Cutting the ribbon on Mace’s Lane Community Center

(CAMBRIDGE, Md) – There’s plenty to celebrate in the halls of the old Mace’s Lane High School, now a community center for the Boys & Girls Club.

Just ask Dr. Barbara Woolford, who walked the halls of the building when she was in high school. Because she says it still doesn’t feel real.

Barbara tells WMDT, “I’ve been in when the floor was buckled. I’ve been in when things were trashed. I’ve been in when the birds were in the ceiling. I’ve been into all of that. And I saw that. And then to come in today and to see that it’s really happening.”

It’s the culmination of years of work with the Boys and Girls Club and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development to build the high school into a new community center; becoming a crossroads for the past and present.

“And when I think about what they must feel, just to see the place where they went to school alive again, and as a safe, vibrant space for kids in this community growing up, maybe their grandkids, maybe their great grandkids growing up in this community, it’s got to feel good,” says Maryland Housing and Community Development Secretary, Jake Day.

While Boys and Girls Club President, Jeff Breslin says, “Today is the start of a new race. Today is the start of more opportunities for young people. So it’s important to celebrate the fact that we got here. But it’s also important to remember that we’re just getting started in working with kids.”

And the new center is primed to be a perfect hub for kids.

“I just hope and pray that this is going to be able to to unlock that and give them the wings that they need to fly,” says Barbara.

The ribbon cutting is just the first celebration happening here at the Mace’s Lane Community Center. As they’re also working on an exhibit celebrating the history of the high school.

Programming will begin at the community center in early 2027.