Long a dream of many of the parishioners at St. Mark Catholic Church, the school had an interesting beginning.

Hurricane Fran hit Wilmington directly in the fall of 1996. Nearby Wrightsville Beach Elementary School was under water. The church opened up its classrooms so the displaced school could resume. For almost six months, 200 students and staff carried on with instruction using the faith formation classrooms, the Parish Hall and the Parish Office areas. St. Mark Catholic Church enjoyed the school experience, saw that they could support a school, and felt a mission calling. As a result, the Church began the process of developing St. Mark Catholic School.

After consultation with the Diocese, many meetings, feasibility studies, and demographic analysis, it was affirmed that Wilmington and the Catholic community in Wilmington could sustain another elementary/middle school. Emphasizing that through prayer and a commitment to stewardship, each household agreed to do what they could when the time came to pledge. The 2000 Capital Campaign pledges exceeded 2 million dollars!

A groundbreaking ceremony took place in April of 2001 and construction began. A special blessing during construction was the ability to incorporate the Media Center into the building during the initial phase of construction. This was due to the generous and timely fulfillment of pledges from the Capital Campaign.

In Fall 2002 classes began! Initially the school was Kindergarten through fifth grades, adding a grade each year until the first eighth grade class graduated in 2006. Starting with an initial enrollment of just over 250 students, today the school has over 380 students and is a vibrant part of our Parish community.

Paved by the numerous blessings of God and the generous time, talent, and treasure of our Parish community, the dream of St. Mark Catholic School became a reality that continues to grow. Our curriculum is the finest, our athletics programs have produced season champions, and our arts and technology are state-of-the-art.