ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A ground breaking will happen Tuesday morning at 9:30 at Notre Dame High School in South St. Louis County. The community, alumnae, and partners are invited to join students, faculty and staff to commemorate the moment.
The construction and renovation will give way to a new $5 million STREAM center. It will include a 16,000 square foot building where students can tap into more learning opportunities in the science, technology, religion, engineering, art and mathematics fields. It's a part of the 'Building NOW and for the Future' campaign which exemplifies the school's mission for excellence.
"I'm in 11th grade and I'm involved in a lot of honors courses here," Lillian McKay said.
Lillian McKay has aspirations of going into the medical field in pediatrics.
She attends the private, Catholic, all-girls school and she's ready for the new STREAM center.
"[There will be] new science rooms, new art rooms and state of the art classrooms," McKay said. "I am so thrilled that other girls are gonna have better opportunities and there's more stages to this project than this one. So I'm excited to see what the future holds and how it can benefit everyone."
Construction and renovation will be finished in fall of next year.
The school's president, Mark Bayens says the project couldn't come at a better time as their school community is experiencing growth.
"We have 265 students [currently]. Our enrollment's been up the last two years, almost 20% and we're hoping to get to 300 students in the next three years," Bayens said.
Diana Chinnici is an alumna and has been teaching dance at the school for the last 19 years. She said this center will also boost the fine arts department. Giving students a once in a lifetime learning opportunity. She's excited for a bigger dance studio with the renovation.
"Letting these girls express themselves, that really is key," Chinnici said. "I would say space currently, the dance studio is smaller than our stage. So when we rehearse in the dance studio, I'm consistently saying now, remember when we get up on stage, you're going to have more space and sometimes that's tricky for them to navigate and understand."
McKay said she is optimistic about the opportunities it will bring not just to herself but to students that come after her.
"I'm thrilled about what's going to happen because I see more opportunities for myself and more opportunities for my fellow classmates," McKay said.
Notre Dame High School officials say over 8,000 alumnae have graduated the school in over 90 years.
School officials say the project has the full support of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and they are still fundraising for the project. If you'd like to support just head here.