History
We began with one student and six Sisters…
The Dominican Learning Center (DLC) began in 1994 with one student and six Sisters. Soon, many other students came to the Center because they wanted to improve their lives, get better jobs and provide a better quality of life for their families. The first Director, Sr. Marie Granger, OP, recognized the Sisters were meeting a compelling need in the community that required creativity, a commitment to excellence, capable volunteers, a superb instructional program and lots of hard work and money.
Two years later, Louise Hackett, a housekeeper at Columbus’ Nationwide Children’s Hospital, received the first GED certificate. Many more students came, more volunteers signed on and the Dominican Sisters provided the leadership and passion needed to raise the hopes of their students.
In 2009, the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs joined a union of other Dominican congregations to become the Dominican Sisters of Peace, a community of over 530 Sisters serving in 26 states, in addition to Peru, Honduras and Nigeria.
In 2019, the Sisters and staff of the Dominican Learning Center celebrated our 25th anniversary. As our programs have evolved and student grade levels have improved, we believe that education continues to hold the key to success, to quality of life and to the empowerment of people.
We believe that education improves lives and this is our expectation and our motto. The Director of the DLC, along with a team of Sisters, volunteers and staff, manages the day to day operations and helps support the tutors and learners that come to us. Directors of the DLC have included:
- Sr. Marie Granger, OP (1994 – 2004)
- Sr. Shawn Fitzpatrick, OP (2004 – 2016)
- Sr. Barbara Kane, OP (2016 – 2018)
- Lisset Mendoza (Sept. 2018 – 2020)
- Sr. Shawn Fitzpatrick, OP (Sept. 2020 – Dec. 2020)
- Denise Hilliard (January 2021 – present)