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Construction of a cafeteria expansion and gym refurbishment is underway at School of the Incarnation, Gambrills. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Catholic schools are building for the future


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Special to the Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Schools

Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Baltimore are investing in new classrooms, athletic facilities, gathering spaces and student commons designed to strengthen academics, faith formation and community life. Here are some examples of the larger projects underway.

School of the Incarnation

Gambrills

Project: 6,000-square-foot expansion and renovation, including a new cafeteria and kitchen, outdoor gathering space, playground and renovation of Marian Hall gymnasium and stage

Cost: Part of $2.1 million capital campaign

Timeline: Nearing completion

“It’s really important to have room to grow, and that’s what this is going to give us,” said Meghan Brown, the school’s advancement director. “We’re not trying to add extra students to our community, but we’re trying to provide more for the students that we already have.”

Principal Nancy Baker said the project is designed to create spaces that are both functional and beautiful.

Archbishop Spalding High School

Severn

Project: New parking lot, improved furniture in select classrooms, replacing athletic turf, baseball bleachers and backstop

Cost: About $3.5 million

Timeline: Field completed, other projects nearing completion

Archbishop Spalding’s improvements include 270 new parking spaces, replacement athletic turf, upgraded baseball facilities and new classroom furniture.

“This will allow all of our students to park on campus, and it will open up a lot more opportunities for students to be here,” President Shannon Gilligan said.

Gilligan said replacing the aging turf field was essential.

“It was just worn out. It had to be done,” she said.

The school is also testing new classroom furniture before expanding upgrades.

Calvert Hall College High School

Towson

Project: Huffman Family Sports Performance Center and golf simulator

Cost: $800,000

Timeline: Nearing completion

Calvert Hall is converting a former locker room into the Huffman Family Sports Performance Center, featuring an 80-seat lecture hall and golf simulator.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity from an academic standpoint,” said Andrew Moore, principal.  “After school, we might be able to have meetings with speakers and hold symposia and those sorts of things that we do in a more intimate setting, and really have a first-class environment for those sorts of meetings.”

The new golf simulator was donated by an alumnus.

Notre Dame Preparatory School

Towson

Project: Huffman Commons, a 12,300-square-foot renovation and addition to current student commons

Cost: $10.5 million

Timeline: Nearing completion

Notre Dame Preparatory School is erecting Huffman Commons, a major renovation and addition that transforms the student commons into a modern campus gathering space.

“This really is the hub, the center, the heart, the living room of our campus,” said Angela Allen, NDP’s head of school.

The project, funded in part by the Huffman Family Foundation and the School Sisters of Notre Dame, was supported by more than $10 million raised in six months.

St. Frances Academy

Baltimore

Project: New athletic practice field along Chase Street

Cost: $3 million to $4 million

Timeline: Project aims to be completed in time for the 2027-28 academic year, pending construction approvals

St. Frances Academy’s new athletic practice field will serve both one of the nation’s premier football programs and the Johnston Square community.

“Our gym is used maybe 30 or 40 percent of the time by our actual scholars, and the rest of the time it’s being used by the community,” said Head of School Deacon B. Curtis Turner. “We have members of the community who come in there for health care (that is) run by a local college. Our kids get a school nurse, but the whole neighborhood gets a primary care provider, if necessary. We don’t anticipate our field’s going to be that much different.”

He said the field is another way the school can fulfill its mission.

“Our priorities here are God, family, academics and everything else. Academics is not the most important thing we do. The most important thing we do is form our children to have a relationship with God,” he said.

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