Since its founding in 1844 Saint Mary’s College had changed drastically. In the 1920s Saint Mary’s Student Josephine Ryan commented on the evolution of Saint Mary’s College by writing her predictions of the future in Chimes. In this piece, Josephine discusses what she thought Saint Mary’s would be like in one hundred years, and while not all of her guesses came true, some of her predictions were very reflective of reality. In recognition of Josephine Ryan’s work and her amazing predictions, and in honor of the progressiveness Saint Mary’s has shown throughout its history, I have compiled my own predictions of the College's future. With the progressive nature of Saint Mary’s past in mind, and a personal dream for a better world, here are my thoughts on what Saint Mary’s College might look like in one hundred years.

Currently, Saint Mary’s College is a Catholic women’s college; however, I think that by 2123 this will change. With increasing awareness and support for the trans community, I believe Saint Mary’s will switch from being an all-women’s college to being a historically-women’s college, as other institutes have already done. Since Saint Mary’s College was founded on the principle of educating women who were previously excluded from education, I believe that they will become exceedingly concerned with creating a space for individuals who may be uncomfortable or face discrimination in traditional a co-educational college. In this move, I believe Saint Mary's will open up and begin accepting any students that were born female or who identify as anything but male, including female students, transgender students, intersex students, and non-binary students.

In addition to moving away from being exclusively for women, I believe Saint Mary’s College will shift from being a Catholic institution to being a historically-Catholic institution. Over the next one hundred years, I believe that society will either become more religiously tolerant or less religious and that Saint Mary’s will follow suit by shifting away from its Catholic identity. In this move I believe that Saint Mary’s will retain their history and continue to share a deep bond with the Sisters of the Holy Cross; however, I believe that conversations regarding the Sisters of the Holy Cross will focus more on the good they have done and their service, rather than on their Catholic beliefs. Furthermore, I believe that Saint Mary’s will continue to offer religion classes on Catholicism but that these classes will decrease in numbers to create more space for classes on Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other forms of religion or spirituality. In conjunction with the expansion of the religious curriculum, I believe that the Campus Ministry will either expand to include counselors of different religions or will change to consist of one nondenominational pastor and one visitor position that will rotate between the different religions. Finally, in regard to Catholic traditions on Campus, I believe that they will be adapted or changed in ways that allow them to be more about Saint Mary’s tradition and less about Catholic teachings. Thus, on the whole, Saint Mary’s will adapt to become more inclusive of other religions while still acknowledging its roots with the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

While one hundred years could show a great progressive change regarding religious and gender inclusivity, it will probably also show a great change in technology and environmentalism. As technology advances and concerns about the environment and global warming increase, I believe that Saint Mary’s will have to adapt and implement new green technologies. In particular, I think that Saint Mary’s will switch to renewable energy, make eco-friendly energy-saving updates to buildings, and eliminate or greatly minimize the use of paper by using online copies of books and eliminating paper assignments.

In addition to using technology to make Saint Mary’s College more environmentally friendly, I believe classroom technology will become significantly more advanced. As virtual reality advances, I believe it will become integrated into the classroom. In particular, I think that students will be able to attend online classes at Saint Mary’s in which they can join a virtual classroom that acted like a normal classroom in which they could have lectures, and discussions and see their classmates as clearly as in real life. This would allow students from around the world to join the Saint Mary’s community and would allow students to complete study abroad programs while still taking classes at Saint Mary’s. Furthermore, I believe that virtual reality could be used for projects, particularly in digital humanities projects, as students could learn to make virtual exhibits in VR replacing the website projects currently used in the humanities. 

All in all, a lot can happen over one hundred years. A lot could happen at Saint Mary’s College, and although the future of the college is undetermined, I believe Saint Mary’s will continue to strive towards positive change.

Sarah Stephenson, Class of 2023
History, Gender and Women Studies, Humanistic Studies,