YOU BUILT OUR FUTURE!THANK YOU!
We’re celebrating on behalf of our 677 current students who will benefit, as well as the generations to follow And the hundreds of students who will be drawn to University of Toronto Schools to experience the transformative nature of a UTS education Now in a newly transformed environment for future generations All there is left to do is celebrate And thank our generous community for your support We made it here because of you! Time to celebrate... new classrooms built to16 focus on active learning Four new science labs, including the Ewens Chemistry Lab, with equipmentfurnishingsstate-of-the-artand New art, performance, and music facilities, where the talent of the future can grow two visual arts studios two classroomsmusic and practice rooms Spacious theatre/ drama space with change and storage rooms InnovationFuture-forwardLab Spacious Athletic Centre housing the McIntyre Double Gymnasium and Ridley Fitness Centre increase in our100% footprint (60,000 to 120,000 square feet) seats in our brand-700 new auditorium (maybe one has your name on it?) New skylight in the Fleck Atrium providing light for our community to gather$63.5 million raised 200 volunteers 24 group fundraising projects = our gratitude to over 2,600 donors!
To everyone in our community who pulled together, just as we knew they would. To our generous donors big and small, those who contributed financially and those who gave their time. To the students who waited patiently for their new spaces to be completed and who were equally excited by the final result.
Thank you so much on behalf of our entire community.
We did it. We built the future. Our beautiful building is open.
Martha Drake Executive Director, Advancement
We did it.
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September 17, 2022
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I’ve always been proud to be part of the UTS community and of our accomplishments, and now I’m especially gratified that our beautiful, renewed space matches the pride we’ve always had in our school. At the heart of the city, renewed in our Affiliation Agreement with the University of Toronto, what will the next decades bring? Thanks to you, UTS is ready for the future.
To a community who answered the call
In 2016, a call went out for potential Founders and others, to help our community raise the funds to transform our aging facility into a space that will inspire students well into the future. In penning my missive for The Root all those years ago, I believed that you would respond positively. You went well above and Todaybeyond.I’missuing a new note of gratitude. Everyone’s enthusiasm for the Building the Future campaign has been tremendous and together, we came through with the funds needed. It has truly been a once-ina-lifetime effort, with life-changing results for students.
I’m always eager to share the accomplishments that our students go on to achieve – 58 Orders of Canada, 21 Rhodes Scholars, 18 Olympians and two Nobel Laureates come to mind. Now I’m excited to think about the future –what other daring and ambitious minds will we attract with these new spaces? What compelling conversations will our new active classrooms prompt among students? What lifelong friendships will be formed in the new common spaces?
Jim Fleck C.C. ’49, P ’72 Chair, UTS Board of Directors and Chair, Building the Future campaign
Life-changing learning happens when all the elements are in sync – curious and motivated students, enthusiastic teachers, and supportive staff. With the transformation of our physical space, we’ve elevated another ingredient within our UTS formula for success and created an environment where students can take their inquiries to a new level. We’ve provided them with the state-of-the-art learning space as well as the equipment and tools they need to excel. For those of us who daily call this home, we enter the new space with gratitude at the transformation, and to those who made it happen.
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It’s been a pleasure to watch students claim this new space as their own: chatting with friends on the Learning Stairs, playing basketball in the McIntyre Gymnasium, or learning transformative skills in the Lang Innovation Lab. We’re thankful to now have an environment which can inspire our students to excel as they learn, challenge themselves and prepare for their future. From the community that came together
to make this renewal happen, we hope another message to students is clear: you are worth it, and you deserve to learn in this beautiful space. Thank you to our volunteers, who looked into the future and saw that this was possible. Thanks to Jim Fleck for his initial call to action. Thanks to all of our community for creating this amazing foundation for our future. It’s because of you that we smile every day and are inspired to keep dreaming big.
Rosemary Evans Principal
Thank you for building a home for our future
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“I am blown away by the quality of the facilities. It’s a huge upgrade from what we had before and we are so happy to be back now and spend time with our friends here before graduation.”
