Garrigan announces plans for grade school addition, other projects

By RENEE WEBB
Content and Design Coordinator

Bishop Garrigan Schools held three meetings Aug. 4 to announce proposed plans for the school that include an $8 million capital campaign titled Expanding the Vision, Honoring the Tradition.

The meetings were led by the school’s president, Christina Peterson, who shared reasons why the campaign was needed and their vision for the future.

Mentioning that she has a passion for history and tradition, the president pointed out that years ago when community members decided they wanted to build a Catholic school, the people came together for a common dream.

“They could have easily sent their child to a public school – that would have been easier, would have been cheaper but that is not where their passion was,” she said. “They wanted to choose Catholic education.”

School choice today has been made available to more families, acknowledged Peterson, thanks to the advent of education savings accounts (ESAs) and many families with young children are choosing Garrigan.

Seton’s principal, John Kesselring, spoke of the need for space as the class size in many lower grades will need three sections.

“From first grade through preschool, I feel pretty confident we will be in the 50s for each section,” he said. “In the fall of 2026, we have 61 kids eligible for kindergarten.” That number is about double the size of the current Garrigan class sizes in upper grades.

Presently, the Seton grade school building houses preschool to second grade as well as a daycare.

“We know people are choosing Catholic education and we know in order to expand it’s not going to just happen. It will happen because people in this room and in this community … choose to open their checkbooks, choose to volunteer, choose to teach here and that is what makes Bishop Garrigan special,” said Peterson. “It is the choice we make time and time again to not make the easy choice, the cheaper choice but the choice that is right for our families.”

Working with various school officials and the school board, Garrigan enlisted the help of the Steier Group, a national fundraising and development firm that specializes in capital campaigns, for a planning study with needs assessment process and to determine support for a capital campaign.

Angela Hilbert of Steier Group addresses Bishop Garrigan supporters.Data shows support
Angela Hilbert of the Steier Group shared with attendees how the campaign structure worked and some data results.

“You had phenomenal response from people joining the conversation and sharing their thoughts,” said Hilbert. “We know from this information that there is an unwavering level of support. The pride and loyalty that Bishop Garrigan community and families have is far-reaching and it will continue to help and build for the future.”

Through interviews and surveys, they have discovered that 94% are in favor of a capital campaign and 90% said they would be willing to make a gift.

“We are really in our preparation phase right now, building out our plans and what it will look like, exploring what the community, looking at questions and sharing information,” said 
Hilbert, who noted they are also presently in the silent fundraising stage.

She pointed out that the official campaign with the broader solicitation phase is projected to kick off in late January of 2026 during Catholic Schools Week.

Proposed projects
Through data collected by personal interviews, surveys and so forth, the main areas of need were identified. With that in mind, the proposed projects to be addressed by the campaign include:

• Seton Grade School addition and football field bleachers
• Capital improvements and maintenance
• Weight room expansion and new bus barn
• Strengthen the school endowment

Peterson said the addition is to include six classrooms along with updates to the office, libraryChristina Peterson, president of Bishop Garrigan, describes the various projects for the school they hope to achieve through a capital campaign. and bathrooms is the main project. If funds are raised efficiently, construction could feasibly start in the spring/summer of 2026 and students move into the building for the 2027/28 school year.

“This plan does leave room for the third graders to go back to the Seton,” said Peterson, who noted that it helps free up more space in Garrigan building for when larger classes reach that level.

The other top priority is football bleachers. And while some could view it as a “want” rather than “need,” the president acknowledged the ongoing upkeep with replacing the boards of the bleachers has been a huge workload, expense and safety concern.

Along with the addition, some capital improvements to the existing Seton building include a new roof and air conditioning system. Updates to Garrigan’s building includes renovating and making bathrooms handicapped-accessible as well as adding a new parking area near the school chapel.

“Within that big picture, we are going to keep building our endowment,” said Peterson, who noted they would especially like to assist with staff raises for the daycare staff.

She also addressed the need for expansion of the weight room, citing that at the time the weight room was added, she it was mainly for the high school football team. In time, more high school boys’ sports teams began to use the facility, then girls high school teams and even junior high athletes joined in the mix.

“The number of athletes that are in the weight room at a time has grown over the years,” said Peterson, who explained if they add on to the weight room then they will have to come up with a new space to serve as a bus barn for the school’s busses and other vehicles.

School leaders respond
In addition to the Seton addition, Kristie Hough, 7-12 principal, said the proposed projects offer some nice benefits for Garrigan students from the weight room to the bleachers.

“There are a lot of exciting things for our families,” she said. “We have great facilities already and it will make them even better, more accessible to our families and lot of great opportunities for our kids.”

The school board president for Garrigan, Alan Deitering, said it was an exciting time to be part of taking the school to the next step. Plus, he sees the need.

“I can walk through the school and see that it is cramped,” he said. “When our church numbers are decreasing, the fact that we can see this (enrollment) continue to increase hopefully that will help increase our faith numbers.”

Kesselring called the support for the campaign a testament to the Garrigan community – the families and individuals who support the school.

“Doing such a large project like this is only possible because of all the great people who are part of our system, the community, alumni and teaching staff,” he said.

What has been awesome about ESAs and school choice, added the grade school principal, is that it has given everyone a chance to have a new or fresh look at Garrigan and what the school has to offer.

“It’s an exciting time to be a Golden Bear,” said Kesslering.

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