‘God is the center of all we do’
Father Chinonso Nnebe-Agumadu, parochial vicar of St. Mark Parish, cuts the ribbon on the new gym floor at St. Mark School. (Troy Hull | Catholic News Herald, and provided by Amy Miano)HUNTERSVILLE — October has been a flurry of activity at St. Mark Catholic School. To celebrate two decades since its founding in 2003, the school held a blessing and pep rally Oct. 11 to fete the milestone and the freshly painted gym floor. New banners were also added and required updating just days later after championship wins in soccer and cross country.
On Oct. 22, Father John Putnam, pastor of St. Mark Parish, presided over the rededication of the school’s Marian courtyard, which students had recently cleaned and beautified with new plants and flowers. Updates to the courtyard included the installation of artificial turf to create a beautiful area for students to gather and play as well as new flower beds and wall. A celebration followed at the historic Hunter House & Gardens for donors, faculty, staff and clergy members.
Five teachers who have worked at the school since its founding were among the speakers at the celebration. They were Holly Roberts, Stacy Desormeaux, Amy Myers, Taylor Garcia and Carolyn Galante..
“As a teacher I felt honored and appreciated,” Roberts said. “The greatest thing I took away from the celebration is hope. Given today’s world, a faith-based school with loving families and staff is the best gift we can give our children.”
“I am blessed to be a part of this community and so very happy to have been called to this school as their principal,” added Julie Thornley, who is in her fifth year as principal of St. Mark. “I am so very proud of this school and our amazing faculty and staff and for the wonderful families who call St. Mark home.”
Father John Putnam, pastor, Principal Julie Thornley (left) and former PTO President Devika Boulio (right) celebrate St. Mark School’s 20th anniversary Oct. 22. Debbie Butler, principal of St. Mark from 2004 to 2019, attended the anniversary celebrations as well. She also was present for the groundbreaking of the school more than 20 years ago, not knowing she would be asked to take the principal role in St. Mark’s second year in operation.
Butler noted the passion, generosity and hard work of the parents who desired a Catholic school north of Charlotte.
“Parents in Huntersville and Mooresville had been driving their kids all the way to Saint Patrick and Our Lady of the Assumption and so we had to combine those two mindsets of people and make a new school community,” she recalled.
Butler also noted that she saw the school grow from 300 to 400 students to as many as 721 one year and that having such involved families has made the school beautiful.
“The people were just amazing and so welcoming. The Spirit was so alive there. We all just got in and did a lot of work. There was so much to be done, including establishing traditions,” the former principal said. “I was blessed to be a part of that community, see that growth, and to be a part of the lives of those kids every day.”
When Butler retired from her position as principal in 2019, Thornley took the reins, seeing the school through the pandemic while remaining open, growing the staff, welcoming more students, attending Mass weekly, refreshing the gym, and refinishing the schools’ floors and the Marian Courtyard. She noted that she plans to continue traditions that started 20 years ago such as the Living Rosary, Living Stations of the Cross, annual musical, May Crowning, and Catholic Schools Week basketball and volleyball games.
“As a school, we are incredibly grateful for the blessings of our faith and the freedom to practice it daily as a learning community,” Thornley said. “This is a remarkable faith-in-learning environment where God is the center of all that we do. It is my desire that every single alumnus remembers that they are a child of God, and they are on this earth for a special purpose and plan.”
— Annie Ferguson
Campaign digs deeper
BELMONT — Belmont Abbey College announced Tuesday it has reached its $100 million “Made True” capital campaign goal – two years ahead of schedule – and set a new target of raising a total of $150 million by the college’s 150th anniversary in 2026.
“There are just so many good things happening here,” Belmont Abbey College President Bill Thierfelder told a crowd of students, faculty, monks and community members gathered Tuesday to celebrate the milestone amid balloons and renderings of the college’s plans.
“This providentially coincides with the 150th anniversary of Belmont Abbey College, founded in 1876,” he said, “and there is still so much more to accomplish!”
