Jefferson counties in West Virginia. We also have international students from countries including China, South Korea, Lithuania, Poland, and Cameroon among others.
St. Maria Goretti Catholic High School grew from St. Mary’s High School, which was established in 1933 and located in downtown Hagerstown. In the early 1950s, the school, then consisting of faculty, staff, and 118 students, was moved to a new location at 1535 Oak Hill Avenue, in northern Hagerstown. Ground was broken for the new facility on August 1, 1954. The school opened in August of the following year under a new name – St. Maria Goretti Catholic High School. From the beginning, a majority of the administration and faculty came from the School Sisters of Notre Dame, a tradition that continued until the early 1970s when more lay persons joined the staff. The school is grateful for the lasting impact that these sisters had on the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students over the years.
In 1965, a building known as the gymnatorium was completed to be used for physical education, sporting events, assemblies, and school plays. Today this building is known as the Gael Center and is the hub of school activity. Through the years, additions and revisions were made to the original buildings to meet increasing enrollment.
The campus, located in northern Hagerstown, was comprised of the school, Gael Center, the administration building, and athletic fields. Located in the main school building were classrooms, science labs, offices, faculty rooms, and the cafeteria. The art and music rooms were located at the rear of the gymnasium. While the athletic fields provided accommodations for soccer and baseball games and practices. Despite the small athletic fields, there were many more athletic activities offered such as tennis, basketball, lacrosse, cross country, and golf, all held on different grounds.
In the Fall of 2019, a new chapter of history & tradition began at St. Maria Goretti Catholic High School, with the expansion of our entire campus. Our academic campus has been moved to its new location of 18614 Crestwood Drive, about 2 miles from the original academic building. Our new campus now features state-of-the-art classrooms, upgraded technology and three science labs that accompany Project Lead the Way, our STEM curriculum. With sorrow in our hearts, we were forced with the decision to remove our old academic building for risk of safety in its usability. With the removal of the academic buildings, our athletic facilities have flourished. Our 'old' campus is now a fully usable and well-equipped Athletic Facility. The Gael Center still remains our main hub for school activities, with the accompaniment of additional athletic fields for our students.
Our school campus will continue to grow and change with our ever-growing enrollment, and although we are saddened by the loss of the 'old Goretti' we still hold true to the groundwork that it built for our community. The 'old Goretti' will continue to live in our hearts forever, and we'll continue to cherish the memories as we walk along our new athletic fields.