“Eagles soar” into the largest capital campaign in the school's history
By Maddie Snyder ‘26
A Concept photo for the outside of the Atheltic and Wellness Center
Catlin Gabel School(CGS) is set to have its biggest campus expansion since the Creative Arts Center (CAC) was built back in 2014. The new Athletic and Wellness Center is being built on the funding of the biggest capital campaign in CGS history.
When asked about what prompted the development of the new complex Athletic Director Kate Williams said “I think that it's very clear at this point the reasons why we need a new gym.”
Williams says the current gym “simply does not have enough physical space.”, which makes sense as roughly 80% of Middle School students and 75% of High School students participate in school sports teams. That is around 240 students in the Upper School using one gym to participate in athletics which is in part due to Catlin’s no-cut policy.
The no-cut policy means that anyone who tries out for a sports team in the middle or upper schools will be placed on a team and able to play. Williams claims CGS needs more athletic space to have the no-cut policy continue because they don’t have enough space for athletic participants to practice in.
During the basketball season, this resulted in the majority of students having to practice on the tennis courts. “It was really cramped because oftentimes we had to practice with JV boys and JV2 boys so we didn't have a lot of space to move around.” Junior Claire Druker said when asked about playing JV basketball in the 2023 season.
All of the middle school teams, as well as the JV and JV2 teams in the high school, had to play the majority of their games in Tennis Court Two.
A JV game against Westside Christian in January of 2023, courtesy of Ellery Rayne ‘26
“I feel like a new gym is a very good idea because a school like OES has very large gyms where everyone can be able to practice but Catlin doesn't really have that.” Druker stated, “So it will be nice to be able to have [the girl's junior varsity team’s] own space to be able to practice by ourselves.”
Along with more practice space, with three new indoor basketball courts for teams to use, in the new facility, there are also yoga and dance studios, as well as a few classrooms. The new facility will be located just after you enter campus and visible to Barnes Road.
A concept photo for the entrance of the Athletic and Wellness Center
Aside from creating much-needed practice space Williams also emphasized the fact that the new building is not just an athletic facility.
We currently do not have a space where the entire school can gather. The Cabell Center does not have enough space to accommodate the entire school population which has led to all school assemblies being held outside in Schuaf’s circle.
A concept photo for the inside of the gym
This new athletic and wellness facility is a 20-million-dollar project, this along with other factors has led to the launching of a new capital campaign entitled “Eagles Soar”. Capital campaigns are targeting fundraising efforts and this capital campaign is the biggest the school has ever seen.
The amount the school wants to raise is 37 million dollars, which would be distributed over three categories. 20 million dollars to the new athletic complex as well as the remaining 17 million dollars being split between the Catlin Gabel Fund and the school’s endowment.
“Most independent schools like Catlin Gabel have an endowment, and it's really essential,” said Nicole Rinetti-Clawson, Catlin Gabel’s director of advancement. Rinetti compared the endowment to an investment fund, which the school currently has a 4.2% spending rate. Meaning out of the money we currently have in the endowment we only spend 4.2% of it.
The new money raised for the endowment will be going towards many things. One of them is to recruit and retain faculty members as well as provide extra training for them. As well as continuing to grow the financial assistance at CGS.
Currently, 27% of students have financial aid but the school is looking to grow that number. As well as providing funding beyond tuition for things like computers, books, and assistance to go on school trips.
The endowment is funded by donors for the most part, but Rinetti stressed just because someone gives money to CGS doesn't mean the school can use it for whatever they want.
“It's not just a piggy bank from which we can draw whatever we want, whenever we want to,” Rinneti stated. Donors will donate money, usually, towards a specific area, for example, the construction of the CAC.
The plan is to add 10 of the 37 million raised into this endowment, with the remaining 7 million going towards the Catlin Gabel fund.
The CG fund is the school’s annual fund, which supports the CGS operating budget.
“Tuition alone doesn't alone cover the cost of a Catlin Gabel education or running this school,” Rinneti said explaining how the CG fund exists to even out the costs that aren’t covered by tuition to keep the school running.
The capital campaign has already reached half of its target of fundraising 37 million at the time of writing this article. Although the funding for the new athletic and wellness center will likely be done by the end of this year or early next year, construction on the complex won’t be finished until 2026 at the earliest.