Kyle McConnell still remembers sitting in the first grade classroom of Annunciation Catholic School the year it opened in 1963.
Now, McConnell sits on the school’s building committee, which worked with contractors and architects for the school’s next expansion. During the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday afternoon, McConnell said the 15,000 square-foot building, which will add six new classrooms, will be the new face of ACS.
“It’s going to sit out here on the street, and everybody is going to go by and see what a nice footprint we have on this campus and how much the school is growing,” McConnall said. “I think it’s something everybody is going to be proud of.”
The school originally opened as St. Mary’s Catholic School for children in grades K-5. By 1993, the school’s name changed as an extension of Annunciation Catholic Church. Since 2011, ACS has doubled its enrollment with 215 students in grades Pre-K-8.
Since February 2017, ACS has been on a mission for a new campus building. Fundraising began less than a year ago to raise nearly $3 million for expansion and renovations to the Catholic school. ACS has raised just shy of $2 million in that span.
“I’m really excited and it just shows the support the school has in this community,” McConnall said. “It’s affirmation on what a good job the faculty and staff do in educating children.”
Demolition began on Monday, with workers taking down the original convent the school’s nuns used during the first years of the school’s operations. The former convent was transformed into a library for ACS.
After watching the former convent taken down, ACS Principal Joni House said that was the most emotional part of the process, but she now is excited for the construction to begin.
“For us to get to this point, it was a lot of work by several groups of people,” House said. “It’s just a joyful feeling. It’s been extremely heartwarming to see all the support that we have.”
By next school year, students and teachers will enter through a new front door. The new building will house new classrooms, a state-of-the-art library, technology lab, science lab and all administrative offices.
“It’s going to let us continue to have the quality education that we already have,” House said. “It will accommodate the increased enrollment, and with the focus being on STEM now, we really need to prepare students for what they’re going to be going into.”
House added she’s most excited for the moment students enter the building for the first time.
For McConnall, watching ACS grow has been a lifelong journey that has been passed down to his own children.
“The most satisfying thing to me, is I have been able to send my children here and now my grandchildren,” McConnall said. “Sustaining the excellence in education is the most gratifying. We’re building a new building. The school is not really about the building, it’s really about the people that are here.”
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