"Bringing Our Cardinals Home" campaign hits goal!

St. Michael Catholic High School’s "Bringing Our Cardinals Home" campaign for athletic facilities was a success, with $5,030,000 in pledges! The campaign concluded on June 30. 

Plans for the money include an “all-sports” athletic field house, a football/soccer stadium, a baseball stadium, a central concessions building with public restrooms, an outdoor amphitheater, additional parking, side walking, fencing and lighting. Also included will be site work to develop land the school purchased last year, doubling the size of the campus to eighty acres. 

The campaign was led by a executive team of Lad Drago, Tim Mullek and Gary Cowles, and five couples who served as operational chairs: Ellis and Trin Ollinger, Brad and Erica Navarre, Gerry and Karen Marlowe, Jason and Heather Kokoszka, and Matt and Stephanie Barfield. This group, in turn, led a group of thirty or so other volunteer parents. 

“All of us are thrilled,”  says principal Faustin Weber. “We were a little unsure if we could get to the 5 million dollar goal, but the team worked hard, and people were incredibly generous. I am grateful to have worked alongside such good people and to have met so many more people who are excited about what we’re doing here. God has blessed this project from beginning to end.” 

Campaign planning began in October of 2017, when the school created a case statement for the new facilities, then invited Walsh Fundraising, a development firm specializing in Catholic institutions,  to conduct a feasibility study. A master plan for the facilities was developed in the early summer of 2018 with the approval of the St. Michael Advisory Council, and in the fall, the school hired Frank Donaldson from the Institute for Parish and School Development to help prepare materials and organize the campaign. The campaign has been ongoing since November. 

Now the fun stuff begins to happen, says Weber—but not all at once: 

“The pledges are over five years, and as the monies come in, we’ll build the facilities a step at a time.  We’ve begun planning with the archdiocese for the first step—the all sports field house. We anticipate it will be a large building, with a weight room for athletes, male and female locker rooms, a physical training room, coaches’ offices and athletic storage. Some time after, we’ll begin the site work, and after that, build the stadiums. We’ll have to be patient as it all unfolds, but the step by step approach will help build  anticipation and excitement in our students. “ 

The school will post updates as the project progresses.