By Taylor Burgess
Journal Intern
Though Indian Springs School in North Shelby has reached a milestone with its $20 million Campaign for Springs Eternal–the largest capital campaign in the school’s history–ISS Director Gareth Vaughan said he is excited about the future.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be able to usher in this next chapter in Indian Springs School history,” Vaughan said. “The passion and dedication that we are witnessing from the ISS community will give our students the tools they need to succeed in an increasingly global world and provide our world-class faculty a state-of-the-art stage on which to shine.”
More than 300 Indian Springs School students, faculty, alumni and friends gathered on the ISS campus to celebrate the public launch of the campaign.
At a ceremony that kicked off Alumni Weekend 2014 festivities, Vaughan, board chairman Libby Pantazis and campaign co-chairman and alumnus Rusty Rushton announced that the school will begin construction this summer on new classrooms and will continue planning for a new dining hall and new arts center at the nationally recognized boarding and day school.
The Campaign for Springs Eternal was created in response to Indian Springs School’s new Campus Master Plan, which identifies the need to replace or modernize aging buildings dating from 1952, when the school opened.
The proposed plan includes modernizing classrooms to accommodate emerging technologies, replacing the current dining hall with a new dining hall that includes an outdoor dining area and new appliances, and creating a new arts center with studios and a gallery.
Construction on the classrooms phase is scheduled to begin this summer, school officials said. The timing and details for the arts center and dining hall phases will be finalized by the Indian Springs School Board of Governors later this year as fundraising continues.
“The firms we’ve chosen absolutely recognize the unique character of the school–the new buildings will be beautiful yet modest and part of the natural landscape,” Vaughan said. “We will be honoring the original architecture and respecting our connection to the outdoors.”
Vaughan asked the entire Indian Springs community–alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends–to join together in making a commitment to the campaign, which will continue through 2018.
For more information, visit issspringseternal.org.
