08111
February 13, 2008
Designing for the future
Fundraising campaign to expand, modernize Presbyterian Pan American School for next 100 years
The facilities at Presbyterian Pan American School, like this dormitory kitchen, haven’t been updated in years. Photo by Toya Richards Hill KINGSVILLE, TX – If things go as planned, the Presbyterian Pan American School will celebrate its centennial anniversary with a new look for the campus, solidly positioning the college preparatory boarding school for the next 100 years, school officials hope.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-supported racial-ethnic school located on the Texas Gulf Coast is overdue for a significant renovation, and a $15 to $20 million fundraising effort is expected to expand the campus and modernize buildings that haven’t been touched since the 1950s.
Dormitories are over capacity, the building where students gather for activities is small and worn down, and the dining hall is barely sufficient to handle the roughly 150 students enrolled.
No doubt, “it’s aging,” Pan American School President James H. Matthews said of the 670-acre campus located just five miles south of Kingsville. “The campus was built over 50 years ago. It’s tired.”
This master renovation plan will take the school “into our next centennial,” he said.
Pegged the Centennial Campaign in honor of the school's 100th anniversary in 2011, the fundraising drive will provide resources to, among other things, build three new dorms, a 400-seat assembly hall and a gymnasium.
Expanding classroom facilities to serve 300 students, extending and modernizing the dining hall to double its size, and creating a new campus entrance also are part of the plan.
Common areas like this one where students study and congregate will be more modern and up-to-date once the school completes its campus renovation plan. Photo by Toya Richards Hill It will be “a new school,” said Rita Gonzalez, Pan American’s director of admissions and registrar. A graduate of the school, Gonzalez said the boys’ dorm is the same one she lived in while a student in 1956.
Gonzalez said the new facilities also will be a significant recruitment tool for the school, which draws students from nearby Latin America and as far away as South Korea and Taiwan.
“We’ll be able to offer nicer” accomodations, she said. “Young men and women no matter where they come from deserve the very best of a learning environment,” Matthews added.
So far about a third of the fundraising goal has been committed during this “quiet phase” of the campaign, Matthews said. The public portion of the campaign is expected to kick off in May.
To contact the Presbyterian Pan American School, email or call (361) 592-4307. |
