Burroughs Breaks Ground 
on Performing Arts and Athletic Centers

More than 600 alumni, parents and friends of John Burroughs School gathered on Thursday evening, April 12, to break ground on the largest construction project in the school’s 88-year history. The transformational project includes a 60,000-square-foot athletic center, a 53,000-square-foot performing arts/assembly center, a renovated commons and an enlarged quadrangle.

Head of School Andy Abbott’s opening comments at the celebration focused on the sense of community that “has been evident in the spirit and hard work that has brought us to this point tonight. As exciting as the new facilities and spaces will be, it is the people of Burroughs who truly matter — who truly make a difference.”

Abbott highlighted the plan that will enhance more than 40 percent of the campus. The performing arts/assembly center, with its 700-seat auditorium, will provide teaching, practice and performance space for the music, dance and theatre programs.

The athletic center will include a multilevel, 600-seat gymnasium, a fitness center, locker rooms and athletic offices. The current quadrangle in the heart of the campus will be expanded threefold and the Commons will be renovated as a main street of student life, connecting the quadrangle, the new performing arts/assembly center and the new athletic center.

Steve Maritz, chair of the capital campaign, reported that to date the school is more than two-thirds of the way to its $45 million goal ($35 million for construction and $10 million for endowment).

Originally, the Board of Trustees had planned to complete the project in phases, but fund-raising progress, favorable interest rates and manageable construction costs prompted the board to move forward with the full project immediately. “We still have a way to go,” says Maritz, “but we’re confident the Burroughs community will rise to the challenge, as it has in previous campaigns."

Construction on the theatre and athletic center will begin this spring, while the current auditorium/theatre remains standing. Next spring, that building will come down, and the  renovation of the Commons and expansion of the Quadrangle will take place. The entire project is expected to be completed before the end of 2013.

Abbott also announced the release of a new book, Teammates for Life, at the April 12 event. The book documenting the school’s athletic history was written by long-time history teacher, coach and athletic director Jim Lemen and JBS alum and writer Jud Calkins. Jim Lemen and his wife, Carole, were named honorary alumni of the school, and Jud Calkins was given the school’s Distinguished Service Award.

Also included in the evening’s program was a video in which some of the school’s more prominent alumni in the performing arts — including actors Jon Hamm and Ellie Kemper, Broadway producer Terry Schnuck and television and film editor Joe Leonard — expressed warm sentiments about the school’s theatre program.

The evening’s program concluded with the ceremonial groundbreaking on the site of the future athletic center. School leaders representing the students, faculty, parents and alumni participated. They included:

Andy Abbott, Head of School
Keith Shahan, former Head of School
Steve Maritz, chair of the Campaign for Burroughs
Mary Beth Soffer, president of the JBS Board of Trustees
Donya Allison, chair of the Faculty Executive Committee
Vince Vance, president of the student body
Liz Philpott, vice president of the Parents Council
Kathy Rainey Bussmann, president of the Alumni Association.