Every September brings the excitement of a new school year with a fresh start. We welcome families, students, faculty, and staff back to school and wish them all great success. Last year around this time we publicly launched Our Next Century Campaign and next September we will, as always, welcome everyone back to campus, but with the added excitement of starting the new school year inside our new Middle School, Manrell Hall!
This past summer saw extensive progress on the building of Manrell Hall as the third floor is in place and noticeable spaces, such as the VCPA Dining Hall, are taking shape. If you have not had the opportunity to check out Manrell Hall and some of the features of the building, I encourage you to read Manrell Hall: Up Close in Detail.
Throughout the redevelopment project many people have asked me about what we are doing and why we are doing it. I'll share with you what I always share with them.
- This project is about safety – ensuring that our boys and staff are in the most seismically safe buildings possible. Our current buildings were designed and constructed long before we understood the risks and what to do about them.
- It is about realizing our educational vision, created by our faculty, some outside experts and input from parents to educate our young men for the next century – with the resources, tools, methods, and pedagogy of the present and the future in state of the art learning environments.
- It is a historic, once-in-a-lifetime project that will set Vancouver College on a firm foundation for another century of academic, athletic, artistic, social and spiritual development of boys and young men.
I am privileged to be a part of Our Next Century and the work that God is calling us all to do. Our ultimate goal at Vancouver College is to glorify God and seek to be instruments of His will in all that we do.
We are one year from opening Manrell Hall. This year is crucial to ensure we stay within our redevelopment timeline. We must maintain our current pace of fundraising in order to proceed with the next phase of the project, our new Elementary School, which will include our Chapel, an elementary gymnasium, and a new home for the Christian Brothers. We ask all VC families, to the extent you are able, to support Our Next Century Campaign to continue the legacy that is Vancouver College.
I wish you all God's blessings for a wonderful year ahead. I look forward to seeing you at our various events when we come together as the Vancouver College community. to continue the legacy.
Semper Fidelis,
John Nixon (VC'69)
President
Vancouver College