By Julia Kazar, The Winchester Star (Winchester, Virginia 22601)
GYM DEDICATION SURPRISES PRIEST
WINCHESTER – Sacred Heart Academy celebrated its new gymnasium with a special Mass and blessing by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington on Monday morning.
This is the first gym in the parochial school’s 60-year history.
“The gym has been built by the whole parish,“ the Rev. Stanley Krempa, longtime priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, said during the blessing.
At the ceremony, a sign was unveiled bearing the name of the new gym, and it came with a surprise. The school planned to name the gym after the local Smith family, who donated a significant portion of the money to build the $4 million facility, but the Smith family asked that the gym be named in honor of Krempa, who has been with the parish for more than 20 years.
“I was really surprised,” Krempa said afterward. “It’s humbling because so many people worked on this project.”
The money to build the gym came from parishioners at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and Sacred Heart Academy, both located on Keating Drive.
Students have been using the new gym since its completion in January, according to Joey Solosky, director of advancement and enrollment manager at the school, and she has heard nothing but positive feedback.
“We had a small unveiling ceremony for students,” she said, “and the look of awe on their faces when they saw the space said it all.”
Before the gym was built, students used the school’s multipurpose room for physical education classes, which was difficult because classes had to be worked around lunch schedules. Now, the school does not have those restrictions.
The gym, which took about two years to build, is almost 11,500 square feet and includes a full-sized, multiuse basketball court, boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, a storage area, and an office for the athletic director. It adjoins the school.
The project also included improvements to the multipurpose room, which involved gutting the original structure and adding a stage and a full-service kitchen so the school can provide hot lunches to students. In the past, the school had food brought in.
Broadway-based Lantz Construction Company built the gym. President & CEO Chris Weaver said the company was excited to work on the project because some of its employees have a personal connection to the school and the church. The project was completed on time with no major issues; the biggest challenge was removing rocks from the site before construction began.
The new gym is a high school-size gym, which means Sacred Heart Academy can use the facility to host bigger events, such as tournaments, according to Solosky.
After the blessing of the new gym, the bishop spent the rest of the day visiting with student.
Sacred Heart Academy has 240 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. Contact Julia Kazar at jkazar@winchesterstar.com. Photo by Scott Mason, The Winchester Star.