History

St. Susanna Parish was founded in 1938. The first Mass was said in a small mission church which is now home to our music and one kindergarten classroom. In the summer of 1938, the Sisters of Mt. Notre Dame de Namur began a long standing relationship with St. Susanna Parish and School. The sisters would travel from their convent in Reading, Ohio to conduct a summer Vacation Bible School for the children of the parish. Over the next ten years, the parish continued to grow and in the spring of 1948, it was decided that a full-time Catholic school should be opened. St. Susanna Parish School opened its doors on September 7, 1948 to a student body of 35. We now have 647 students and a staff of over 65 faculty members.

A two-classroom building was constructed for the official opening of the school in 1948. Sr. Helen Therese and another Sister of Notre Dame de Namur arrived in a small school bus to teach. Older students would ride the bus back to Reading, Ohio, where they attended school at Mt. Notre Dame Academy, which was a K-12 school at the time. These students would ride the bus back to Mason at the end of the school day, which would then take the sisters back to the convent in Reading.

By the early 1950’s, the Sisters of Notre Dame were coming to Mason to teach 133 students. The school consisted of four total classrooms: first and second grade, third and fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade and seventh and eighth grade. The seventh and eighth grade teacher also served as the principal! There was a little room at the top of a small staircase that served an “office.” The room contained a sofa for sick students, a purple ditto copy machine and in the late 1950's, they even added a telephone! The door to the principal’s classroom was always open. If the phone rang, a student deemed the "secretary of the week" ran to answer it and take a message. The message was passed to the principal who continued teaching.

By September of 1955, the number of students had grown to over 200 and we began to hire parishioners as full-time faculty members. For many years, the enrollment held steady and our school had one class at each grade level for grades 1-8. In 1980, the last of the Sisters of Notre Dame left and St. Susanna Parish School began operating with a staff of dedicated lay people for the first time.

In 1991, the school had expanded to two homerooms at each grade level and it quickly became obvious that we would need more space. In 1994, the Parish Center was opened and this area is now home to our gymnasium, kitchenette/concessions area, primary classrooms and restroom facilities. At this time, St. Susanna Parish School was given a donation of something new to education- computers! The little Mission church was renovated to become the computer lab and music room and the growth continued. In 2001, the decision was made to add a third first grade class to accommodate the large number of registrations for the first grade. We continued adding an additional classroom for each grade until we had three homerooms for grades 1-8. Due to the growing enrollment, planning started for an addition that is now our junior high wing.

In 2012, St. Susanna Parish School welcomed its first kindergarten class of 50 students. Renovation was completed on the former rectory and parish office building to house the two kindergarten classrooms. During the summer of 2013, the former cafeteria was converted into a media center, computer lab, religious resource room and a teacher workroom. The former computer lab (part of the original mission church) was renovated in 2015 to become a third kindergarten classroom. In 2018, an outdoor learning center was created for students to spend more time in nature. One of our fifth grade classrooms was updated in 2021 to become a STEM lab for the entire school to use to continue their growth/knowledge in this field. To continue supporting our growth, the Meyer Center was updated to create an auxiliary gym/gathering space for student activities.

For seventy-six years, the Parish of St. Susanna has had a long standing commitment of educating their youth. St. Susanna Parish School was named a 2010 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the United States Department of Education. Our school building has changed in many ways by adding classroom spaces and creating learning areas that are vastly different from the original spaces of 1948, including our dedicated computer lab, art room, music room, gymnasium, Spanish room, STEM lab and a library that holds over 15,000 books.

From 1948 to 2024, we continue to be committed and dedicated to providing a top-notch Catholic education to our students.

The Mason Historical Society published the article below in 2023 to celebrate our 75th year anniversary!