Welcome From Our President & Head of School

Welcome to St. Mary Academy – Bay View.

For more than 152 years, Bay View has believed in the extraordinary potential of young women. Since our founding by the Sisters of Mercy in 1874, generations of students have walked through our doors and discovered their voices, challenged themselves, formed lifelong relationships, explored their faith and values, and left prepared to make their mark on the world. Today, that belief in what is possible for every student is captured in a simple but powerful promise: At Bay View, She Can.

She can lead. She can create. She can inspire. She can succeed. She can ask difficult questions, pursue her passions, and find the courage to try something new. Most importantly, she can discover who she is, who she is called to become, and how she can use her gifts in service to others.

As both President and a proud alumna of Bay View, I know personally the lasting impact of this education. My own experience here helped shape the woman and leader I became, and it is an extraordinary privilege to now help steward a Mercy Catholic school that has influenced the lives of generations of Bay View women. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve this community and to help ensure that the Bay View experience continues to be as transformative for today’s students as it was for me.

While much has changed since our founding more than a century and a half ago, our mission remains rooted in the same enduring values: faith, compassion, courage, intellectual curiosity, and a deep commitment to the dignity of every person.

Bay View is a Mercy Catholic school, grounded in a tradition of faith and service and welcoming to students and families of all faiths, backgrounds, identities, and experiences. Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. We believe that a vibrant community is one in which every young woman feels known, respected, valued, and empowered to bring her whole self to the experience of a Bay View education.

Inspired by Catherine McAuley and the pioneering Sisters of Mercy who came before us, Bay View has never been a place that simply prepares students for the world as it is. We educate young women of faith, purpose, and possibility who are ready to imagine what the world could be — and courageous enough to help change it. From Pre-K through Grade 12, our students are challenged academically, supported personally, and surrounded by a sisterhood that encourages them to take risks, ask meaningful questions, pursue their passions, and recognize the responsibility they have to one another and to the wider world.

This is what it means to be a Bay View woman.

Every day, I see the promise of She Can come to life across our campus. I see it in a young student raising her hand with newfound confidence, an artist sharing her perspective, an athlete pushing beyond what she thought possible, a student putting her values into action, and a senior preparing to take her next steps beyond Bay View. I see it in our faculty and staff, who know our students deeply and create the relationships, opportunities, and experiences that allow each young woman to thrive.

And I see something else: women who are learning that they have both the capacity and the responsibility to make a difference.

Bay View women change the world. They change it through the way they lead, the way they serve, the way they think, the way they care for others, and the way they live their values. They carry with them the spirit of Mercy — a belief that each of us is called to respond to the needs of our time with compassion, courage, and action.

Our 152-year history gives us strong roots, but it also calls us forward. Each generation of Bay View students has responded to the needs of its time with courage and purpose. Our responsibility today is to ensure that the next generation is equally prepared — not simply to navigate a changing world, but to help shape it with faith, confidence, compassion, and conviction.

I invite you to explore our community, visit our beautiful campus, and discover what generations of Bay View women have experienced for themselves: when a young woman is known, challenged, supported, and surrounded by people who believe in her potential, there is no limit to what she can become — or to the difference she can make.

At Bay View, She Can.

And together, our Bay View women will change the world.

In the spirit of Mercy,
Amy Gravell '93
President & Head of School