Catholic High School Benefits From $1 Million Donation

By

StateCollege.com Staff

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May 26, 2015 – 7:35 am

Community & Entertainment, Life Entertainment, Local News, State College, StateCollege.com

The financial picture at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy has improved dramatically thanks to a $1 million donation from generous benefactors.

Robert and Alice Thomas were instrumental in starting the Catholic high school four years ago, and with their seven-figure gift, it’s clear they’re committed to seeing the school succeed.

“I definitely wanted to see it grow and flourish,” says Robert Thomas, adding that it’s money “well-spent.”

The family’s large donation will expand St. Joe’s endowment and help pay off the school’s new student life center.

Jack Kearns, who’s in charge of the school’s fundraising campaign, says he’s inspired by the Thomases’ contribution. “This school was really the vision of local families,” he says. “It wasn’t the vision of the diocese. A small group of people got together and said ‘This is important. We want to do this.’ And now the school is up and running. It’s off the ground and things are happening and I think they saw this would be a wise investment.”

Adds Christopher Chirieleison, St. Joe’s principal, “I’ve been really in awe of the leadership, generosity and devotion of board members and the families who’ve been involved with Saint Joe’s over the past several years.”

The $1.6 million student life center was completed just a few weeks ago. The 16,000 square foot building houses a full-size basketball court, seating for 200 spectators, locker rooms, and a concession area. The multi-purpose facility isn’t just for athletics. It will also be used for school assemblies, masses and other events.

It’s all part of an on-going expansion.

The school opened in 2011 with students in the ninth and tenth grades. Junior and senior classes have since been added. Enrollment has gone from just 38 students in 2011 to 120 in 2015.

St. Joe’s second class of seniors graduated over the Memorial Day weekend. This year, 32 students received their diplomas. That’s a dramatic increase over last year when just 13 students graduated.

Chirieleison boasts that every one of those graduates has been accepted to college.

The faculty is also growing. The number of full-time teachers has increased from nine in 2011 to 16 this year. A number of part-time teachers also work at the school.

And there are plans to add additional classrooms sometime over the next several years.

“We’re finding that an increasing number of families view Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy, not only as a legitimate and viable education option for their children, but a compelling one,” says Chirieleison. “It’s thanks in large part to people like Rob and Alice.”

Robert Thomas sits on Saint Joe’s board. He’s also president and CEO of Vantage Investment Advisors.

Chirieleison calls the Thomases’ gift essential. “We want to be sustainable in the future. All independent schools try to raise money from their constituents and various stakeholders to grow endowments that will enable schools to not have to rely solely on tuition.”

The Thomas family was part of a group that helped spearhead the formation of St. Joe’s. The incentive was need. Our Lady of Victory Catholic School provides educational opportunities for students in kindergarten through the eighth grade. But the Thomases and others felt a strong need for a Catholic high school. “There was no way to continue education in a Catholic school environment. We felt there was a demand and a need in the community,” says Thomas.

Backers convinced the Diocese of Allentown and Johnstown that the school was needed and wanted in the State College area. Using a loan from the diocese, the group purchased the old Boalsburg Elementary School building.

St. Joe’s is self-supporting. Chirieleison says the school receives very little financial support from the state — just enough to pay for professional development. The entire education program is funded through tuition dollars, and that makes donations such as the one from the Thomas family extremely important.

“We’re affiliated with the Diocese of Allentown and Johnstown but we do not receive the same subsidy from the diocese that the other three high schools in the diocese receive,” Chirieleison points out. “The diocese has been supportive in many ways and we’re grateful for that support. But from the beginning the school has relied on benefactors and the philanthropy of people in the community to raise the necessary money to operate.”

“What we are offering is a faith-based college preparatory curriculum that is unique in this area in this form because there has been, for a long time, very few alternatives to the public schools. People like to have options and I think that this school is increasingly resonating with those want college preparatory for their children in this format.”

St. Joe’s is admittedly a small school, but that’s what its leaders want it to be. They’re proud of being a small school — admitting that St. Joe’s can’t offer all the programs found in the much larger State College Area School District.

“We are committed to remaining college preparatory,” says Chirieleison. “We like being a school that has small class sizes. We like the fact that we know all of our students and families and this is very much a community enterprise.

“The families that are inquiring about Saint Joe’s, there are reasons they’re inquiring. They’re inquiring — not because their children are in trouble in their present school — in fact they’re achieving students who want to be in an environment like Saint Joe’s because they value the fact that it’s a smaller school. It can offer more personalized, individual attention for their children.

Thomas says he’s excited about the prospects for St. Joe’s and its future growth.

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” he says.

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