February 22, 2006 Issue
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February 22, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Webmaster Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2005 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of Three |
Springside opens new field house
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After raising $24.6 million in its six year redevelopment campaign, Springside School revealed the 52,000 sq. ft. Phyllis M. Vare Field House Thursday, Feb. 9.
The field house was the third phase of Springside’s redevelopment project that, at its beginning in 1999, was assumed to be impossible.
In the development stage of the program, the school staff was considering hiring a consultant for the fundraising. One of the potential consultants told them that with an all-female alumnae body, they could only hope to raise about $4 million. Head of the School Priscilla Sands said this comes from the belief that women are less likely to talk directly about financial issues and therefore less likely to give, but she did not want that mindset to limit their campaign.
Director of major gifts for the school, Carol von Stade, was a parent of a student and has a background in fundraising. When Sands met von Stade, she was instantly impressed with her energy and enthusiasm, and asked if she would help with the campaign.
Von Stade said many older alumnae were raised in an era when women did not handle the finances in their lives, and because many of them were part of the Depression, they are stricter with their money. She gave the example of a women who annually gave $150 to the school, but in her will left the school $5.5 million. “We had no idea the extent of her estate,” said von Stade.
Despite the prediction of not making more than $4 million total, the school began their campaign and, in six months, had raised the first $3 million to construct an addition to the lower school’s academic learning building.
With the momentum begun, they continued on to the second phase of their master plan, the demolition of the current upper school building and the construction of a larger one. The project was first estimated at $10 million, but ended up costing $12 million, which was raised in about two years.
After the surprising and unanticipated success of the second phase, it was decided to go for a third — raising money for a much-needed athletic facility, which came to $9.6 million.
Sands said that about 70 percent of the funding came from the school’s alumnae, the rest coming from parents and friends of the school. All the development was paid for solely with the fundraised money.
Sands and von Stade contribute the successful campaign which originally was thought to be impossible to inexpensive campaigning, their contagious enthusiasm (which was apparent even during the Local’s tour of the facilities) and the feasible planning the school had set for the project, as well as the donors’ pride in and experiences with the school.
“We went out with a story to tell,” said Sands.
“Springside, as a school, instilled so much confidence in me as a person, and I was thrilled to be able to send my daughter to such a school,” said Kathy Smilow ’79, who is a donor and contributed to the field house’s campaign.
The new field house has four squash courts, a gym with the ability to host three small basketball courts or one championship-sized court, a climbing wall, a dance studio, a 4,000 sq. ft. fitness center, a locker room and an indoor rowing tank.
Springside is a 127-year-old all-female school, educating girls from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. It is divided into three sections: lower school (pre-k to fourth grade), middle school (fifth through eighth grade), and the high school (ninth through 12th grade). It currently enrolls about 640 students.
Springside also collaborates with Chestnut Hill Academy, located across the street from Springside, and has its junior and senior male students attend class with Springside’s female students to get them acquainted with co-educational classroom atmosphere in preparation for college.
