Mustang Messenger Summer 2014 | Page 11

During the upcoming school year, Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville will begin celebrating its 50th anniversary. Marco Clark, Bishop McNamara's President/CEO and a 1985 graduate of the school, notes that being a family is one of the pillars of the education at the school, which is sponsored by the Brothers of the Holy Cross. "It's about creating a mutually supportive, respectful environment - a family that lives together, grows together, works together and learns together," he said. Among the Bishop McNamara families who can attest to those values is that of graduating senior Anthony Diehlmann, who is the 43rd member of his family to attend Bishop McNamara or its former sister school, La Reine High School in Suitland, which closed in 1992. "My uncles roamed these halls!" said Diehlmann, who also noted that numerous cousins have likewise attended the school, including two cousins - Mark Ayres and Jackie Pickering – who, like him, are members of Bishop McNamara's class of 2014. Branches of their family connected to Bishop McNamara also include the Rohans and Mammanos. Anth