What do you say when someone brings light into your space?
– Layla Chai Rahnema ’22, 2021–22 Lewis Prefect
“Your support means so MUCH!”
– Nicole, Senior 5 (Grade 11) Student
“I’m really excited because the science labs are so much bigger than we’re used to. There’s lots of natural light. It’s really bright!”
“I really like how the Fleck Atrium is designed to be so open and a space for everyone. One of the things that we missed at our temporary school at 30 Humbert was being able to gather and collect as a group and there are many spaces for that in this new building.” Caleb Na ’22, 2021–2022 UTS Co-Captain
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Thank you for Building Our Future!!”
“ We’re going to make so many memories in the new school!”
Prabhat Jha P ’16, ’20 with daughter Vedika Jha ’20 and Jim Fleck C.C. ’49, P ’72
To our 200 volunteers...
We can’t thank you enough – you literally transformed us. We put out the call and our community appeared in full force. Just like we knew you would. Groups came in all shapes and sizes: boards and committees, parents working together, graduating classes big and small, and alumni from every generation. You gathered as friends and as volunteers meeting for a common cause. You inspired us with your creative ideas, your fun challenges and your heartwarming tributes to great teachers and community members.
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Don McMaster ’62 with Rosemary Evans
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Our campaign leadership team, the UTS board, the UTS Foundation Board and the Project Steering Committee showed us how leaders make things happen. Our alumni and parents’ associations showed us what it means to care about the community you support. our volunteers revealed that when individuals collaborate, great things can happen. And they did!
All
2018 Parent Challenge Champions
With a team of enthusiastic volunteer ambassadors from the first ten years of female graduates, they invited alumnae from 1978 to 1987 – and anyone wishing to honour them – to join together to collectively become a UTS Founder.
Celebrating Co-Education at UTS
When Founders began to step up with seven-figure donations to support Building the Future, Susan Opler ’79, P ’14 and Monica Biringer ’78 noticed that they were all men.
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By the end of the campaign, they had raised $1,047,071. Plus a lot of admiration.
Yet another UTS success story, alumnus Don Schmitt C.M. ’70, has our eternal gratitude for bringing his talent and experience back to these hallways. As a principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects, Don provided oversight of our renewal from start to end, and while the results speak for themselves, it’s his care and involvement – even to the point of becoming a Founder –that made it clear this was more than just another project. Thanks Don! We are so glad we had you on our team.
The two got to work, creating the First Girls Initiative, in honour of the first girls to join UTS.
“We are proud to have spearheaded the First Girls Initiative, which recognizes and celebrates the impact of co-education at UTS and the accomplishments of our amazing women graduates.” – Susan Opler ’79, P ’14 and Monica Biringer ’78
A note of gratitude to architect and Founder Don Schmitt C.M.
Groups getting together
Connecting over 40 years and a great cause: Class of 1977 For the Class of ’77, coming together to support the UTS transformation was also an act of celebration for 40 years of friendship. Moved by the memories of their time at UTS, as well as by an active interest in the future of the school, classmates Steve Alizadeh, Peter Buzzi, Andre Hidi and Jim Penturn joined forces to raise $1,011,740 from the Class of 1977. They’re an inspiration, not only because of their determination, but also for the longevity of their connection.
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Behind door number 1? Proof that even young grads can make a difference
In the interest of shattering myths, let’s quash the one that young grads can’t make a difference. That’s what Emily Rea, Ilya Motamedi, Aaron Shafton and Ben Barrett set out to prove when leading the charge for the Class of 2014 Gateway to Learning Initiative. They challenged their class to raise $5,000 for the door leading to the new S6 Commons, to celebrate their own fond memories of the same space. Mission accomplished. Way to go, Class of 2014!
Don Schmitt C.M. ’70 of Diamond Schmitt Architects is secured as architect for the UTS building project, and the Project Steering Committee is created to oversee the project.
AUGUST 2010 UTS renewalstruckCommitteeBuildingistobeginofUTS.
