Schools of the Sacred Heart announced the kick-off of a Capital Campaign at a meeting on January 22.  The capital campaign will raise funds for a new Academy of the Sacred Heart high school facility and a St. John Berchmans high school building.  These new facilities will be built simultaneously, in keeping with the architectural beauty of the campus, and will each include a library, science labs, classroom spaces, and gathering spaces.  The goal for this initial phase of the master plan is between $12 and 15 million.  The complete master plan includes new athletic facilities for both schools, a fine arts facility, new residential housing for the Academy boarding students, and a permanent facility for the Berchmans’ elementary school.

Sr. Lynne Lieux, Headmistress of Schools of the Sacred Heart, stated the need for financial support for continuing the tradition of Sacred Heart education throughout our region. “For 187 years, Sacred Heart has provided an education par excellance for young people from Acadiana, other states, and foreign countries.  The education offered at Grand Coteau has always adapted to meet the needs of the community, as a boarding and day school for girls, a college, or most recently, in the addition of a boys’ school. Through the generosity of a benefactor, the Religious of the Sacred Heart were able to open the school in 1821. Through the years, the school has depended upon the generosity of people to continue, and now, we are counting on an even greater number of generous individuals to help us make these new facilities a reality.” 

Schools of the Sacred Heart is part of a network of 21 schools in the United States as well as people and institutions associated with the Society of the Sacred Heart in 44 countries. As a member of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools in the United States, the school commits to educate to a personal and active faith in God, a deep respect for intellectual values, a social awareness which impels to action, the building of community as a Christian value, and personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom.  Schools of the Sacred Heart of Grand Coteau is comprised of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, established in 1821, a single-gender girls PK3 through 12^th grade day and boarding school which was joined in 2006 by St. John Berchmans School, a single-gender PK3 through 6^th grade school for boys.  St. John Berchmans currently expands each year by adding an additional grade level.  The school expects to welcome its first high school students in August, 2011.  The all-girls boarding school for grades 7-12 has educated generations of students from Louisiana, as well as students from around the United States and international students from South America, South Korea, Taiwan, and Canada. 

The campaign theme “Our house is now a little too small” was taken from the House Journal kept by the Religious since the foundation of the school.  Mother Dorival wrote this phrase in 1829 as the school was outgrowing their facilities.  The same holds true today, but can also have a greater meaning as phrased by Sr. Lieux, “Not only do we need to expand our current facilities to meet the educational needs of our present student body, but we want to develop a campus that will be able to adapt to the ever changing needs of young people as we enter into a third century of Sacred Heart education in Southwest Louisiana. Yes, our house is too small, too small for the education we want to offer to future generations of students!”

Capital Campaign General Chairs are:
Andrew and Rebecca Ahrens
Leon ‘Chip’ and Lacey LaHaye
Keith and Ginger Myers

The team of volunteer campaign leaders are joined in the effort by individuals representing the school’s different constituent groups, as well as the Schools of the Sacred Heart Board of Trustees, chaired by Mr. Craig Duplechin.  Mr. Duplechin believes this campus expansion “will allow us the opportunity to continue delivering the finest education in the area with state of the art, technologically advanced facilities.  We have enjoyed 187 years of paramount educational success, and this will position us as the premier academic institution in the South for the next 187 years.”

For additional information regarding the capital campaign or Schools of the Sacred Heart, please contact Renee Ory, Director of Development, at 337-662-5275.

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