SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
Our Lady of the Snows School has met the requirements of a $1 million Challenge Grant from the E. L. Wiegand Foundation, paving the way for a long-awaited school expansion.
More than 300 donors made contributions and pledges totaling $1.2 million to build the E. L. Wiegand Science and Technology Center. Q & D Construction has been selected as the general contractor for the project.
“The Foundation is thrilled that construction of the E. L. Wiegand Science and Technology Center is imminent,” stated Kristen Avansino, president and executive director of the E. L. Wiegand Foundation. “The Center will transform the School’s learning environment and is the perfect living legacy of Mr. Wiegand’s lifelong scientific curiosity. His inventions, including the stove top burner and the iron, changed our daily lives. We await the emergence of many inventors!”
Our Lady of the Snows expects to break ground mid-March and is anticipating approximately an eight-month building timeline. The E. L. Wiegand Science and Technology Center is projected to be 11,150 square feet and will house a science laboratory, state-of-the-art computer lab and several new classrooms
Our Lady of Snows School opened on September 4, 1951 with four classrooms and three faculty members, two Dominican sisters, and one lay teacher. Over the next two years, enrollment steadily increased and four more classrooms were added, bringing Our Lady of the Snows to its current size. No significant expansion has been completed since that time. Over the past 60 years, nearly 2,000 students have graduated from the K – 8 Catholic school.