Onward and Upward
Onward & Upward
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Onward & Upward: The Campaign for a New Fieldhouse and Enhanced Community Spaces at Doane Academy aims to motivate our entire community to create new and innovative facilities for our students. The school's 2019 acquisition of the Boudinot property has expanded our campus by 15%, presenting a distinctive opportunity to meet urgent programmatic needs and enrich every student's Doane experience. The Campaign seeks to obtain funding for new construction and the repurposing of existing spaces, concentrating on the following areas:
- New Fieldhouse
- Community Meeting Space
- Performance Space for our Musical Groups
- Band Program Rehearsal Space (completed in 2024)
A Look Inside the New Fieldhouse
New Fieldhouse
We have one gymnasium at Doane, constructed in 1965. The gymnasium has a seating capacity of 150 spectators. Currently, five basketball teams share the use of this single gymnasium. Our varsity teams frequently have to start practices late to accommodate the middle school teams, often finishing after 8:00 pm. In addition, our middle school teams cannot practice on days when the upper school teams have home games. Because of its small size, it is often difficult to find a seat in the gymnasium when there is a particularly important game to be played. Even when we have enough seats, the sidelines are especially tight because the width of the gymnasium is about 10 fewer feet than would be optimal. Finally, the school’s fitness center is currently not located in the same building as the gym; the converted space which houses it, while adequate, is far from ideal. All of the above suggests that we need a fieldhouse facility that will better serve the needs of our students and keep us on par with peer schools.
Community Meeting Space
Meeting as an entire community is an important part of the Doane Academy culture and experience. At present, we hold all-school meetings on Monday mornings in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents. This historic space, intended for worship, is not large enough to hold all of our students and faculty. In addition, the Chapel does not feature the sightlines and monitors that are necessary to allow us to include video in meetings, an acute limitation now that technology-assisted presentations are the standard. A new concert hall will address this important assembly need by providing Doane with a space for the entire community to come together as one on a regular basis, as well as allowing us to preserve use of the Chapel for devotional purposes. ADA-compliant access to the Chapel is currently achieved by a temporary ramp on its eastern exterior; the school plans to replace this structure with a permanent, architecturally congruent ramp more befitting the building’s beauty.
Performance Space
The new space that will be used for all-school meetings will also address another key need. At present, our band, choir, and string players perform either in the dining room, Chapel, or the Sanderson Theater. While these rooms are adequate in size – at present – for our string players, they are not large enough for the choir and growing band program, in which one-third of our students currently participate. Moreover, they are not designed as concert venues and thus do not serve our programs as a dedicated concert facility would. Modifying our current gymnasium to house the concert hall described will thus serve two important purposes, providing a space for the community to gather and a suitable location for our musicians to perform.
Band Rehearsal Space
COMPLETED
Happily, this Campaign component has been fully realized. Before moving to the former Boudinot School during the pandemic, our band practiced in a room on the top floor of Rowan Hall which did not contain sound as well as needed, resulting in disrupted academic spaces on Rowan’s second and third floors. Our celebrated band now has the space it deserves in the newly constructed Spiral Jetty Band Room, located next to Doane’s Gymnasium.
For Onward & Upward questions or inquiries, please contact the Doane Development Office: onwardandupward@doaneacademy.org or (609) 386-3500 ext. 166
2024-2025 Campaign Steering Committee Members
Rev. David Snyder (GP '23, '32), Trustee, Committee Chair
Heather Buzick ‘97 (P ’29, ‘32), Trustee
Lloyd Freeman (P ‘33), Trustee
Erin P. Mayo, Head of School
Stacy Mullen Nordlinger '96, Trustee
Kathleen Keays Oliver '88 (P '13, '18, '22), Director of Development
Adam Paglione '91 (P '25, '27), Trustee
Dr. Adam Potkay '78, Trustee
Alita Wingfield (P ‘29), Trustee
Doreen Caniglia, Development Officer
Erin Smallen, Assistant Director of Development
Campaign History
Campaign Origin
With an innovative, mission-driven program and a sound financial condition, Doane Academy has never been stronger. Our curriculum emphasizes critical thinking, interdisciplinary connections, technology integration, and project-based learning. We continue to prioritize health and well-being and to develop confident, empathetic, ethical leaders prepared to improve the world. Enrollment at Doane currently stands at 225 students, significantly higher than a decade ago and one of the largest student bodies since the 1980s.
As Doane Academy looks to the future, we do so from a position of strength. At approximately $30,000,000, the value of our endowment is the highest amount by far in the history of the school, generating $1.4 million a year in operational funds. Having addressed many pressing facilities needs in the last decade, we now turn our attention to desirable campus enhancements, identified through the lengthy and inclusive process of self-examination and goal-setting that resulted in Right Onward 2023, Doane Academy’s most recent strategic plan (“the Plan”), which framed four strategic priorities:
1. Supporting Transformative Learning
2. Integrating Technology
3. Enhancing Our Campus
4. Telling Our Story
The degree to which Doane achieved the Plan’s priorities despite the pandemic from which we’ve all recently emerged is astounding. As we now engage in the next round of strategic planning, we return to a critical, unrealized ambition, its momentum and implementation having been interrupted by COVID-19: completion of the capital campaign conceived of in 2019 and newly renamed Onward and Upward: the Campaign for a New Fieldhouse and Enhanced Community Spaces at Doane Academy.
Aerial View of Doane's Campus with Boudinot Acquisition
In 2019, Doane was presented with the opportunity to acquire the Boudinot School, a public elementary school, located just across the street from our campus, that closed in 2018. After a period of negotiation with the Burlington City Board of Education, we acquired the property, using cash reserves.
The Boudinot Property has increased the size of Doane’s campus by 15% and provides a unique opportunity to fulfill numerous strategic aims. As noted in the Plan, “… we still have some programs that are underserved by our facilities. Moreover, we want our campus to inspire our entire community to develop new and innovative programs for our students. In other words, our current facilities and footprint should not limit the innovative work and enhancements that will come from this Strategic Plan.” The Boudinot property supplies Doane Academy with the space to address pressing programmatic needs that will enhance the experience of every student at the school.
Timeline, Goals & Funding
Campaign Goals, Project Funding, and the Smith Family Grant
The construction of a new fieldhouse and modification of our existing gymnasium will happen in two phases: Phase One, the new fieldhouse, will cost an estimated $8.4 million, and Phase Two, modification of the gymnasium into a community space, another $1.6 million. Sources of funds for this $10 million endeavor include the Board-approved Campaign goal of $7 million; cash and new financing will cover the remainder.
Gifts to Onward & Upward
For nearly two centuries, Doane Academy has been able to remain true to its mission and meet the demands of the present and future through the stewardship of alumni, families, and friends. The school needs that stewardship again now. We request that you consider your capacity to give generously, and we ask you to make a gift to the Onward and Upward Campaign. To the best of your ability, please join us as we embark on this project, a crucial next step toward our school’s future.
Gifts can be made either as one-time contributions or as pledges payable over five years. Multi-year pledges are essential to meeting our goal, as they are easier for most people and allow a significantly heightened level of giving. Depending on the donor’s choice, pledged gifts may be made in monthly or annual installments; we request that you make at least a 10% initial investment toward your total pledge.