SEPTEMBER 2011
DECEMBER 15, 2015 Affiliation Agreement –
Branch events in full force – UTS visits our global citizens, near and far!
Call for Founders – Board Chair Jim Fleck writes “A School in Search of Founders,” issuing a moonshot challenge to the UTS community – to great success.
Site CommitteeSelectionis struck to find a permanent home for UTS.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 Campaign launch!
1999–2001
Staff Campaign launch – 100% of UTS staff kicked off the 2017 school year by making a gift to the Building the Future campaign.
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Funds raised from the Building Opportunities campaign provide a good start to fundraising for the Building the Future campaign.
MARCH 4, 2016
WINTER, 2016
Looking back at big accomplishments is always fun, and often builds even more gratitude for the journey. Here’s where we went to create our new space:
An journeyinspirational
AUGUST 28, 2017
2017
A new agreement is reached with the University of Toronto for UTS to be an affiliate of the University and to occupy 371 Bloor Street West for another 50 years, rent-free.
Parent Challenge –UTS parents doubled their financial support of UTS.
UTS staff and students relocate to our temporary school at 30 Humbert Street.
JANUARY 2019
NOVEMBER 2020
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APRIL 2022 Students and staff are Back to Bloor!
SEPTEMBER 17, 2022 Homecoming Open House.
Building the Future Speaker Series kicks off with In Conversation with Lawrence Hill ’75.
The UTS community came together online for Beyond Success – a virtual celebration of the achievement of the Building the Future Campaign.
Giving Days – UTS Together. Unlocked a $50,000 match, with 14 parent volunteers serving as Grade Ambassadors and 162 parents making their first gift to UTS.
APRIL 27, 2020
SEPTEMBER 2018
OCTOBER 3, 2019
MAY 2021
Topping Off Ceremony – Principal Evans signs the last beam to be placed above the construction of the school.
DECEMBER 12, 2018 Groundbreaking.
OCTOBER 2020
SPRING 2018
Launch of Build Avi’s Classroom. The building’s completion is in sight – but it’s empty. Once again, the community rallies to fund desks, athletic equipment, lab tools, equipment and furniture.
Construction begins! And so does our relationship with Eastern Construction, who meticulously built and renewed our school.
UTS Around the World!
Whether big and boisterous or small but mighty, our UTS alumni branches span the globe, from Montreal and Vancouver to Los Angeles, New York and even Paris and Hong Kong. Not to mention six locations in Ontario! And when our far-flung alumni heard the call from UTS, there was no question that they wanted to be involved in our campaign for Building the Future.
New York, 2018
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San Francisco, 2017
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Over 30 branch events were held around the world during the campaign, bringing alumni together and revealing their deep generosity and connection with their school. Thanks to the almost 400 alumni of all ages from outside Ontario who donated. This campaign succeeded because of you.
Vancouver, 2019
How do you celebrate the future while honouring the past? Following the overwhelming success of our Building the Future campaign, we wanted to mark the transition to a new chapter, and at the same time celebrate our growing diversity and distinguished community. So we called on nine notable members of the UTS community to lead a speaker series, full of thought-provoking topics to help us bridge the gap between such a significant campaign and the move into our new home. May their thought leadership continue to guide us!
Building the Future Speaker Series
Meric Gertler and Marina Jimenez
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1. An Evening with Lawrence Hill ’75
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3. In Conversation with Mike Spence ’62 and Felicia Knaul ’84, P ’15
2. In Conversation with Meric Gertler, interview with Marina Jimenez ’82
5. Exploring Equity and Justice with Susan Opler ’79, P ’14 and Carol Shirtliff-Hinds P ’16, ’17, ’20, moderated by Will Goldbloom ’05
Thanks to our 1,100 community members whose attendance made this series special. Two pre-COVID events held in person and three virtual events enabled members of the UTS community far and wide to participate.
Our five events included:
4. Community Engagement: The Importance of Being Involved in Your City, with Mayor John Tory ’72
Adding incentive to generosity – thank you to our supporting Boards and Committees!