More than 14,000 donors have contributed to the campaign during its silent and public phases – including 5,613 gifts that have rolled in since the college publicly announced its campaign a year ago.
Last February, the college unveiled a three-pronged campaign to further “secure, strengthen and free” Belmont Abbey College to live out Church teaching and make Catholic higher education more accessible. As the only Catholic institution of higher learning between Northern Virginia and Florida, the historic campus is conveniently located just 10 miles west of Charlotte and is home to 1,500 students.
The most ambitious campaign in the college’s history, plans include construct of a new performing arts center, a new abbey, renovation of the original abbey, academic enhancements, growth of the college’s endowment to reduce its reliance on federal aid, and innovative stewardship programs to help students graduate debt-free.
Citing the “ever-growing need to support our students, faculty and staff,” Thierfelder said: “We have raised the campaign goal to $150 million to provide additional student scholarships, endowed faculty chairs, and a new home for our monastic community.”
Belmont Abbey is now in the top 1.5% of peer institutions that have fulfilled campaigns of $100 million dollars or more, college officials said.
The college reports that funds raised through the Made True capital campaign have already made a substantial impact on the college. Campaign gifts have paid for a revitalized dining hall and new state-of-the-art science labs, and increased the college’s endowment fund fivefold, to $50 million, further solidifying the college’s mission in perpetuity.
Campaign gifts include $9 million from the North Carolina General Assembly to help pay for construction of the new performing arts center to be built on campus, for use by the college as well as community groups.
Belmont Abbey has also established a permanent Belmont House in Washington, D.C., thanks to a $ 1.7 million gift from alumnus Dr. Maximo Alvarez. The purpose of the house is to amplify Christian voices in the public square, promote Judeo-Christian values, and prepare young professionals to engage with the culture and politics in fruitful and ethical ways in the nation’s capital.
Of the 5,613 gifts made over the last year during the public phase of the Made True campaign, 57% came from first-time donors.
"We have achieved so much in less than a year, and there is still more the Abbey can accomplish with such generous benefactors,” said Phil Brach, Vice President of College
Relations at Belmont Abbey College. “With the continued support of our donors and the dedication of our community, we are confident that we can achieve this historic new goal."
The $50 million extension of the Made True campaign includes $15 million to establish 10 endowed chairs to help attract and retain high-quality faculty dedicated to the college’s mission. Ranked No. 1 in 2023 by the U.S. News & World Report for undergraduate teaching, the college will use some of these funds to support faculty salaries.
Another $15 million in funding would provide 150 scholarships for the Honors College, which helps shape creative ethical and critical thinkers. This initiative would enable students to attend and graduate from Belmont Abbey College debt-free.
The remaining $20 million is earmarked for the construction of a new monastery for the monks of Belmont Abbey. The existing historic monastery, constructed with bricks handmade by the monks, will be carefully refurbished and put to a new use by the college. Like the college, the current monastery will soon be 150 years old and the cost to operate such an old building is considerable.
Brach noted that noise from Interstate 85 disrupts the silence the monks depend on for prayer and that the new building will be more insulated from the noise. The monastery also will offer increased accessibility and space for the kitchen and infirmary for the men who, taking a vow of stability, devote their lives to the college.
“On a more spiritual level, a new monastery sends a message to the community that the core of this college is the monks – that’s what we are built on,” Brach said. “And the Benedictine charism is here to stay.”
Abbot Placid Solari, Chancellor of Belmont Abbey College, recently reflected on the school’s remarkable journey.
"Today, we celebrate the tremendous accomplishments of Belmont Abbey College, and we recognize the immense potential that lies ahead," he said in the college’s written announcement. "With this new phase of the campaign, we are poised to ensure this college and our mission continue for another 150 years."
— Annie Ferguson
More online
For more information about the Made True campaign and to learn about other ways to support Belmont Abbey College, visit www.bac.edu/madetrue.