Little Rock’s Catholic High School officially launched its capital campaign Aug. 29 in conjunction with the school’s annual pre-season football pep rally. The school is hoping to raise a total of $15 million for tuition assistance, teacher salaries and various improvements to campus infrastructure, mechanical systems, landscaping and athletic amenities.
Principal Steve Straessle announced to the crowd of more than 3,000 students, parents, alumni and guests that $6 million of the total had already been raised. This outpaced the campaign’s initial target of $4.8 million, according to officials, and allowed the steering committee to green light one phase of the project, a complete renovation and upgrade to the school’s football practice field.
In his brief remarks to the crowd, Straessle called the practice field “time well spent” this summer and proclaimed, “This is only the beginning.”
Of the total targeted fundraising goal, $3 million will be earmarked for an endowment for need-based tuition assistance and teachers’ salaries. After that, a detailed list of planned improvements is long and begins with an aggressive $6.67 million to-do list during phase one alone. This phase, anchored by the new practice field, also included work in the gym, reconfiguring and remodeling the cafeteria, kitchen and faculty lunch room, most of which was done over the summer. In addition, 16 classrooms will be renovated at a cost of between $25,000 and $30,000 each.
Phase two’s work on 11 more classrooms, plus revamping the priests’ quarters, administration commons and faculty lounges as well as installing an elevator to allow handicap access to the second floor contribute to this phase’s price tag, just under $4.1 million. Phase three improvements will total $3.8 million, and address the band room, chemistry and physics classrooms, practice gym and library among others. Each phase is expected to take roughly a year to complete.
The improvements are the first floor to ceiling revamping of the 82-year-old school’s physical plant since it relocated to the 26-acre campus at 6300 Father Tribou Drive in 1960. As such, all internal systems from the boiler to the electrical and plumbing systems are largely original. Rector Msgr. Lawrence Frederick said the antiquated systems fall far short of the school’s present needs particularly in supporting new classroom technology.
“These improvements are being done to make things better for our students and take another big step forward for our school,” he said. “Hopefully, these improvements will last another 50 years.”
School officials stressed that none of the improvements have anything to do with increasing head count at the school — in fact, the 2011-2012 term was completely filled and then some, according to Straessle, with no slowdown in sight this year.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine that a potential student would not be impressed with the newly renovated practice field with its all-weather surface and shining new bleachers, scoreboard and light towers. By the end of the campaign an all-weather track will also be added.
Straessle said the facilities will be shared with the Little Rock Parochial League, beginning with this year’s junior school football season and eventually including other sports as well. CHS, however, will continue to host home football games at War Memorial Stadium.
“We don’t want to be an ivory tower up here. This is not a museum,” Straessle said of the facilities’ wider use by the parochial league. “We want these facilities to be used and enjoyed.”
Fred Hueston, president of Conway’s Fred Hueston Consulting who has managed capital campaigns for Subiaco Academy and St. Joseph Church in Conway, said efforts thus far have focused strictly on potential major donors, contacted individually by the 37 members of the capital campaign’s steering committee. This portion of the fund drive is expected to continue even as the campaign broadens its scope, likely through a direct mail campaign. Current students will also get the chance to invest in their school, as each classroom will take on a fundraising challenge in the spring.
People interested in making a contribution to the capital campaign are asked to contact Anne Carter, CHS development director, at (501) 664-4625 or visit the campaign’s website at www.lrchs.org for more information.
Straessle said while he couldn’t have anticipated the amount thus far raised, he was not surprised by the enthusiasm with which donors have embraced the campaign.
“I attribute everything to the loyalty our alumni have to the most unique school in the state,” he said. “You can’t get what we offer anywhere else. Everything a graduate here gets from his education is earned and that carries over into their lives after high school. When we asked them to step up they were more than willing to give back.”
A sampling of those in attendance at the dedication expressed unanimous acclaim for the improvements done thus far which, despite being brand new, already lent a familiar feel to the ribbon cutting and accompanying pep rally. As Mount St. Mary cheerleaders revved up the packed stands, kids in Rocket T-shirts ran across the turf, criss-crossing the gold and purple lettering announcing the field as Roy Davis Field.
“I think the new field looks great,” said Davis, who spent 21 years as head football coach, 34 years as athletic director, won two football state titles and enjoyed a memorable moment cutting the ribbon for the field that bears his name. “I’m excited for the kids to have a place to play when the weather outside doesn’t cooperate and it’s muddy outside. The kids deserve this.”
What wasn’t deserved by anyone was what happened in the aftermath of Catholic High’s season-opening loss versus Little Rock Central two nights later. The Aug. 31 game is a traditional rivalry that has become more empassioned in recent years, in part because of former CHS head coach Scooter Register’s leaving the Rockets to take over the Central program. However, a 16-year-old Central High student took the rivalry to a destructive level over the weekend, vandalizing the field turf with spray paint that included “24-10,” the game’s final score, as well as a derogatory image of Msgr. George Tribou, who served as the school’s principal for 35 years.
School officials had offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators, whose mayhem may cost as much as $10,000 to repair, but stipulated the school would not press charges if the guilty party turned themselves in before Sept. 7. The youth responsible turned himself in to police Sept. 5. He will pay full restitution, perform service in the form of manual labor on the school grounds and write a five-page essay on Msgr. Tribou that must receive an A from the school’s English department faculty. If he doesn’t get an A, he will have to rewrite the paper and give an oral presentation.
In a Sept. 5 e-mail to parents, Straessle said the school’s conciliatory stance was in keeping with its mission. He wrote, “One of the primary goals of Catholic High is to provide an avenue of redemption when boys go astray. Certainly, there are some strong feelings relative to this act of vandalism, but none of those feelings supersede the fact that every boy, when possible, should be given the opportunity to recognize his fault, to apologize, to make amends, and ultimately, to move on as a better young man.
“In the end, the young man did the right thing in the face of much public scrutiny and we wish to underscore the fact that there is never — never — a bad time to do the right thing.”
A second, unrelated incident occurred Sept. 8 when middle school students broke into the field and started equipment. The school said it will increase security to prevent further incidents.