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Sometimes a little incentive is all we need to reach deeper for causes we care about. Here’s who helped boost our campaign for Building the Future:
The UTS Alumni Association (UTSAA) helped grow an already generous bequest from former UTSAA President, John B. Ridley, Class of 1916, even further by offering to match every dollar contributed to the new building to successfully reach the maximum of UTSAA$500,000.alsoset up a $60,000 fund to match new alumni donor gifts of any amount with an additional $1,000 per donation! Thank you to the new donors who unlocked the full match!
Spring 2021 saw the UTS Board of Directors come together as a group to individually match every new building fund gift from the members of our community. This bighearted match and the generosity of our community meant that we met the $2,000,000 goal for furniture and equipment, allowing us to achieve our goal for the Build Avi’s Classroom campaign!
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The UTS Parents Association (UTSPA) contributed $1 for every $5 donated collectively by parents – maxing out their match to $25,000.
“Our daughter Christina loves the school and adores its teachers very much. We are honoured to be able to contribute to the school. When Christina grows up, she will be proud of the donation made on her behalf to her alma mater. We wish UTS to grow stronger and even more outstanding.”
Thanks also to the UTS Foundation for their stewardship of the Building Fund over 15 years – and for the directors’ individual support of this important project.
– Iris Tong and Changan Shao, P '21
Fans and friends of Al Fleming show their appreciation
Those who know him as a student, teacher, or our beloved principal will always remember Al Fleming ’54 with fond memories. From his days as a math teacher and hockey coach helping students succeed, to his leadership as principal memorably leading a march on Queen’s Park to save our school, Al is an inspirational figure who has shown his dedication to UTS every day. Even beyond retirement, Al’s continuing enthusiasm for our alumni events sees no bounds, whether he’s teeing off at the golf tournament or coaching the alumni hockey match.
For students of the future, his legacy is preserved in a plaque on the UTS trophy case near the new Eureka! Entrance at Huron Street. That’s where we’ve paid tribute to a goal set and surpassed by a group of his fans, who rallied to raise $100,000 in his name and ended up contributing $120,000.
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“I know my life would be totally different if I had not attended UTS. I dare say that yours would be also.” – Al Fleming ’54
Bruce “Nails” MacLean was a beloved teacher, hockey coach and donor who moved others with his generosity. After making a substantial gift, former students Bill Redrupp ’54 and Don Avery ’49 saw an opportunity, and so the rallying cry was raised – let’s make Bruce a Founder too! Tireless fundraising and effort yielded donations from 134 supporters and $1 million was raised in his name. At 105, it was yet one more accomplishment in his exceptional life.
Investing in our home: staff show their generosity
Rallying for the Bruce MacLean
In 2017, the family and staff campaign kicked off our Building the Future campaign, with the big goal of every staff member participating in the campaign at some level.
Bruce MacLean (third from left) accompanied by Executive Director, Advancement Martha Drake, Don Avery ’49, Bill Redrupp ’54, Bruce’s daughter Janice Fairweather, and Principal Rosemary Evans.
Are we surprised that 100 percent came through to help us meet our goal? No, but we are impressed. We did our best to make it fun, with a celebratory breakfast and a special pledge form folded like origami. But we knew that the real incentive to give came from knowing the students and realizing how transformative this project would be for their future. As an added bonus, the staff’s generosity sent a message to our whole community, with their commitment inspiring so many others to pay it forward!
Founder project
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Thanks to our generous donors who “Took their Seat” by donating $3,000 or more for a total of 450 sponsored seats in the new auditorium. Whether in memory of a loved one, in honour of a graduate or to celebrate a momentous occasion, our auditorium is now full of the names that made it happen.
Who would have guessed when we asked everyone to “Take your seats” they would take us literally?
Pursue
us
Build Avi’s Classroom
And so much more – thank you!
Spaces you supported
passions
Learn teamwork
Your support allowed to:
Create
community
Put Julia in her theatre
Grow John’s love of science
University of Toronto Schools 371 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R7 btf.utschools.ca
