At the April 2015 meeting of Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy’s Board of Trustees, a number of capital projects totaling more than $750,000 were approved to move forward throughout this summer.
One of the biggest projects will be the installation of new synthetic turf on the William Kozyra Alumni Field. According to school officials, 50% of the cost of the new field has been donated by current trustee William Kozyra, with the rest of the cost coming out of an appropriation from the school’s maintenance fund. The new turf will feature greater concussion prevention versus the current field surface, an alternating-shade-of-green design and colorful renditions of the school’s athletic logos.
The vendor selected for the field is Pittsburgh, Pa.-based ProGrass Synthetic Turf Systems, which was the manufacturer and installer of Notre Dame’s current 13-year-old field surface. The company has installed hundreds of field surfaces across the country at schools ranging from UCLA, Seton Hall University and MSU to Grand Valley State University and Barrow High School in Alaska.
Also at the April meeting, NDPMA’s Board of Trustees approved the expansion of the intersection of Giddings Road and Walton Boulevard. New left-hand turn traffic signals and left-hand/right-hand turn lanes will be installed on both the north and south sides of the intersection to better accommodate traffic during heavily congested times of the school day.
Administration officials said the school is financing the intersection reconstruction with the help of an 80/20 matching safety grant from the State of Michigan through the City of Pontiac.
New office space also was approved by the board for the advancement department’s Colin House at 1389 Giddings Road. The additional space will be added by converting the existing attached garage into usable office space. In addition, the board approved an extension of the decorative fence with brick pillars at the south end of the lower-division property near the Colin House.
Finally, the restroom facilities in the gymnasium triangle have been slated for reconstruction to comply with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards.
Notre Dame head of school Fr. Leon Olszamowski, s.m., said he and others in the school community are looking forward to these school facility improvements.
“Our head football coach, Pat Fox, has not stopped thanking me and the board for the new turf,” said Olszamowski. “I told him that everything we do here is for the kids, and they deserve it.”
Olszamowski said that the new turf is costly but long overdue. “I am especially grateful to Bill Kozyra, to whom Alumni Field was dedicated several years ago,” he said. “And, I am very grateful for the unanimous vote of our stellar Board of Trustees who approved this project and the other special projects after much careful consideration.”
Athletic director Betty Wroubel said she is continually amazed by the generosity of members of the Notre Dame community to make improvements like these happen. “The benefits and impact on our student body cannot be measured.”
School officials said all work will be completed before the new school term begins in late August.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.