Sacred Heart Schools break ground for groundbreaking acquatic center

By JENNIFER DESAI

Instead of a golden shovel, it took a golden backhoe to break ground last week for Sacred Heart Prep's $1.5 million aquatics center to be built on the school's Atherton campus, where St. Joseph's School and Sacred Heart Prep have classes for boys and girls in kindergarten through grade 12.

In light of the project's scale, the outsize equipment is understandable: At 50 meters by 25 yards, the Olympic-size pool will accommodate two swim or water polo teams practicing concurrently. An additional 600-square-foot shallow area is designed for younger swimmers.

A 3,700-square-foot bathhouse with boys' and girls' locker rooms, a concession stand, and coaches' offices round out the construction.

Scheduled to be built by August 1998, the pool will be available for use by groups other than Sacred Heart students and staff, said Mary Schaller, co-chair of the project. The school is considering hosting a master's swim class, renting lanes to local swim clubs, and offering swim lessons to area children.

Plans for the project began last October, she said, when -- after years of discussion concerning the replacement of Sacred Heart's 40-year-old pool and single-sex bathhouse -- the school's Board of Trustees voted to include the new Aquatic Center in Sacred Heart's $12.5 million capital campaign.

A committee has raised more than $970,000 in the past 16 weeks, primarily from parents and pool supporters, said Ms. Schaller.

The campaign is being broadened to appeal to the outside community, she said. Donors can buy an engraved brick to be part of the entrance path for $500. Other naming opportunities such as a 25-yard lane ($10,000) or 50-meter lane ($25,000) are still available.

Sacred Heart Prep parent and general contractor Bill Butler of Woodside was chosen to build the center, while architect Ernie Yamane of the Steinberg Group -- who had recently designed aquatics centers for Bellarmine and Archbishop Mitty High School -- designed it. Bruce Smith, the aquatics director of Alpine Hills Swim and Tennis Club, has volunteered to be a technical consultant on the project.

For more information, call GiGi Morgan, director of development, at 473-4002.