St. Marcus Lutheran School today celebrated the official groundbreaking of their North Campus expansion project, located at 2669 N Richards Street, Milwaukee, just four blocks north of St. Marcus School’s Main Campus on Palmer Street.

As a result of the Courage to Commit* comprehensive campaign, the North Campus building expansion will offer over 40,000 square feet of additional space which will include four floors. The expansion will include classrooms, art and music/dance rooms, library, offices, special education and small group instruction space and playground space and serve as a gathering space and community resource for over 400 students in K3 – 8^th grades, their families and neighborhood residents.  As a result, between both of the school’s campuses,

St. Marcus will grow to serve over 1,120 students.

“We are thrilled to be breaking ground to expand the North Campus, giving us the space we urgently need for both our students and to serve the surrounding community,” said Henry Tyson, St. Marcus’ Superintendent. “The outpouring of support from individual donors, foundations, community partners and corporations in the community has been a true blessing. This expansion allows St. Marcus to continue to grow its reach and respond to parent’s demands for a high-quality education for their children. Thank you to everyone who has supported St. Marcus scholars and made their success possible.”

The ceremony featured a student-centered welcome as 160 students greeted guests with a morning assembly singing “He knows my name” and “Underneath the shining star” and the school’s theme poem, Be Strong. Superintendent Henry Tyson addressed attendees and spoke about the struggles within the City of Milwaukee and the need to continue to grow so that as many students as possible receive a high-quality education. Tyson acknowledged and thanked all those who made the expansion possible starting with parents, staff, individual donors and foundation/corporate representatives in attendance. Attendees included representatives from the Fleck Foundation, Bradley Foundation, Lakeview Foundation, Siebert Lutheran Foundation, Sommer’s Automotive, Schools That Can Milwaukee, PAVE, Park Bank, Partnership Bank, Milwaukee Lutheran High School, Rinka Chung Architecture and Catalyst Construction.

Following the opening presentation, a drum line of St. Marcus middle school students led attendees to the North Campus building site, where School Pastor Paul Steinberg shared a prayer and blessing of the construction site. Project supporters and staff were the first to place the shovel in the ground, followed by St. Marcus students.

*Courage to Commit is a four-year comprehensive campaign with a preliminary goal of $18.8 million. Launched in July 2014 the campaign will support the growth, operations and sustainability of St. Marcus Lutheran School. Chaired by Fred Lautz, Managing Partner of Quarles & Brady, LLP the campaign has already raised over $10 million. The North Campus expansion project was made possible by this campaign.

This expansion marks St. Marcus’ third groundbreaking since 2010. The Main Campus expansion, which included two phases was complete in 2013 and now serves over 700, K4-8^th grade students at that site.

Due to high demand for St. Marcus’s high-quality education, the school has more than 860 enrolled between both sites for the 2015-2016 school year, with approximately 200 students on the waiting list.

The North Campus expansion project was designed by Rinka Chung Architecture, with the building construction led by Catalyst Construction. The new building is expected to be opened in August 2016. Renderings of the project and a virtual fly-through can be viewed and downloaded at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/stmarcusnorthcampusexpansion