DeSales Announces $5 Million Capital Campaign

DeSales High School Launches Capital Campaign for New Innovation Center

DeSales High School (DHS) has announced the launch of a Capital Campaign to fund the construction of a new Innovation Center, to be located at the front of campus. The Center aims to be a hub for creativity, collaboration, and entrepreneurship, with the intent of providing students and faculty with state-of-the-art facilities to pursue innovative ideas, projects and experiences.

The capital campaign seeks to raise $5 million over the next year, with 66% of the goal already secured through lead gifts from prominent donors. “The enthusiasm around the campaign has been phenomenal,” said Dr. Rick Blackwell, President of DeSales. “The support of both DeSales alumni and community organizations has been incredible, with more than 58% new campaign donors. We invite all of our alumni, friends, and community supporters to join in this fundraising effort, to shape the future of education and innovation at DeSales.”

The Innovation Center will feature dedicated spaces for research and development, design studios, and collaborative work areas. It will also house a 8,000 square foot “Flex Center” which will take demand off the current gym, the only large enclosed space on campus. The “Flex Center” will be used for all-school liturgies and assemblies, while divided into three classrooms during the week and for school-related and community events.

"This campaign represents a significant step forward for DeSales High School," said Dr. Rick Blackwell, President. "The Innovation Center will allow DeSales’ facilities to better meet the needs of the Project Based Learning programs students are already participating in. ” The new Center will include:

Learning Labs to support project-based learning across the curriculum, and allow DeSales to offer new programs and student pathway training opportunities.
A larger Gaming and Innovation Lab, to meet the exploding demand for our technology curriculum and extra-curricular programs (including e-sports).
Flexible space that can be custom-sized for larger-than-classroom gatherings – from daily use in our DHS program, to whole-class/sectioned presentations.
Flexible space for programs, performances or practices that currently have no good space in our school to function – music, arts, athletics.

Dr. Anastasia Quirk, principal, added “the new space will allow DeSales students to further explore their academic interests and pursue new opportunities far beyond their four years here.”

In addition to the Innovation Center, DeSales is increasing its 1956 Society Endowment, primarily through Planned Giving. “Our endowment is more important than ever as our operations costs continue to rise. We want to offer financial support to as many students as possible as well as have money for on-going capital improvements,” Dr. Blackwell shared. “Since October 2022 we’ve grown the 1956 Society Endowment by $3.4 million dollars, with the largest gift being one million dollars. We are successfully moving closer to securing our future needs!”

To learn more about the Innovation Center capital campaign and how to contribute, contact Jaclyn Grieshaber, Director of Advancement, at 502-883-2438 or visit DeSalesHighSchool.com/CTP.

About DeSales High School

DeSales High School is an all-male, college-preparatory Catholic school committed to the total development of its students. Inspired by principles articulated at its founding in 1956, DeSales presents young men with an education that fosters their spiritual, intellectual, social and physical growth. This cultivation of mind, spirit, and body has an immediate objective of preparation for post-secondary success with an ultimate mission of guiding them to be competent, concerned, responsible and ethical builders of God’s kingdom.

DeSales provides challenging, engaging studies in a personalized learning environment, giving special attention to the academic and social needs of each individual student. Embracing high standards of character, commitment, and achievement, DeSales encourages students to think critically and creatively and to act ethically. To these ends, DeSales utilizes proven and effective modes of instruction to educate each individual based on the pillars of the DeSales experiences: Faith • Brotherhood • Tradition.

Mission Statement

St. Francis DeSales High School shapes young men to be moral, ethical and responsible leaders by providing a personal, comprehensive, Catholic education based on the pillars of Faith, Brotherhood, and Tradition.

