The 100th anniversary celebration for St. Martin of Tours School in Gaithersburg, Maryland, this past fall unfolded as a homecoming for graduates, parents, and current and past school staff and parish priests.
The guests interviewed at the anniversary event on Sept. 13, 2025 at the Holiday Inn Gaithersburg reflected on a century of faith and learning at the oldest Catholic school in Montgomery County, where Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur welcomed the first students in 1925.
Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, returned to celebrate an anniversary Mass at St. Martin of Tours Church with Father David Wells, the parish and school’s pastor. Bishop Brennan – who served as St. Martin’s pastor from 2003 until he was ordained as an auxiliary bishop for Baltimore in 2017 – remembered how seventh and eighth graders at the school volunteered at St. Martin’s soup kitchen and its food pantry.
“They learned to be of service and help others in need,” he said.
Father Wells offered an opening prayer at the anniversary dinner, where guests were welcomed by Stephen Lamont, St. Martin’s principal.
Holy Cross Sister Sharon Ann Mihm – who served as the principal of St. Martin of Tours School from 2005 to 2013 – said in an interview that the school is “the love of my life.” She added, “It’s the children, and it’s the teachers.”
She now serves in the pastoral care department at Holy Cross Hospital in Germantown.
During her years as St. Martin’s principal, Sister Sharon engaged in stunts that included kissing a pig and holding a monkey when students topped a goal of collecting a certain number of food items for the pantry. She smiled and noted that in 2013 when students collected about 11,000 food products, she held a boa constrictor.
Asked about what lessons that she hoped St. Martin of Tours School graduates took with them, Sister Sharon said, “When they become adults and teenagers, to remember the poor, and be kind and compassionate to all people.”
The guests included Kelly Branaman, the Secretary for Catholic Schools and Superintendent of Schools for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Branaman noted that she had spoken with St. Martin’s eighth graders in the centennial school year and encouraged them “to honor their (school’s) past and at the same time, to celebrate the future.”
Netta Morelli, the assistant school principal at St. Martin’s, began teaching fifth grade there almost three decades ago, and her daughter Kayla attended the school from kindergarten through the eighth grade. St. Martin’s has always had “such a family feel, I just felt at home there,” she said.
Reflecting on what impact that she hopes St. Martin of Tours School has on its graduates, Morelli said, “I want them to leave St. Martin’s feeling successful and taking their faith with them.”
Elida Gomez, a pre-kindergarten assistant there for more than two decades, noted that three of her four children graduated from St. Martin’s School. “Being a small school, the teachers know all the kids,” she said, adding that the students there get a good foundation in the Catholic faith. “I can teach the kids you are who you are because God loves you, and you’re special because God loves you.”
Diane Arcieri, who retired after teaching second grade at St. Martin of Tours School from 2002 to 2008, said she enjoyed preparing students to receive their First Holy Communion and First Confession, and how she was able to “incorporate religion into the everyday subjects I was teaching.”
Reflecting on her students, the retired teacher said, “I hope they left the classroom with an increased love for Jesus and the Church… (and the importance of) being kind and helpful to each other, and finding the way that Christ wants us to live our faith.”
Isaac Cooksey, a math resource teacher at St. Martin of Tours School, started working as a substitute teacher there in 2024 after graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in applied mathematics. He graduated from St. Martin’s School in 2016 after attending the school from kindergarten through the eighth grade. He noted that he made lifelong friends at the school, including classmates who later also attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney with him and who were his roommates at the University of Maryland.
“Math was always my favorite subject,” said Cooksey, who said that now while he is back at St. Martin’s teaching students, “I definitely want them to see the beauty in math.”
As he is teaching in the 100th anniversary year at his alma mater, Cooksey said he feels a great appreciation for the school’s history.
Ben Desmond, a middle school language arts teacher at St. Martin of Tours School, noted the diverse community there, which include families with roots in Latin America, Africa and Asia. “The universality of the Church is reflected in the student body,” he said.
Reflecting on his work, Desmond said, “I feel like it’s an honor every day to teach… I see my job as a vocation. I want to spread the light of Christ to others.”
Fostering a love of reading and good critical thinking and writing skills in his students is central to his teaching, and he emphasized his role as a Catholic school teacher.
“I’m hoping to communicate the love of God, (so) they can use their lives to spread the love of God,” Desmond said.
Sherry and Marc Antonetti were among the parents attending St. Martin of Tours School’s 100 anniversary celebration. In May 2025, their daughter Anna-Maria graduated from St. Martin’s, the ninth of their 10 children to attend the school.
When they moved to the area, “St. Martin’s became like an extended family (to us),” Sherry Antonetti said. Her husband added, “They became our first friends in the area.”
Over the years, Sherry Antonetti – who is a freelance writer and contributing columnist for the Catholic Standard – served on the Home and School Association there, and Marc Antonetti has chaired the school board.
Noting how their children received a very solid academic education there, Marc Antonetti said, “For our family, it helped us grow in our faith. By being involved in the school community, it drew us into being more fully Catholic.”
Also attending the anniversary celebration was Jason Smoker, the current president of St. Martin’s school board who graduated from the school in 1996. Smoker, who earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, works as a civilian engineer for the Navy, and he and his wife have three children at St. Martin of Tours School.
“Everybody knows each other,” he said, noting how students and parents develop friendships as the children progress from pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade. “They (students) are together for 10 years. Families are together for 10 years and watch their kids grow up (together).”
Smoker noted how he learned prayers and received his First Communion and the sacrament of Confirmation while he was a student at St. Martin’s School.
“It’s a nice, tight-knit community. We’re all looking for our children to better themselves in Christ,” Smoker said.
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