holy spirit school

Addition at Annandale School to Make Facilities 'Cutting Edge'

By Gretchen R. Crowe
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 6/14/07) holy spirit

Under blue sky and a blazing sun, Holy Spirit parishioners and students witnessed the groundbreaking of the Annandale school’s new $6.5 million addition Tuesday morning, a project that will give much-needed space to both school and parish activities.
Shovel at the ready, Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde was present at the short ceremony, as was Father Terry Specht, newly appointed pastor; Father Frank Ready, former pastor; and Dr. Timothy J. McNiff, superintendent of schools.
The addition to Holy Spirit School has been in progress for nine years, and the groundbreaking marks the beginning of the end, with construction due to be completed in a mere 14 months, by September 2008, according to Father Specht.
“This entire parish is really strained for facilities,” the new pastor said. “The school is used around the clock almost,” with religious education, men’s club meetings and Knights of Columbus gatherings.
The addition — funded through parish reserves and campaign pledges — will include a state-of-the-art cafeteria and kitchen, a music room, an art room, an expanded library, a computer center and a science laboratory. Sarah Schmitt, first-year principal, said it will provide room for programs they couldn’t accommodate.
For years the art teacher pushed a cart to various classrooms or taught in a corner of the basement cafeteria, Schmitt said. Science teachers had to set up labs on the students’ desks. As of next September that will no longer be the case. holy spirit
For a rising seventh-grader interested in science, the new lab “sounds pretty cool,” said Annelle Ciapparone after the ceremony. “Our school’s pretty small and we don’t have a lot of room for a lot of stuff.”
Though the new space is invaluable, Bishop Loverde reminded those present that the school’s addition is not only about a building and its finite space.
“It’s about the purpose for which this building is being constructed,” the bishop said. “In the end it will enable us to grow in our faith.” It will enable “the young Church” to grow to love the Lord and one another, to build the kingdom and cling to Jesus, he said.
The school’s first-graders, as members of this “young Church,” played an instrumental role in the ceremony. Lined up behind short plastic shovels, the young boys and girls assisted the bishop in overturning the first mounds of dirt on the construction site. Their teacher, Marie Ann Garcia, said the expansion of the library will be monumental for her class.
“For first grade it’s a big reading year so the more books they have access to, the better it will be for them,” she said, adding that the art and technology rooms will be beneficial to the older kids.
Parishioner Genia Vayo, who attended the groundbreaking with her husband, Paul, concurred.
“I wish this facility was available when our children were growing up,” Genia said.
Father Specht called Holy Spirit School the “heart” of parish activities.
The addition “will make this school cutting edge — technology-wise and facility-wise,” he said. This is essential especially in a place like Fairfax County where education is such a priority.
Because Catholic schools have to be competitive in that kind of environment, “we have to put our money where our mouth is,” Father Specht said. “This addition shows that.”

Gretchen R. Crowe can be reached at gcrowe@catholicherald.com.