Central Catholic High School publicly announced its capital campaign, VISION – The Campaign for Central Catholic, on January 28. The campaign continues to build momentum as supporters have already committed $7.1 million toward the $10 million goal.
Less than 6 months after the public campaign launch, the school has seen growth in tuition assistance available to families, especially important as the State of Illinois’ Invest In Kids scholarship program is not currently in the State budget. Adding a Learning Behavior Specialist was a priority of the campaign and that position was recently filled. The addition of this position provides a significant resource necessary for Central Catholic to ensure individualized opportunities are available for student success at all levels.
Since the planning stages of the campaign, Central Catholic has also increased teacher salaries by 16% on average, which is roughly a 5.5% increase per year over the last three years.
On May 16, the school will break ground on the first physical facilities improvement at Saints Stadium. Hundman Field and the track and field facilities that surround it, will undergo transformation with the installation of synthetic turf and a new track and field surface.
VISION Campaign Committee Chair Jared Hall spoke to the importance of early results in all aspects of the campaign, “As a VISION Campaign Committee Chair and, more importantly, as a parent of future Central Catholic Saints, I’m proud and excited to see that we are making progress in growing our endowment, making our school more available to all students and, with this groundbreaking, enhancing our facilities. We announced this campaign in January and we still have a long road to its completion, but real, tangible results are already happening.”
Central Catholic President Sean Foster talked about the early success of the VISION Campaign and what that means to the school, “We are already beginning to experience some of the growth of our campaign efforts, which will have a generational impact on our school. It’s exciting to be part of something that will have such a meaningful impact on our community.”
The Campaign and its mission-driven initiatives will continue to strengthen and fortify Central Catholic over the next several years, setting it up for continued growth as a school and as a member of the community.
