Before Campus Renovation
During Campus Renovation
After Campus Renovation
Summer often brings a quiet lull to school campuses, but this was not the case this year for St. Gregory Catholic School in Phoenix and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School in Tempe. At both schools, students and teachers returned from summer break to find significant renovations that have transformed the campuses. Through a diocesan partnership with Shea Homes, St. Gregory and Our Lady of Mount Carmel are now part of the growing list of schools beautifully and generously renovated during summer months. Shea Homes has acted as a guardian angel organization to schools in both Arizona and California, prioritizing renovations to the learning environment itself and providing appropriate infrastructure for safety and technology use on campus.
St. Gregory Catholic School, located in central Phoenix at Osborn and 18th Avenue, has been abuzz with recent changes! Overseeing the campus construction project was new principal Ms. Lori Cook’s introduction to the role and school. Cook, who has taught and served as assistant principal at both St. Jerome and St. John Bosco Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Phoenix, is ready for the school year to begin! Cook said she believes that the quality of life in general will improve for St. Greg’s school community but also for the parish and its ministries. With improvements to aesthetics in classrooms and the cafeteria, not to mention the even coolness of new air conditioning, everyone will appreciate increased beauty and comfort, whether eating lunch with friends or doing a science experiment in the classroom. Teachers will enjoy beautified classrooms with new flooring and white boards as well as more storage space. Infrastructure upgrades make Internet more dependable so teachers can plan technology integrations with consistency. New cameras promise an increase to campus safety and security. More than anything, Cook looks forward to the teachers and especially the students seeing the new campus for the first time. She can’t wait to see the students enjoying the new spaces. Hopefully they will feel appreciated and honored–this is all for them!
Over at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, second year principal Mrs. Kelly Shewbridge is overwhelmed with gratitude and amazement for her new campus renovation. Shewbridge taught for 7 years at Our Lady of Mount Carmel before becoming assistant principal in 2016 and then principal last year. When Shewbridge got over the shock of learning the Shea Homes summer construction plan, she felt incredibly blessed for Mount Carmel to be receiving this gift. Shewbridge says it’s too hard to say which aspect of the renovation makes the greatest impact. The preschool renovation will change everything about the program! The improvement in general facilities will make an incredible impact on both the school and parish ministries. The new facilities will allow the whole community to enjoy large, beautiful spaces for learning, recreation, and prayer. Shewbridge is grateful for the safety upgrades–a campus PA system, new phones, cameras, and raised walls. Also, thanks to repairs, the campus breezeway will no longer flood. Shewbridge is excited for the teachers and students to enjoy their new spaces. They deserve it!
