50 years later: Lourdes Academy gets a gym

By Olga M. Martinez - Our Lady of Lourdes Academy

MIAMI | Over the summer, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy completed construction on a new, state-of-the-art gymnasium, marking the first time in the school's 50-year history that the Bobcats have a gym to call home.

The gym was the last part of a 4-phase, $15 million construction project that began at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. The school hosted its first-ever home game on Aug. 26, when the volleyball team faced off against Southwest.

Lourdes Academy is the only all-female private school playing in Division 8A the highest classification, which gives the schools athletes greater exposure among colleges and universities. In fact, many of the school's alumnae have received athletic scholarships to Division I schools.

Lourdes Academy offers 10 interscholastic sports: basketball, cheerleading, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track, and volleyball. It has been named the "Best Female Athletic Program in Miami Dade County" by The Miami Herald numerous times. The school's athletic director is Maura Herrholz, a graduate of the class of 1985.