We help make dreams come true.
I regularly remind our Saint John’s development staff that we have the best jobs in the world, for precisely that reason.
At no time is this more evident than at the end of a campaign, when there are tangible signs of progress at each and every turn.
There’s something enormously gratifying about wrapping up a capital campaign. Naturally, it simply feels good to be done, but it’s even more satisfying to step back and enjoy and appreciate the fruits of our fundraising efforts.
As I reflect on the recently completed Forward Ever Forward, I realize that it is less about the money that was raised and more about what was accomplished as a result of the generosity of benefactors.
On both counts, the Saint John’s campaign was extremely successful. But what really matters is how we strengthened the institution and improved the quality of the educational experience for our students, a viewpoint expressed by Abbot John Klassen when the campaign was launched in 2013.
“This campaign is all about furthering the pioneering spirit of Saint John’s,” he noted. “No institution, especially Saint John’s, can afford to be standing still… or to spend too much time and energy looking backwards. “Our goal is to strive forward, always forward.”
On October 6, campaign co-chairs Dan Whalen ’70 and Joe Mucha ’66 announced that Saint John’s successfully raised $188 million, exceeding the goal of $160 million and making this the largest campaign in Saint John’s history. This included $29 million for the Abbey and nearly $159 million for the University. It is important to note that $53 million was in the form of planned gifts that will come in future years. Still, it’s an impressive tally. We eclipsed our last campaign, One Generation to the Next, by $20 million.
Campaign gifts came from 27,200 donors – about 5,000 more than the previous campaign.
Clearly, our students were the big winners in this campaign. They benefited in three significant ways: scholarship support, facilities and educational programs.
In this time of rising college costs, the greatest need and challenge is to ensure that Saint John’s remains affordable and accessible to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. The top priority in the campaign was student scholarships, and during the campaign we raised more than $70 million in scholarship support.
This included $25 million for the Student Fund, which provides annual scholarships for undergraduate students, and $3 million for the School of Theology Annual Fund, which provides scholarships for graduate students. In addition, we raised $37.5 million in endowed scholarships for undergraduate students, $1.5 million for graduate students, and $4.5 million for restricted scholarships that are awarded on an annual basis.
At the beginning of the campaign, we launched a groundbreaking new scholarship initiative for students who are the first in their families to attend college. We raised more than $10 million for the aptly named First Gen program during the campaign.
When one of our donors learned about that program’s impact for students from the migrant fields of south Florida, he succinctly summed it up:
“Let me get this straight – by providing a scholarship to one of these young men, we lift an entire family out of poverty forever?”
Exactly.
The second major way we moved things forward at Saint John’s was through the construction of residential, academic and athletic facilities.
The first brick-and-mortar project completed in the campaign was the McKeown Center, a communal gathering space for the 250 students living in the lower campus. This “green” building in the heart of Flynntown provides students with common space for recreation, leisure and study. I’m sure many of us wish that there was something like that around when we were students at Saint John’s.
The largest building project in the campaign was the renovation of Alcuin Library and the construction of the Dietrich Reinhart Learning Commons. If you haven’t seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. It’s an extraordinary learning space for our students, complete with “Smart” classrooms and myriad of student support services, including the Tom Thole Technology Center, the Don Talafous Media Center, the Colman Barry Creativity Center, and the Hilary Thimmesh Writing Center.
In addition, the Library and Learning Commons features an impressive art gallery that houses The Saint John’s Bible. It is truly breathtaking.
The Library and Learning Commons is once again the academic heart and soul of the campus. It has received rave reviews from our students, and foot traffic has tripled. This transformed space is transforming the way our students study, learn and discover.
The last building project in the campaign was the renovation and expansion of our athletic facilities. The litany of athletic improvements is long and impressive:
· We renovated the wrestling room;
· We added lights and a new turf field to Clemens Stadium;
· We installed new bleachers and scoreboards in Sexton Arena;
· We re-surfaced the outdoor track (named after Tim Miles);
· We built a new baseball complex (Haugen Field in Becker Park);
· We built a new soccer pitch (named after Pat Haws);
· We added an outdoor gathering place (Lynch Plaza);
· We constructed seven USTA courts (Chang Tennis Complex);
· We built a multi-purpose athletic field (Gagliardi Field) and seasonal dome (Skalicky Dome).
Whew! Thanks to these improvements, Saint John’s has arguably the finest NCAA Division III athletic facilities in the country.
The third way the campaign moved things forward is in the area of academic programs. We raised nearly $10 million in endowment for educational programs such as the Ralph Gross Chair in Business and the Liberal Arts, a Professorship in the Biomedical Sciences, the Benedictine Institute, and the Entrepreneurship Scholars program at the McNeely Center.
We raised another $6 million in restricted gifts for academic and student development programs, such as the Center for Global Education, a Professorship in Science and Religion, and the Blended Learning Initiative to improve teaching and student learning.
It’s hard to imagine a time when more has been done to improve the educational quality at Saint John’s.
Collectively, the increases to scholarships and financial aid, the addition of new facilities, and the investment in academic programming have left an indelible mark on the Saint John’s community. All of us can take great pride in these accomplishments.
Thanks to the capital campaign, our campus has never looked better, and our alma mater has never been stronger. Bravo!
Now that’s what I call forward progress.