LYNN — Students, staff, trustees and friends gathered at St. Mary’s Wednesday morning for a ceremony to kick off the third and final phase of a building project that will result in a new STEM building and gateway entrance to the campus.
Construction is set to begin in the area between the school and St. Mary’s Church, on grounds that formerly housed the chapel, annex and boiler plant. Those structures were taken down earlier this year as part of phase 2 to make way for the new building.
“This state-of-the-art STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) facility will help our faculty produce students ready to go to colleges around the country and be fully prepared for STEM programs,” said Head of School Dr. John F. Dolan.
In addition to the STEM building, a three-story glass entrance will be built between the William F. Connell Center and the Cardinal Cushing Center, welcoming all who visit the campus. The building project is being funded with money raised through the Building Futures campaign, which brought in almost $20 million.
“We are building a school for the future that honors the past,” said St. Mary’s board chair William S. Mosakowski. “Strong sciences and math are a critical part of a liberal-arts education.”
Associate Head of School David J. Angeramo noted that the building project is emblematic of a time of growth at St. Mary’s, which, he said, is forecast to be one of the few schools in the Archdiocese of Boston to experience increased enrollment this year.
“This construction project makes a huge statement on where St. Mary’s is now and where we are headed in the future,” Angeramo said. “Our students will walk out of here ready for college and prepared for jobs that don’t even exist yet.”
The first phase of the project, completed last fall, included the conversion of the heating system from steam to hot water. With the boiler plant needing to come down, the balcony of the Tony Conigliaro ’62 Gymnasium was eliminated in order to house the boiler system in that area.
Several St. Mary’s trustees were on hand for the ceremony, including Glenn Morris ’65, an architect who has served as point person for the project as well as co-chair of the Building Futures campaign. “This is the culmination of a lot of effort from a lot of people,” Morris said. “This will be a building created by the community.”
The new building was designed by CBT Architects. DeIulis Brothers Construction is the general contractor.
