CHARLOTTE — Plans for a fine arts center to serve all of the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools are being explored again, several years after leaders put a similar proposal on the back burner.
The MACS Office, the Charlotte Catholic High School Development Office and the Diocese of Charlotte Development Office are eyeing plans for a fine arts center that would be located on the campus of Charlotte Catholic High School and would serve the MACS schools and be available to the broader community.
Since Charlotte Catholic High School moved to its present location on Pineville-Matthews Road in 1995, school leaders have recognized the need for providing a dedicated fine arts facility.
Especially as the award-winning chorus, band, theater and visual arts programs at MACS schools have grown, space has become more limited.
The last time a fine arts center at Charlotte Catholic was considered was in 2011, when planning was also under way for the high school’s stadium renovation and parking deck. The stadium renovation and parking deck were completed in 2015.
Now, plans for a possible fine arts center are being looked at afresh.
A Pre-Campaign Advisory Committee has been working with the schools and development offices, and the diocese has hired the Steier Group, a Catholic fund development consulting firm from Omaha, Neb., to complete a comprehensive feasibility study which will determine whether there is enough support for the project.
Principal Kurt Telford recently updated MACS parents about the proposed project and asked for their opinions through a brief survey. “This study will allow us to gather everyone’s thoughts regarding the plans for the Fine Arts Center,” Telford said. “It will also determine whether there is sufficient support to move forward with a major fundraising effort. Should we embark on a capital campaign, the planning study will help us determine a realistic fundraising goal and identify campaign leaders, potential major donors and a campaign timeframe,” he said.
Plans call for the MACS capital fee to provide $15 million of the project’s total $23.3 million cost.
The approximately 54,000-square-foot fine arts center would house a 650-seat auditorium and a high-quality performance and exhibit space for MACS students. It would also house two art studios and a band room, broadcast studio, ceramics studio, dance studio, dark room and digital lab, photography lab, stage and theater.
Charlotte Catholic’s visual and performing arts classes would move to the new center, freeing up space in the existing high school building for regular classrooms as well as space for a weight room, wrestling room and additional academic uses.
The fine arts center would be located on the site of a gravel parking lot, adjacent to the current gymnasium wing of the high school.
Jim Kelley, diocesan development director, noted that the schools have not conducted a major regional capital campaign since the mid-1990s, when Charlotte Catholic was relocated.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
SALISBURY — Sacred Heart School announces that it had two winning students at the recent regional-level North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair: sixth-grader Jacob Shores and fourth-grader Evan Miller.
The regional fair at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Feb. 16-17 hosted more than 350 projects from 10 North Carolina counties.
The regional fair followed Sacred Heart’s school-wide fair in January. Students chosen for the elementary division were third-grader Aidan Melton, fourth-grader Evan Miller and fifth-grader Mary Kathryn Aycock. At regionals, Miller was awarded the CMS STEM Award for excellence in elementary STEM research and work performed. His project was entitled “SMILE: Which Whitening Toothpaste Works Best?” His results found that Sensodyne toothpaste worked best.
Students chosen for the middle school division were sixth-grader Jacob Shores and seventh-graders Bree Whittingon, Drew Hansen, Lillian Rattz and Bryce Mason.
At regionals, Shores was presented with numerous awards for his entry entitled “Operation Conservation: Using Variable Rate Irrigation to Conserve Water in Production Agriculture.”
Shores won the Broadcom Masters Award, presented to the overall top 10 percent of projects at the junior level. This award nominates him as a semi-finalist for a chance to present his project to the Society of Science in Washington, D.C., in October. There, he will compete against as many as 2,500 semi-finalists from 37 states, Puerto Rico and the Department of Defense overseas.
In addition, Shores won the Naval Science Award presented by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. This award was established to encourage the interest of middle and high school students in science and engineering, reward their scientific achievements, and encourage them to pursue careers in science and engineering.
Also, Shores placed second overall for Junior Engineering, which qualified him to compete at the state level at the 2018 North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair at N.C. State University.
When asked why he chose this project, Shores replied that he “had always liked building contraptions. I liked this project because it involved engineering and agriculture. Plus, I only needed a few simple materials: water, a glass measuring cup, styrofoam cups, clear plastic cups, straws, scissors, a ruler and a lab notebook. I found out that it was possible to control the flow of water using different diameter straws. It was fun. The judges told me that my project was ‘simplistic, but very useful.’”
“We are so proud to say that our students participate in our state’s science fair and are ecstatic to learn that we had two big winners,” said Hillary Shores, middle school science teacher. “Over the past few years, Sacred Heart has adopted the New Generation science standards, purchased new science curriculums, formed a fabulous relationship with The Leopold Society, and added new science enrichment and STREAM lessons into our daily lessons.”
“Sacred Heart is committed to science, technology and our STREAM Curriculums,” said Principal Tyler Kulp, “but this year our teachers are emphasizing engineering and problem-solving. (STREAM is STEM with added integration with Religion, Agriculture and Arts.) Our students’ minds are exploding with these lessons. Their young minds are brilliant when put in the right learning environment full of experimentation and exploration.”
— Robin Fisher