EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Loretto Academy celebrated its centennial this year, marking 100 years since its founding by Mother Praxedes.
The Catholic school opened back in the 1920’s, as an all-girls boarding school.
Mother Praxedes was mother superior for the Loretto Sisters and during her time she opened up 51 schools across the county and during her retirement she opened up one last school, in El Paso, Texas.
The building of Loretto Academy took 13 years to complete.
“She had the school designed. If you look at an aerial shot, it looks like there are two arms outstretched to the region, to the City of El Paso and then also to Ciudad Juarez, and so she wanted to make sure that this was an amazing educational institution for the city and the entire region,” said Nicole Cobb, president of Loretto Academy.
Cobb, an alumna, is the first president of the school who is not a sister of Loretto. She said it’s an honor to come back and add to the legacy.
Etelvina Passaretti, teacher and alumna at Loretto Academy, told KTSM the school is the same from when she attended and shared how it is still a sisterhood.
“…It’s a continuation of life,” Passaretti said.
There are now only three Loretto schools across the country.
” We’re very vested in making strong, independent women who are going to improve the quality of life for all women in the world,” Passaretti said.
There is one more Loretto school that is being built in Pakistan, and Loretto Academy in El Paso is working to help them along.
Cobb also said they are hoping that Loretto Academy is around for 100 more years.
