Testimonials

William R. McCann
Class of 1972

The excellent education and faith formation I received from the fine teachers and IHM Sisters at the St. Lucy Day School prepared me for a full life ahead. I became the first blind student to graduate from Monsignor Bonner High School and went on to earn a degree in music from the University of the Arts. After completing post graduate studies in computer programming I landed my first fulltime job as a programmer for Sunoco in Philadelphia. Ten years later I founded my own company, Dancing Dots, in order to follow a lifelong dream to create braille music translation software marketed as “GOODFEEL®”, the world’s first commercial Braille music translator.

I attribute my success to the nurturing atmosphere that my family and St. Lucy’s provided for me. They taught me of God’s grace, love, and mercy while encouraging me to develop my gifts and a sense of gratitude to my Creator. Most of all, they taught me that I have my own dignity as a child of God; that what we do with the gifts we have received from God is what matters rather than focusing on what we did not receive.  God loves me because I am His creation. I am no less loved and no less of a person than one who can see.

Throughout my life as artist, programmer, businessman, husband, and father, I continue to benefit from my great start at St. Lucy’s. When I visit the school today I find that same love in action that supports the student with a disability while still challenging that student to stretch and grow, leaning forward into a future of possibility. Today, students who attend St. Lucy Day School receive the same opportunity offered to me: to build a zest for learning, to discover their own God given purpose, and to prepare well to live a life full of challenges and success.