Construction: Lessons and Otherwise

I think we made some progress today. While most of our students were enjoying a day off, most of our faculty was engaged in trying to infuse technology into lessons already planned for the next couple of weeks.  Faith students will be in for a wide variety of experiences in the coming days.

I spent the day with teachers of freshmen as they learned some of the amazing things you can do with a Mac.  Perhaps you can do the same things on a PC, but I would never have thought to try them because of their complexity.  The Mac makes very cool things relatively easy for this seasoned educator.  Kids will take to it immediately.  I am setting the bar high:  9th graders will do a lot of things next year that make us go WOW!

Everyone who drives on campus has probably noticed by now the construction fence on the north side of the gym.  The expansion of the weight room is underway.  I understand a few parents have wondered aloud why are we spending more money when the economy is so distressed.  The answer is pretty simple: when we decided to move to 4A athletics, it was obvious that there would be improvements to the facility we would need to make in order to operate successfully at that level.  Our student athletes will need access to the same kinds of training and conditioning available to students in larger schools.  This particular expansion has the added benefit of improving facilities for our most popular PE class: weight training.  During the summer, the track will be resurfaced and the outdoor basketball courts reconfigured to work as a tennis practice facility.  These improvements come from our operating revenues, assisted by some short-term borrowing (at very favorable rates).   While we have some other projects in the planning stages, none are likely to get funded in he near future.  Those projects will require more substantial funding and fundraising and that effort will wait for an improved economy.