Mount Notre Dame President Judy Back Gerwe ’78 announced plans to create a new educational space for students this summer located on the second floor across from the office area and College and Career Center. The space will be called the Learning Commons and will also become the new library for the school.

“We are excited about creating this new space right in the center of our school building for our students,” said Gerwe. “We are so appreciative of our donors who have made this new Learning Commons come to life for our community.”

Funding for this project is provided by generous MND benefactors who are investing in our comprehensive capital campaign Achieve More … Now and Foreverthat is currently in the major gift phase. This is Part I of our construction. Once we reach our campaign goal, we will begin work on a new Performing Arts Center that will be located in the current theater and library space, an area that was once our school gymnasium. The Performing Arts Center will be used for theater, band, choral, and dance performances as well as parent and student meetings and events. We also hope to include the larger community in its uses.

The journey to a campaign began with the development of a new five-year Strategic Plan that was launched in the spring of 2017. Achieve More … Now and Forever addresses two of the aspiration statements from the plan. One is “To be financially positioned to advance the mission of MND” which is the endowment piece of the campaign – Achieve More Forever. The other is “To assess the current and future facility needs of the school” which will be the facilities piece of the campaign – Achieve More Now. We have created a visionary campus master plan that will determine the most effective use of our campus over the next several years.