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April 6, 2022, Wilmette, Illinois – Regina Dominican High School honored Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, a 1964 graduate of the school, with the Regina Caeli Award March 5, 2022, during its 32nd Annual Black and White Gala, held at Chicago’s Wintrust Grand Banking Hall. More than 200 guests attended the fundraising event.
 
The Regina Caeli Award honors outstanding members of the Regina Dominican community for their sustaining support and steadfast dedication to the school mission. 
 
“Sister Donna exemplifies what we aspire to be and who we want our students to look up to,” said Elizabeth Schuster, President of Regina Dominican High School. “Her deep Catholic roots and commitment to serving the marginalized is a testament to the foundation she received as a student at Regina Dominican and then as a Sister of the Adrian Dominican [Congregation].”
 
A former Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters (2004-2010), Sister Donna is the first female President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, an organization with offices throughout the United States that serve people through such areas as food assistance, affordable housing, immigration advocacy and refugees services, social enterprise initiatives, and disaster relief.
 
After the award ceremony, guests at the Black and White Gala had the opportunity to raise their paddles in a live auction to support tuition and financial aid for future students of Regina Dominican. Serving as emcee for the evening was Marie Saavedra, a 2002 graduate of Regina Dominican and a news anchor for WBBM-TV. 
 
Since its founding by the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 1958, Regina Dominican, a college-preparatory high school for young women, has fostered academic excellence, truth, peace, and justice, while challenging each student to develop leadership for life and respect for all races, cultures, and faiths. 
 
Read an article about the Black and White Gala. Scroll down to the second article.
 

  
 Adrian Dominican Sisters from the Adrian Motherhouse Campus were unable to attend the Gala, but sent their best wishes to Sister Donna in a video played during the event.

Feature photo: Sister Donna Markham, OP, receives the Regina Caeli Award from her alma mater, Regina Dominican High School, during its Black and White Gala. Photo Courtesy of Regina Dominican High School