Holy Family is excited to announce multiple academic, aesthetic, media, and community-related changes.

In previous years, many upgrades and renovations have been made, like the performing arts center and the school lounge and learning center. Each year is another opportunity for the school to generate new ideas and bring about positive change.

Last June, discussion about new additions to the school were made, including new aesthetics and graphics. As the Spirit of Fire “Fund-a-need” event approached, the Athletic Director Mr. Tibesar knew that it was time to act on these ideas.

Towards the end of the 2016-2017 school year, Tibesar brought in an outside company to look around the school to get a feel for his renovation plan. After sketching and finalizing plans for these new ideas, Tibesar introduced the plan to students at convocation. The response was immediately positive, so Tibesar knew he was onto something.

“I was uncertain when I heard about it. I didn’t know what to think, but when I saw the specs and ideas it was very cool. It’s definitely an improvement over blank walls,” said Nate Hendler, an athletic icon for the Holy Family Basketball program.

In November, Tibesar presented the idea at the Spirit of Fire “Fund-a-need” event to get the school community interested in pursuing the renovations.

“This new package that we are introducing includes the Burke Commons art, new iMacs for student use, a new AED, scoreboard renovations, and website upgrades that will help us with maintenance and the admission process,” said Tibesar.

Graphics were added to the cafeteria entrance and Burke Commons that incorporate Holy Family student photography from the Phoenix, a “Wall of Honor” for accomplishments made by students and alumni, as well as other graphics that emphasize school identity, faith, community, and leadership.

Many students and staff are excited about the changes. Mrs. Kidrowski said, “Anything that we use to promote Holy Family in a good way is a good thing. School pride is an important part of Holy Family. New students and visitors who see these additions will get a new perspective of our school and how we identify ourselves.”

Along with new graphics and renovations to the school itself, many online changes are coming, including a big social media push. The school hired multiple new contractors for coverage of HF activities. “We are hoping to incorporate them into over 60 events throughout the year. People to come and do score updates, live video, pictures – try to incorporate it into as many events as possible. Bring that campus level and feel to the school community,” said Tibesar.

Although there are many benefits to these changes, there were also challenges and sacrifices along the way. Many of these problems included finding times for companies to come in, scheduling dates to present and inform, finding pictures that hadn’t been used, and general fine tuning.

Regardless, the school community is very excited to see these new changes. Mr. Tibesar concluded his thoughts on the project by saying, “Overall, it’s been fun. It has been good to see how people would react, see the improvements, and watch the school change and get better. We can’t wait for even more changes to come in the future!”