Mercy’s principal named as Top 40 Under 40

Congratulations, Dr. Adelsberger! On October 1, The Baltimore Business Journal released their 2024 Class of 40 Under 40 honorees. Chosen from nearly 300 nominees, this year’s honorees represent a variety of industries including real estate, law, and hospitality. Dr. Adelsberger is the only honoree who works in K-12 education. We invite you to read the nomination below! 

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Known for her dedication to her students and exceptional leadership skills, Dr. Kathryn Adelsberger was named principal of Mercy High School in 2021 after having served as a member of the faculty. Adelsberger joined Mercy High School in 2013 as a social studies teacher after working in public and independent school settings. Prior to being named principal, she held various leadership positions at Mercy—chairing the social studies department, coordinating the school’s reaccreditation through the Association of Independent Maryland & DC Schools, and leading the institutional effort from 2017 to 2019  to authorize Mercy as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School offering the Middle Years Programme for students in grades nine and 10. Dr. Adelsberger was named acting assisting principal during the COVID-19 pandemic, previously served as Freshman Class co-coordinator and as a member of Academic Council, the Academic Leadership Team, and the Academic Diversity Team.

 

Leading by example, Adelsberger has modeled lifelong learning for Mercy Girls. While teaching and leading at Mercy, Dr. Adelsberger completed her doctoral degree in educational leadership, policy, and administration at Fordham University in 2023 and her M.Ed. in educational leadership from Loyola University Maryland in 2019. She also earned a B.A. in history and M.S. in social studies teaching in grades 7-12 from Fordham. 

 

An exceptional leader, Dr. Adelsberger works tirelessly to guide Mercy’s continued growth and lead the school to the next level of excellence. As part of extending the commitment to providing a high quality, challenging, international education to 11th and 12th graders, Mercy High School is a candidate school to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Widely considered the world’s premier academic curriculum, the IB teaches students how to think rather than what to think. Since Dr. Adelsberger became principal in 2021, Mercy Girls have earned nearly $75 million in merit scholarships and awards to prestigious colleges and universities around the country. Of the schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore who have published their scholarship totals in the last two years, Mercy has led with an average of $252,525 per student in 2023 and $226,470 per student in 2024!

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Dr. Adelsberger will be honored at a special ceremony in December. Congratulations!