Growth in Enrollment Leads to Growth in Aquinas School Facilities
MERRILLVILLE – If you look up the word “patience” in the dictionary, there should be a picture of the Aquinas Catholic Community School students and staff on the page.
After waiting more than a decade, groundbreaking ceremonies were finally held on Aug. 10 for a $3 million building addition that will meet the needs of teachers and pupils who have been squeezed into accommodations that make submarine quarters look spacious, all thanks to a generous donation from the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation in partnership with Big Shoulders Fund (BSF), and parish support.
“Let us pray for his help, that God will bring this construction to a successful completion,” prayed Bishop Robert J. McClory at the groundbreaking ceremony. “(God has) created all things in the name of his Son.”
The bishop thanked an array of people responsible for the project, including Dr. Joseph Majchrowicz, superintendent of the Diocese of Gary Catholic Schools; Father Ted Mauch, new pastor of Holy Martyrs Parish of Merrillville, where St. Andrew church and Aquinas school are located; the Bruce and Beth White family and foundation; Josh Hale, president and CEO of BSF; Dan Kozlowski, managing director of BSF in Northwest Indiana; and Lisa Gutierrez, Aquinas school principal.
“I walked through the school with Father (Brian) Chadwick in 2016 when I was hired and I saw seven classrooms to educate 10 grades,” explained principal Lisa Gutierrez, the dedicated leader who admitted that “a little seed was planted in my mind” when the then-pastor of St. Andrew the Apostle parish opened a cabinet and pulled out the blueprints for two new classrooms that had been on the drawing board since the early 2000’s.
With enrollment increasing by 37% in the past five years, the already crowded facilities have been stretched to the limit. “We have used literally every square foot of this campus, even holding classes in the church and having children in rectory,” noted Gutierrez, who never gave up hope despite setbacks that included the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and the untimely death of then-pastor Father James Meade later that year.
“Then along came Big Shoulders Fund,” said Gutierrez, referring to the nonprofit founded in 1986 to support access to Archdiocese of Chicago schools for low-income families. Expanded into the Diocese of Gary in 2019 with a $16 million commitment over 10 years by Big Shoulders Fund supporters Bruce and Beth White through their family’s Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation, the Fund began providing diocesan schools with curriculum support, leadership training, operational support and other needs.
Learning that enrollment at Aquinas, serving all of Merrillville and its surrounding area, continued to grow with the expansion of Indiana CHOICE Scholarship tuition funding, the White family and Big Shoulders Fund announced plans last December to provide the school with $1.25 million to help fund the addition of two classrooms, a new entrance and hallway connecting the classroom building to the gym/hall, nurse’s office, teacher lounge and develop a new space for students with special learning needs.
“Due to rapidly rising costs affected by the pandemic, they added another $700,000 just recently to reach $1.95 million in funding, matched with parish support, to fund what is now a $3 million project,” explained Gutierrez, whose facilities will increase from 20,000 to 25,500 square feet.
“Beth White and I were here a year ago to read stories to the students and visit with the principal, and we started talking about what we could do to make this a better place to learn,” recalled Bill Hanna, executive director of the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation. “Then we said, let’s do something bigger … to offer an opportunity to open up the school to more children.”
Hanna said Bruce and Beth White “want their legacy to be a living one. We’re trusting you with that future. We appreciate your dedication as students and your leadership as adults.”
Father Mauch, noting that Aquinas is carrying on a tradition of Catholic education begun in Merrillville in 1841 by the former Ss. Peter and Paul School, addressed the more than two dozen students in attendance: “You are why we are here today. Your success is our hope.”
“This is just the start of what I know will be great things happening at Aquinas,” said Nina Gutierrez, the technology coordinator at the school and the principal’s daughter. “I know my mom has been working on this goal since she got here; it’s what she wants for these kids.”
Kristin Douts, of Merrillville, has two children attending Aquinas, seventh-grader Kayla and first-grader Jerry. “It’s important to me that my kids receive a Catholic education, and this smaller school (offers) more of a family atmosphere,” she said. “It’s great that (with CHOICE) so many students who wouldn’t be able to get this kind of education now can.”
Douts said she and her husband, Jason Douts, “might have been able to afford” parochial school for their children on their own, but it would have been a struggle, and she is glad the CHOICE scholarship is available. About 80% of Hoosier families with income levels up to $145,000, now qualify.
Eighth grader Carlos Balmaceda, of Lake Station, said he came to the groundbreaking because he wanted “to see a new chapter beginning for Aquinas at least for one year before I graduate,” adding that the new hallway connecting the two school buildings will make the biggest difference in the facilities.
DaJon Morris, another eighth-grader from Merrillville, joined the Aquinas family in the fifth grade and said, “I like everything about it, especially playing soccer and other outdoor sports on the expansive playground. “He needed this family atmosphere to succeed,” added DaJon’s older sister, Diamond Morris, a recent Valparaiso University graduate.
Merrillville sisters Veronica Huizar, an eighth grader, and Vanessa Huizar, a seventh grader, both praised the family atmosphere at Aquinas. “You know everybody here,” said Veronica, and “everyone is so welcoming,” added Vanessa.
Josh Hale, president and CEO of BSF for 20 years, pointed out that Aug. 15, 2022 marks the 30-year anniversary of the initial funding for BSF in Chicagoland, where 92 schools are now served. Hale said the current growth in parochial schools “should be national news, but it doesn’t happen without a team of people saying loud and clear that this (investment) is important. Bishop McClory sees this (mission for education) as a core of our Catholic faith; he’s inspirational.”
“The joy, love, compassion and faith (at Aquinas) have inspired me from my very first day in the Diocese of Gary, when I visited this school,” said Bishop McClory. “I thank all of those who have contributed to bring us to this today.”