Shrewsbury – On June 25, Saint John's High School broke ground on the new fine arts and academics building in a ceremony with students, faculty, trustees, benefactors and other members of the school community.
The new building, to be named Founders Hall, is set to open in September 2015. The 48,000 square-foot, three-story facility will house the performing/visual arts, world languages, and a portion of the social studies departments.
Highlights of the new building include a 350-seat performing arts center, 14 classrooms, music practice spaces, a two-story band room, art studios, and cutting-edge world language and graphic arts computer lab. The design of Founders Hall reflects the brick exteriors of the adjacent Ryken Center and main building Conal Hall.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, historical reflections and prayers were offered by students, teachers, alumni, and Bro. Paul Feeney, C.F.X. Rev. Edward Niccolls “66 blessed the land and new building.
World Languages Department Chair Ann Shi and students Gregory Moschella “16 and Jason Niness “15 offered prayers of the faithful in Mandarin, French and Spanish in recognition of the new world languages classroom and lab space.
Founders Hall will honor Saint John's roots on Temple Street in Worcester. The name recognizes the four Xaverian Brothers who arrived in Worcester in 1894 to staff the boys division of the Saint John's grammar school and then went on to found Saint John's High School in 1898. Founders Hall also honors the thousands of young men who attended the Temple Street campus before Saint John's relocated to Main Street in Shrewsbury in 1961. Several Xaverian Brothers and many “Temple Streeters” returned to Saint John's for the groundbreaking ceremony.
The building will replace Flavian Hall, which was built in 1965 and did not meet today's handicap or life-safety codes. The construction manager for the project is Lauring Construction Co., Inc., of Worcester. Saint John's contracted the firm Juster, Pope, Frazier LLC to design Founders Hall.
For more information, visit www.stjohnshigh.org.