DeSales Call to the Post Video

DeSales Call to the Post Video for the capital campaign

Show Transcript

The Spirit of DeSales is something that is unmatched at any other school and people around you genuinely change your life and feel like a part of your family. Faith, Brotherhood and Tradition are the pillars that the DeSales Community stands on. Guys are excited about being here they want be here and they want to make it that's if they possibly can over their four years The spirit that exists at DeSales is one where you walk down the hallway and you're giving high-fives to people you're asking how the game was over the weekend, but it shows Brotherhood and the spirit and the love that these boys have for the school. They're so many things I think that makes DeSales special. I think the biggest thing is that we have a relationship with everyone whether it's faculty, staff, students, we try to have relationships with parents as well getting people involved, but really knowing our students to the core. The connection that I've always felt with the DeSales is the sense of family, the sense of understanding; I love this place. The Brotherhood here at DeSales is something special, it's something you don't really get anywhere else to any other school. The spirit is very energetic, it's very fun. I feel like I'm really a part of this community and it makes me feel welcome. To us, it is just that connection; that feeling like almost like they're accountable to one another they all know one another, they hold each other you know to certain standards people that you meet here you remain friends with throughout your life and I think that's really important to build those bonds those are you can rely on. When I was here I felt like I was well prepared for college not only academically, but I think spiritually, emotionally there's a lot of teachers who took an interest in me. To quote St. Francis DeSales be you and be that well and so I think that's something that was a big thing when I was here and I think it's still a very big thing that we press on the students here now. Catholic principles, Catholic values and forming missionary disciples for Jesus Christ are ingrained and all that is done at St. Francis DeSales High School. In our challenging times it is more important than ever for DeSales to educate and to empower each of its students to be a Christian leader.  Hey I got a question, Can the big D fight? I think the importance of being able to grow our facilities is kind of ten-fold maybe even a hundred fold because when we think of previous places we think of a gym a cafeteria, an auditorium and those are very like boxed spaces what we're looking at is a way to be proactive to our future and grow spaces that are not boxed, they are setup for music, for the arts, they are setup for project based learning for experiential learning, they are setup for banquets, they are setup for athletics; it gives us a space to be able to allow for that student growth for that holistic development because we can break up into small groups or we can be in a large group have multiple things going on at the same time. As the school grows we end up with a lot of things that are overlapping or intersecting and conflicting and so we need to have a space that can really set us free into the future. I have a good friend who says often that "great schools can't rest." And this campaign in my mind is is all about that being able to meet our current students needs as well as be adaptable and ready for the future needs of our students. This new multi-use space will eliminate a lot of the pressures that we have on our gymnasium. So it give us a lot of variation and what we are able to offer our students. You know if they're going into engineering here great they can go to calculus they can take stats they can do these things but where do they get that Hands-On? We have space to do a Hands-On then we're setting them up for greater success. Spaces where no matter where the students go after high school it's reflective of these college campuses of what they will be getting in the next step of their life when they leave here. When you're talking about renovating our facilities you want to create a facility that retains the charm that this building has by being the same building it was 65 years ago, but still feels new and fresh and modern and makes them feel like hey I can achieve anything I want here. We are getting so many students from so many different parts of Louisville. The endowment is so crucial especially right now because we want to be able to bring in any student that would like to come to come to DeSales and offer that personalized education, offer that strong bond with his brothers, and really give him everything he deserves and in a Catholic school. The cost of education continues to grow and while it does we have more more need for financial aid and so it's really important for us to grow those funds and allow more students the opportunity to become Colts. I would strongly recommend anyone to give back to DeSales because I think this community is so loyal to this school and feel strongly about it and I think one thing we always have to remember is alumni, parents, teachers is that everything that was special to us about the school when we were here we want to pass that on to the next generation of young men that come here. I think investing in DeSales is is critical you know my father went to DeSales now my son goes to DeSales and I want DeSales to be around for his kids and grandkids to go to so I think if we say DeSales is important we have to be willing to invest in that and ensure that it's here for future generations. Call to the Post means everything to the south end because Churchill Downs is a very integral part of the south end as well as DeSales High School. That call is going out to all the our alums, parents, those community leaders that are impacted by DeSales. Your contribution has a profound impact on the life of the church, on the life of those who were educated and formed at DeSales, and on the life of our local community. So it's the foundation of everything you know this is the beginning stages of their adulthood and if they get off to a great start here, like my son has and so many kids before him have, it just pays the way for future success for the rest of their lives. I would encourage anybody to consider giving back to DeSales. I look at you know what I got out of the years that I was at DeSales, I think DeSales has had a huge impact on me being ready for those opportunities that came later. When we talk about investing in the future we are talking beyond academics. We're talking about their success later. We're talking about how can we bring our community together so that we can set our community out in the world to do more. The number one thing that that we know is that student success is the most important thing that we do and so if we can invest now then we can really set them up for greater success and that's the best thing that we can do.