Bishop McNamara High School (BMHS, McNamara, or Mac) is a private, Catholic coed high school in Forestville CDP in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland.
The school is in the Holy Cross tradition offering a college preparatory curriculum and a range of Fine Arts, athletics and activities. Founded in 1964 by the Congregation of Holy Cross, Bishop McNamara is located on a 14-acre campus in Forestville, Maryland, United States, 7 miles south of Washington, D.C. and is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. The school bears the name of Bishop John Michael McNamara, a former auxiliary bishop to the Archbishops of Baltimore and Washington and the founder of St. Gabriel's parish in Washington, D.C.
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History
Built on a site adjacent to Mount Calvary Catholic Church on Marlboro Pike in Forestville, Maryland, Bishop McNamara High School is a result of Msgr. Peter Paul Rakowski's plan to build a Catholic high school for boys, and one for girls in the southern part of Prince George's County. To that end, in 1962, Patrick A. O'Boyle, archbishop of Washington, D.C., extended an invitation to the Brothers of Holy Cross to administer and staff the new high school, which would serve the county and parts of Washington, DC. Bishop McNamara High School admitted its first classes (freshman and sophomore) of 334 boys in 1964.
In the academic year 1992–93, the school became co-educational when it accepted girls from La Reine High School, an all girls' school in nearby Suitland that had been closed. Enrollment at both schools had been dwindling for some years, following a trend in private schools across the county as a result of the recession.
Fine Arts
The Fine Arts Programs include:
Dance - Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical Jazz, Tap, and Traditional African Dance
Music - (Band & Orchestra and Choir)
Theater - Introduction To Theatre, Acting, Theatre Technology I & II, Great Stages Of Drama, Senior Seminar, Musical Theatre Production (Fall), Spring Theatre Production
Visual Arts - Color, Drawing & Advanced Drawing, Graphic Design, Digital Photography I & II, and AP Studio Art 2D-Design and AP Drawing.
Athletics
Bishop McNamara competes in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference at the Varsity and Junior Varsity levels in the following sports:
Fall - Football, Women's Tennis, Volleyball, Cross Country, Women's Soccer, Men's Soccer, and Cheerleading
Winter - Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Swimming, Wrestling, Cheerleading, and Indoor Track
Spring - Baseball, Softball, Men's Tennis, Men's Lacrosse, Women's Lacrosse, Track & Field, and Golf
Notable alumni
Waine Bacon – NFL defensive back (2004–2005)
Todd Bozeman – NCAA basketball coach
Cameron Chism, CFL player
Brandon Coleman - NFL wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints
Chris Cosh – NCAA football defensive coordinator
Jerome Couplin III – NFL player
Timothy Creamer – NASA astronaut
Tyoka Jackson – NFL player
Liatu King - basketball player
Jeff Kinney – author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Ty Lawson - basketball player
Jason Reynolds - National Book Award finalist
Madison Scott - basketball player
Marcus Thornton – basketball player
Keith Veney – NCAA Division I men's basketball record holder for three-pointers made in a single game with 15
Nicole Yeargin – Olympic medalist (2024) and NCAA Division I sprinter
Talib Zanna - basketball player who plays in Bulgaria