Updated ECS Receives Blessing
by Sally Drea
Sr. Kathleen Malone (right) welcomed several Sinsinawa Dominicans to the ECS blessing ceremony, including (from left) Srs. Esther Heffernan, Genevieve Forrestal, Helen Dailey, Virginia Kinsella, Margaret O’Brien, Marielle Schmitt, and Theresa Byrne.
The Edgewood Campus School (ECS) community celebrated the completion of their $2 million renovation and addition project with two events in December 2008. Following the liturgy on Dec. 8, Rev. Ron Kreul, OP; along with President/Principal Sister Kathleen Malone, OP; faculty; students; and friends blessed the campus school. Special guests included Esther Heffernan, OP; Genevieve Forrestal, OP; Helen Dailey, OP; Virginia Kinsella, OP; Margaret O’Brien, OP; Marielle Schmitt, OP; and Theresa Byrne, OP.
An open house was held Dec. 18. Several hundred parents, grandparents, friends, and donors toured the ECS facility, especially the renovated classrooms and new addition. Sister Kathleen Malone greeted the guests and said, “With a heart full of gratitude and a warm feeling of Edgewood community, I welcome each of you. . . . Our renovation and new classrooms are truly the result of many prayers and the work of architects, builders, many committees, and your financial help. May God continue to bless us.”
The “Building on Our Values” capital campaign began in 2006 after a feasibility study. The original goal of the campaign was set at $8 million to complete two phases of construction. Edgewood Campus School was renovated by Building Systems, Inc., which is owned by ECS grandparents Gary and Judy Fox and ECS parents Jim and Carrie Arneson. The project included renovation of the kindergarten classrooms, restrooms, a fenced retention pond to prevent runoff into Lake Wingra, three new classrooms complete with a hallway, and additional basement space. The basement houses a new energy-efficient heating system and upgraded electrical service. The porch has been enclosed and is heated. Miscellaneous improvements include hot water throughout the school, redesigned basketball court, stubbing and wiring for future security system and swipe-card entry, and built-in bicycle racks. New landscaping and tree planting will be done later.
Future plans include renovating and/or adding a multi-media center, art study, music studio, administrative office, parking lot and drop-off area, chapel, lunchroom, stage, gymnasium, locker rooms, and kitchen.
The original ECS building opened in 1953. Principal Genevieve Forrestal, OP, wrote her master’s thesis for the University of Wisconsin on the plan and philosophy of ECS. She wrote, “The function of the elementary school at Edgewood College is twofold: to serve as a demonstration school for students at Edgewood College preparing to be teachers as well as to educate children of Madison and neighboring areas from the kindergarten through the 8th grade.”
The school is blessed with generous and dedicated alums, parents, grandparents, and friends who believe strongly in its mission to “offer children a quality Catholic education with emphasis on the Sinsinawa Dominican values of truth, compassion, justice, community, and partnership, enabling graduates to continue service-oriented, lifelong learning.”