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St. Isaac Jogues auction chair Yvonne Martello, principal Carol Burlinski, and PSA co-presidents Nanci Hyman and Emily Hargan
DENIM&DIAMONDS ST. ISAAC JOGUES 25TH ANNUAL AUCTION by Mike Ellis | Photography by Kyle Hampson
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t. Isaac Jogues Catholic School (SIJ) will host its 25th annual auction at the Hyatt Lodge on the McDonald’s campus in Oak Brook on March 21 from 5 p.m. to midnight. The auction serves as the school’s primary fundraiser, raising approximately $250,000 last year for the parent school association (PSA) to contribute towards the SIJ operating budget and special program initiatives. Located in Hinsdale, SIJ is a private school with about 450 students ranging from kindergarten through eighth grade. Unlike public schools, which rely on entire taxing bodies for funding, SIJ derives its operating budget from three sources: tuition (70 percent), the parish (19 percent) and the PSA (11 percent). The tuition rate is about $4,650 per student, which principal Carol Burlinski said the school would like to “maintain” for the near future. Burlinski said fundraising “allows us to keep our tuition as low as possible.” “Our parent school association is of great assistance to our
school in helping with the operating budget for the school,” she said. Burlinski explained that the PSA is responsible for raising $300,000 to contribute its share of the operating budget this year, and any additional collected funds will go towards SIJ’s technology initiative, which will involve the purchase of Apple iPads for classroom use. “Our goal is to eventually go to a one-to-one deployment of an iPad for our children,” she said. PSA co-president Nanci Hyman said the association’s responsibilities have increased over time. “In order to keep tuition low and try to level it out, PSA went from something that was more of just a fundraiser to enhance the school to actually contributing to that operating budget,” Hyman said. “The families have just been wonderful in being so generous with their time and their money.” While the auction is the primary fundraiser for the PSA, co-president Emily Hargan said there are others throughout Continued on page 24
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