Tuscarawas Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School broke ground outside of the building on Thursday, the site of what will be a new fieldhouse and community center. Shovels hitting the ground were the first since just ahead of the school’s opening in 1970.
Excitement for the future of Tuscarawas Central Catholic, which serves students in grades seven through 12, brought together numerous members of the community, including clergy and religious, city and state leaders, and school families.
Bishop Earl Fernandes, assisted by Deacon Paul Zemanek, blessed the grounds. Superintendent for the diocese’s Office of Catholic Schools Dr. Adam Dufault was also present.
“This groundbreaking is an investment not only in a new athletic facility but in the mission of Tuscarawas Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School. Our Catholic schools are places where young people are formed in faith, character and community,” Dufault said.
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“This fieldhouse will support that work in a very practical way: it will give students a place to compete and grow, while also creating a space where families and the broader community can come together. I’m excited to see the hard work and generosity of so many people come to fruition.”
Mayors Joel Day of New Philadelphia and Shane Gunnoe of Dover attended the groundbreaking. State Rep. Jodi Salvo (R-Bolivar), who represents Ohio’s House District 51, which includes the New Philadelphia area, was also present.
Tuscarawas Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School, located in the northeastern corner of the Columbus diocese, is approximately 120 miles from Ohio’s capital city.
“Our schools are growing both in the elementary and here at the junior/senior high school, and we’re so glad,” principal Jenn Calvo said. “We’re so excited about the future, and doing a project like this just speaks to that.”
The groundbreaking was a celebratory day for the Tuscarawas County community, which has a population of approximately 92,500 people, significantly smaller compared to Columbus’ nearly 945,000.
Enrollment is nearing 200 students at the junior/senior high school, known as the Saints.
Dennison Immaculate Conception and Dover Tuscarawas Central Catholic Elementary (formerly Dover St. Joseph and New Philadelphia Sacred Heart) schools feed into Tuscarawas Central Catholic. The two elementary schools and junior/senior high school are all located in Tuscarawas County.
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A strategic planning process for the school’s future, referred to as “Building on Excellence,” began more than a decade ago. Nearly $9 million dollars has been raised in the process.
“It was such an overwhelming goal at that time that I can’t imagine telling all those people in 2015, ‘We’re going to put this down on paper, and then, we’re going to make it happen 11 years later,’” Calvo reflected.
The process was set in motion about two years ago. “We’re like, okay, we want to do the field house,” Calvo recalled, “and in feeling out and speaking with some of our community members, they were like, ‘That’s a wonderful idea.’
“What started as just a fieldhouse grew into this entire campaign. We’ve never raised that kind of money before, never thought that we could, and then, it was like, ‘Alright, well, let’s try.’”
The multi-million dollar campaign funded four initiatives, including the fieldhouse and community center: a new chapel, which was moved to the front of the building; a lower-level renovation, which included the addition of a visitor locker room for sporting events and upgraded ventilation system, air conditioning, ceiling, flooring, walls and plumbing; and a teacher’s endowment established through The Catholic Foundation for Catholic educators in Tuscarawas County.
The Building on Excellence campaign included co-chairs Mike Davis, Mike Fredericks and Tom O’Donnell.
O’Donnell is an ’81 graduate of the high school, and Davis and Frederick are married to alumni. All three have children who graduated from the school. Davis’ son, Father Tony Davis, is a priest of the Columbus diocese.
The chapel and lower-level renovations are complete. The endowment will help in “attracting good teachers and keeping the teachers that we have, to get them on a better pay scale and give them the materials and things that they need to be good educators for our children,” O’Donnell explained.
“We felt it was important to take care of what’s under this roof first before we go out and start building a $7 million dollar fieldhouse,” he added.
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The fieldhouse and community center is the final piece of the campaign.
Since seventh and eighth grades combined with Tuscarawas Central Catholic high school in 2009, middle and high school students have shared a gymnasium.
“Our parishes are wonderful and our partner elementaries have been willing to share gym space with us to make it happen,” Calvo said, acknowledging that the current system has been challenging nevertheless.
“There was once a time when a lot of our parents had the flexibility to pick up their kids here at 2:30 and get them down to Dennison to practice by 3 o’clock, and everyone could do that. That transportation to and from practices was becoming a barrier to participation for a growing number of our students.”
The outdoor space also required attention.
“We really needed a practice facility,” Calvo said. “Right now, I have to rent Porta Pottys for football, and our concession stand is a little barn. Now, that will be all part of this building.”
The fieldhouse will feature an auxiliary gym that can be divided into two basketball or volleyball courts and include a walking track, weight room, golf simulator, softball and baseball hitting cages and pickleball courts. A plaza will be built between the school and fieldhouse.
“We will also serve the community and make an effort to go out and collaborate, if we are able to with other partners in the community,” Fredericks said.
The fieldhouse “can be used for people that are inside, but also folks at a football game,” O’Donnell added. “We’re giving them new facilities to use.”
Possibilities include memberships and rentals for area residents. Individuals can “come and walk, meet in that gathering area, rent a pickleball court for an hour or two, rent the golf simulator,” O’Donnell explained, hoping to “make it revenue generating, too, so we can support the field house and it’s not a burden on the school.”
“We have great families – our community is so, so supportive; it’s just wonderful,” Calvo said. “It’s a great time to be a Saint.”