Features
FOJTASEK FAMILY LOWER SCHOOL Building Will Serve as Lasting Tribute conclusion, this focus on financial aid resources becomes even more critical, as support in this area will ensure that all deserving future Marksmen will have the opportunity to enter the St. Mark’s community and make a difference. As the Campaign enters its final push to completion, major initiatives have come to the forefront. By endeavoring to make the renovated planetarium and new organ for the Chapel a reality, St. Mark’s once again seeks to provide the necessary elements for each boy to seek excellence to the fullest and to be inspired along the way. Thanks to generous support of the Campaign, the planetarium will be renovated, complete with a new projector installed, and the Chapel will have a new organ, custom made and perfectly tailored to the space and its acoustic qualities. The Centennial Challenge has invigorated life at 10600 Preston Road. The Campaign has allowed the St. Mark’s community to create and maintain the finest buildings and grounds possible and to establish new faculty and student
St. Mark’s recently announced that a gift had been made to The Centennial Challenge from longtime supporters, Ola and Randall Fojtasek ’81, and their family, and that the Lower School will be named in their family’s honor. This most recent commitment increases their giving to St. Mark’s to approximately $3 million, and is representative of extensive involvement and tremendous support over several decades. Randall has served in a wide variety of roles at St. Mark’s, including as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees for the past two years and, effective July 1 of this year, he became Board President. The Fojtaseks are joined in this most recent gift by Randall’s mother, Jacqueline Fojtasek, and this commitment honors the memory of his late father, Joe Fojtasek. Randall and Ola have a son in the Class of 2015, and Randall’s brother, Russell, graduated from St. Mark’s in 1980. Randall shared the following thoughts about his family’s support of the Campaign: Without the education and support of the faculty, coaches, and staff of the School, I would not be the person I am today. But I am not alone in that distinction. Every time I am on campus and see the boys, or gather with fellow alumni, or travel to different cities on behalf of the School, I see the incredibly interesting, productive, and diverse lives that the graduates of St. Mark’s lead. If I ever had a doubt in the School’s hand in shaping lives, I am reaffirmed by my interactions with these men. They are smart, hardworking, genuine, and engaged in making the world a better place, and those traits make me aware of how St. Mark’s touched their lives just as it did mine. The opportunity to give back to St. Mark’s in a significant way, and to name the Lower School in honor of my late father, seems fitting — after all, he and my mother sent my brother and me to the School almost 40 years ago so that we could get the best education possible. Meeting the School’s mission of molding boys into fine young men cannot be achieved without all of our support. The proceeds from this gift will generate matching endowment funds. A ceremony to dedicate the newly named Lower School will occur in 2013.
support systems that fill the campus with the most curious students and inspiring faculty. The successful completion of
leadership of the School began six years
the Campaign is vital for St. Mark’s to
ago, the entire St. Mark’s community is
continue this forward momentum and
immeasurably grateful for the generosity
cement the reputation that St. Mark’s has
and determination already displayed
established as one of the finest academic
and is equally excited and inspired to
institutions in the world. As we near the
see what lies ahead as the Campaign
end of a tremendous vision that the
moves closer toward its ultimate goals.
St. Mark’s School of Texas
Summer 2012 | Features
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