By Síofra Rucker G’84, Director of Advancement
Student Thoughts: “At St. Francis, I always had a reason to look forward to coming to school: my unique and incredibly talented friends; my brilliant, hilarious teachers who can make Multivariable Calculus or Shakespeare feel like an adventure.” Kinsey Morrison ‘14 Wyvern Report
Future
Future for St. Francis School
On August 9th, we held our Back-to-School Picnic & Alumni Games, while also cutting the ribbon on our new Gymnasium, in front of a robust crowd of happy students, parents, faculty and staff (oh, and a dancing Wyvern too!). This building is the completion of one phase of our Capital Campaign and signals the continuation into a successful Campaign that will Create an Abundant Future for St. Francis School. Upcoming phases are the Goshen Campus Theater and Performing Arts/Main Lobby Renovation ($1.5MM) and the Downtown Campus Multi-Purpose Center ($7MM), as well as our ongoing Scholarship Endowment ($2MM). Our Board of Trustees is also considering an additional space acquisition for our Downtown Campus in the near future, which may change the timeline of the phases – more on that to come! There are so many people without whose efforts, time, generous giving, and expertise we would not have been able to open this gorgeous facility this summer. Each grade, JK - 8th, chose an aspect of the Gymnasium to support, be it the cotton candy machine or the players’ chairs, and raised funds to purchase those items. Additional student donations were given from the proceeds of student bake sales, lemonade stands, and allowances. Parents and grandparents stepped up also and funded everything from picnic tables made of reclaimed Kentucky barnwood to indoor hockey sticks. These generous Wyverns have been named in the lobby of the Goshen Gymnasium. Our Capital Campaign major donors will be acknowledged on our new recycled-glass donor walls made by alumna Naomi Stuecker G’88, ‘92. Keep an eye out for a set of each of these gorgeous glass panels both in the Goshen Lobby and on the Downtown Campus. All these donors have made this Campaign a success to date, but these listed below have been truly instrumental in bringing the Goshen Gym to fruition:
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Capital Campaign Chairs
Board Chairs
Nina Bonnie Wes Johnson Dace Brown Stubbs 2013-14 Ginny Frazier Lee Middendorf 2014-15
Construction Committee PR Lancaster - Chair, Facilities Committee Ginny Frazier Scott Gregor Wes Johnson
Architect Doug Pierson, (fer) studio
Construction Manager Tim Peters, Peters Construction
We have welcomed our Preschoolers to our Goshen Campus with three newly renovated classrooms and their own natural playground, the first of its kind in Kentucky. A natural playground uses boulders, hills (which seem like mountains to our two-year-olds!), logs, earth, sand, dry stream beds, trees, and grasses to create an environmentally sensitive, sustainable, interactive area for our children to play, create, and explore. And because it hardly seemed fair to leave the Lower School playground without a matching upgrade, with donor support, we transformed that one too, incorporating elements of a natural playground into the existing play structure and swings; resurfacing; repainting; and adding a gazebo and shade areas. More than 75 parents, children, alums, faculty, and staff came one warm evening in August and worked together to complete the playground work. Thank you to all of these Wyverns who put their shoulders to the wheel and helped to transform our School!
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