Holiday
2020
65 Collegium origins
Dining for Collegium students will be in The Grand Piano Building, 20 W. Washington St., in Hagerstown. Photo by Lisa Tedrick Prejean
The mission The college will prepare young men and women for a life where faith and reason live in harmony. "We give them an environment that doesn’t crush their faith. It helps to reinforce it,” Schaefer said.“We give them the tools and help them strengthen their faith so that when they go out on their own, they can deal with the world. “What’s important to us is their spiritual and intellectual formation,” he said, noting that the curriculum is “pure liberal arts.” Classes will focus on the works of Plato and Aristotle, church doctrine as articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas, music and art history, logic, rhetoric, natural sciences and Latin. Collegium will not be competitive in mission or approach to USMH, said Mark C. Halsey, executive director of University System of Maryland at Hagerstown. “Designed for a unique clientele, Collegium will recruit nationally, resulting in a national student body living, learning and investing time and talent together in downtown Hagerstown,” Halsey said.“It is distinctive not only in Hagerstown and the region, but even nationally. “USMH is delighted to welcome the Collegium as a downtown Hagerstown neighbor, a partner in local economic development and a colleague in higher education.”
Schaefer has been working on the concept for Collegium since 2014, when he was at the University of Florida. He taught in the school of music and was an associate dean in UF’s College of Fine Arts. The Collegium plan was coming together nicely. The only thing lacking was a location. That missing part of the equation was solved when Schaefer returned to Hagerstown last year for his 50th class reunion at St. Maria Goretti High School. He and his wife, Karen, decided to make the trip a vacation. They visited local sites such as Antietam National Battlefield and talked to former classmates about possible opportunities here. He shared the Collegium concept with former classmate Blackie Bowen, CEO and chairman of the board of Ewing Oil Co., and asked what he thought. It was obvious to Bowen that Schaefer has an astute business sense and was serious about pursuing the project for Hagerstown. “I think it is fantastic that he has decided to do this for Hagerstown,” Bowen said.“He is all in with this program. He’s doing it because he thinks it’s the right thing to do for this area and for people in general.” Bowen, in turn, reached out to Andrew Serafini, president of Serafini Financial Group, to add him to the conversation. Serafini, who has served in the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland Senate, was “very, very helpful” in providing guidance on licensing the school in Maryland, Bowen said. While the school does not yet have a state permit to operate, those plans are progressing, Schaefer said. “We anticipate we’ll have everything done by the end of the calendar year, by December.” After talking with business leaders, Schaefer said it became clear that educational entities fit into the long-range economic vision for downtown. Serafini points to the model that is working in cities such as Pittsburgh.“Its core has been revitalized,” Serafini said, by the addition of “eds and meds.”When cities focus on
