NOTRE DAME EXCEEDING FUND-RAISING EXPECTATIONS

Fund raisers for the new Notre Dame High School have exceeded the expectations of their consultants by raising more than $4 million since July.

Now, with the fund-raising drive coming to a close, organizers are hoping to continue their momentum all the way to their ambitious goal of $5 million, which will allow construction of the type of building they've all been working for.

"We're going to get it," Steve Dirnberger, co-chair of the capital fund drive, said. "We're confident and hopeful that it's going to happen. At this point we don't have a second choice because we're going to get it done."

The campaign started with volunteers raising $2.7 million between July and September. Since then, fund raisers have gone door-to-door and engaged in a five-day phone-a-thon in January that reached about 450 people.

"We're closing up each phase," Dirnberger said. "It's never complete until we get our goal. We'll just re-open a phase or we'll just continue to solicit. We still have a few doors to look into to see if we can get where we need to be."

The project, which has $1.5 million in pledges already in the bank, has to have half the projected cost of the building in an account before construction can begin. Dirnberger said he still expects construction to begin on the high school by summer. The site is off Route K on the west end of town.

"We like what we've come together on the facility because it's exactly what we need for the future of Catholic education," he said.

Notre Dame High School Principal Sister Mary Ann Fischer said she's excited about the prospects of having a new building and the fact that so much of the community has contributed to the project.

"That means there is broad ownership of the new Catholic high school," Fischer said. "We've been putting some final touches on a blueprint. The entire staff has had input into the blueprint."

Fischer said she has had to organize the communication between teachers, faculty, planners and architects to produce a plan that will meet everyone's expectations and state codes.

"I don't know if it has kept me awake at nights, but let me just say it has been a real challenge," she said.

Hilary Schmittzehe, chairman of the project's building committee, has been one of the designers working closely with faculty and teachers and said the final plan for the 101,000-square-foot building should be completed in March.

"The core facility will be designed for 1,000 students," Schmittzehe said. "The classrooms and like will accommodate around 400, and of course it's being designed so it can be added to.

"We've advanced on enough now in the building plans where all of the different people who have different responsibilities to the project will be signing off stating the thing meets their needs," Schmittzehe said.