Fill Dirt Added To Building Site

Dirt being moved from south campus to the construction site.

Starting on Friday June 4 fill dirt was being added to the building site. The source of this fill dirt is from another place on the Mount Michael grounds located behind the tree line south of the water treatment plant and apple orchard.  It's entrance is directly across from the intersection of Mount Michael Road and the schools drive way.  

They made lots of progress on Friday but a heavy down pour of over one inch of rain Friday evening left things pretty muddy. Never-the-less the work crew was back at it on Saturday.  They scrapped the muddiest top layer to the ends of the site to dry and commenced where they left off.

The DJ Sokol Learning for Life Building will be on slightly higher ground than the existing building once all the dirt is hauled in and compacted.   It is estimated that it will take about 50 uncountable loads to provide enough material for the desired elevation.    

More Photos: Site Prep - Fill Dirt 

Dirt dumped on the construction site to raise the elevation

Site Preparation

Dirt work has begun and will take about 10 working days.  If the weather cooperates this first stage should be done sometime in the first week of June.

During this phase they are removing trees, removing some old no longer used cable that is buried in the area and leveling, raising and packing dirt.

The Live WebCam is now available  with links on the School Homepage, News Blog and this Construction Blog.

Construction Is Set To Begin

The contract has been signed today with Meco-Henne Construction. Work on the new building will begin in earnest the week of May 16^th. 

This is a very important day in the history, and future, of Mount Michael Benedictine School.

Update for the Now is the Time Campaign

The DJ Sokol Learning for Life Building, in memory of DJ Sokol ‘99, has been made possible by David and Peggy Sokol along with their daughter Kelly Sokol Avery.  The Benedictine Community cannot say thank you enough for their continued support to Mount Michael Benedictine and the $5,000,000 gift that they have made.

In working towards matching the gift provided by the Sokol family, current sophomore parents Steve and Tammy Reynolds have made a gift of $125,000 to the campaign along with a challenge themselves.  They have agreed to match their gift in one year, if we are able to match their gift 10 times.  This would enable Mount Michael to match the Sokol gift with $1,375,000 if the challenge is met.  Thank you very much, Steve and Tammy, for realizing the urgency behind raising these dollars and helping the community pull together to raise the funds needed to complete the academic facility.  With this kind of support from our Mount Michael family the school cannot fail to soar to new heights.

- Kimberly A. Volpone Director of Advancement  

  

Blessed & Broken

View More Architect Drawings 

The Feast of the Archangels is always a notable event at the Mount but this year it had much greater significance than usual.   This day marked the groundbreaking and blessing of the site for The DJ Sokol Learning for Life Building.  Many guests were in attendance including school board members, donors, families and friends. Of special note was the presence of Peggy Sokol the mother of DJ Sokol ‘99 in whose memory the building is named.

Archbishop Lucas Blesses The Building Site 

Because of a larger crowd for this year’s special events the feast day Mass was held in the Gymnasium instead of the Chapel.  Archbishop George Lucas was the celebrant for the Eucharist.  During the service the Archbishop also mandated 6 students as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. They were juniors Zach Cairney, Jean-Marie Djidjoho, Joe Coldiron, Patrick Halpin, Drew Goddard, and Michael Ecker.

After Mass everyone proceeded to the construction site.  For the blessing the students stood along an outline of the school as the Archbishop sprinkled holy water at the future entrance.  Students then were each given vials of holy water and dispersed to sprinkle holy water throughout the site.   The student kept the vials as mementos of the occasion.

In the evening a large crowd again gathered at the construction site this time for a ground breaking ceremony.  Numerous talks were giving noting the school history and thanking supporters past and present for making Mount Michael the great school that it is.  Peggy Sokol was presented with a framed rendition of the architects drawing of The DJ Sokol Learning for Life Building.  Many of DJ’s classmates from 1999 posed with Mrs. Sokol for a photograph.

Formal Ground Breaking Ceremony 

Ten individuals partook of the formal ground breaking ceremony representing various parts of the Mount Michael community.  They were Andrew Collins ’01, President of the Alumni Assoc.; Greg Stieren ’00 of BCDM, Todd Rohweder, School Board President; Michael Fischer ’16, Student Council President; Dr. David Peters, Head of School; Peggy Sokol, Abbot Michael ’68, Fr. Daniel Hendrickson ’89, President of Creighton University; Jim Classe ’84 of Prochaska & Associates, and John Levy representing DJ’s class of 1999.

At the conclusion of the formal ceremony students, faculty and families broke out their shovels to turn a little dirt!

The current construction timeline calls for finalized plans by the end of October with construction bids going out in November.  Some preliminary ground work might be done this fall but the actual construction start is slated for March.  The goal is for completion for the 2017-2018 school year. The Architects for The DJ Sokol Learning for Life Building are Prochaska & Associates and BCDM.

More Photos:   Mass & Blessing - Ground Breaking - Ground Breaking Photos by Nellie