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Message from the President
Dear Gonzaga School Community,
As I write this letter, it occurs to me that this is the last time I will write for this publication as Gonzaga’s president. This realization has made me think back with nostalgia over the last 10 years and all that we have accomplished together. There are so many reasons for pride and gratitude.
Together, we expanded the Carmody Center, building new locker rooms for the basketball program as well as a Strength and Conditioning Center for our boys. We renovated the historic Sheehy Theater, adding air-conditioning for the first time since 1896! More importantly, we incorporated modern technology to help our beloved GDA put on productions that make us all proud. We also built a theater support building complete with a workshop for set design and construction, as well as a dance studio.
Thanks to your generous support, we were able to completely redesign our Eye Street Campus. We built a much-needed, 300-car garage, which I like to call the “Garage Mahal,” beneath a new athletic stadium. We closed down Eye Street making it a beautiful outdoor campus for our Eagles and a wonderful, festive area to watch a football game. In other words, we made Eye Street officially ours!
Gradually and quietly over the last 10 years, we have spent more than $5 million renovating, rehabilitating, and restoring our beloved St. Al’s. We tuckpointed all of the brick and sealed it against the elements. With a little help from Mother Nature, we replaced the entire roof! Most recently, we freshened up the interior with new paint and completed a full restoration of our failing pipe organ. I look forward to the day when we can fill the church again with our Gonzaga community and give thanks to God.
Less glamorous but no less necessary, we replaced our three aging boilers and put new air-conditioning in Our Lady’s Chapel. And to help us decrease our carbon footprint, we covered the entire roofs of the Carmody Center, Ruesch Hall, and Cantwell Hall with a full array of solar panels making our school much more energy efficient. Together, we have accomplished so much. And this is only the physical plant!
Most importantly, thanks to your generosity, a full third of our boys every year have received need-based financial aid and scholarships. That adds up to more than 3,000 boys who would not have studied at Gonzaga were it not for you!! You have not only left your mark on our campus, you have left an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of a generation of Eagles. And, in the end, isn’t that what matters most?
Recently, someone asked me what has been my favorite part about being Gonzaga’s president during these years. My answer was simple: witnessing and experiencing first-hand the way that our students, families, alumni, faculty, and staff love their school. The love that you have for Gonzaga is more than school spirit. It is the secret ingredient to the “special sauce” that makes Gonzaga legendary.
From the bottom of my heart, Thank You!! Thank you for supporting the mission of Jesuit education on Eye Street over the last decade with your time, talent, and treasure. As we cross the threshold to Gonzaga’s Bicentennial, may God bless you with health and happiness. Go Eagles!!!