Thursday, May 27, 2022 marked the last time school would be in session for Our Lady of Victory students in Tyrone.
The Pre-K through 8th grade school officially closes its doors after this past school year. OLV will merge with its sister high school, Our Lady of Mercy, and will become St. Mary’s Academy in the fall of 2022 located at the current OLM campus in north Fayette.
In spite of the school’s closing, the students, staff, and families decided to end the year and close the school in a celebratory fashion.
Along with the school’s traditional Kindergarten and 8th-grade graduation, OLV held its final all-school mass on Tuesday, May 17 with the parishioners at St. Matthew Catholic Church. Fr. Kevin Hargaden was the celebrant for the mass and encouraged the students and teachers to take the blessings received at OLV to whatever path they chose.
OLV continued to celebrate the school’s closing with a picnic for all families, held on the last day of school.
OLV brought back former school employees for a luncheon with current staff, to help close out twenty-three years of educating students in Tyrone.
“This school has been through a lot of struggles the past few years — CoVID, the closing of our school, two untimely passings in the OLV community, the poor direction for the merger of the school, etc.,” Principal George Wilkerson commented. “But this community has continued to celebrate this school’s legacy. I am extremely proud to have been just a footnote in the school’s history.”
Our Lady of Victory was founded in 1999, with the motto “Our Faith Conquers the World.” OLV was recognized as a national blue ribbon school of excellence in 2009 and completed its most recent accreditation in 2018. OLV will officially close at the end of June with some staff and students going on to St. Mary’s Academy and others forging new paths.
