It’s Full STEAM Ahead for the New Mars STEAM Wing!

By Marion L. Couzens, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement and Katie Thompson, Major Gifts Officer

With the pop of confetti cannons in the Audrey Bruce Currier Library, Head of School Cathy McGehee announced to students, faculty, and staff the news of an extraordinary $22 million gift given by Victoria Beth Mars 1974, Pamela Mars Wright 1978, Bernadette Schuetz Russell 2003, and Charlotte Audrey Rossetter 2012.

“Foxcroft is honored and blessed to receive a $22 million gift that celebrates women, and young women at that, who are leading the way in giving,” said McGehee. “The Mars gift will transform our buildings by creating new learning spaces that reflect and embody best practices for teaching girls the way girls learn best, which is at the heart of Foxcroft’s mission.”

This amazing gift, one of the most generous given to an all-girls school in the nation, has been designated for construction of the Mars STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) Wing as part of Foxcroft’s $65 million, 10-year Building for Our Future Campaign. The largest gift ever given to Foxcroft by living donors in its 108year history, it enables the completion of Phase I — site work surrounding the newly renovated Music Building — and launches the construction and site work for Phase II, the Mars STEAM Wing.

The Mars STEAM Wing will house the Briggs Biology Lab, chemistry and physics classrooms and labs, collaborative spaces, an engineering/scene shop, and the mechanicals (i.e. geothermal and heat pumps) that will serve as the centralized system connecting all pieces of the project — the Mars STEAM Wing, the Ruth T. Bedford 1932 Performing Arts Center, the Music Building, and Schoolhouse. Beginning in the fall of 2023, we will offer for-credit seminar courses, titled STEAM Build, taught by the project’s architects, engineers, and construction professionals, that will run throughout the design and construction phases.

With this extraordinary gift bringing the amount raised for the Building for Our Future Campaign to $28 million, Victoria, Pamela, Bernadette, and Charlotte hope to inspire others to be bold in supporting the School that has so greatly impacted their lives and influenced them as they have grown into the great women they are today.

To learn more about the Building for Our Future Campaign and to see the plans and progress on the project’s construction, visit www.foxcroft.org/support/buildingfor-our-future-campaign or scan the QR code on this page. There are still plenty of naming opportunities available in the Mars STEAM Wing and in the renovated Music Building as well as in the future Ruth T. Bedford 1932 Performing Arts Center and Schoolhouse itself.

For more information about these opportunities or to discuss a gift, please contact Executive Director of Institutional Advancement Marion L. Couzens or Major Gifts Officer Katie Thompson at campaign@foxcroft.org

“These two generations of women epitomize Foxcroft's legacy of educating girls who will become tomorrow's leaders, solve realworld problems, and who will make a positive impact on the world. On behalf of the Foxcroft Community, we are forever grateful for the Mars family’s vision in making such a positive impact on our School.”