SANFORD — The Sanford Schools Legacy Foundation has received a generous grant to benefit the new Sanford High School and Regional Technical Center.
The $250,000 gift, from the Gerard and Gertrude Genest Charitable Trust, will support the new performing arts center at the new high school.
Sanford’s new high school and regional technical center are scheduled to open in August, with the first students attending classes in September. The state is picking up the lion’s share of construction costs — around $92 million, with the city chipping in about $11 million. But not everything is covered. The Sanford Schools Legacy Foundation was formed to support opportunities beyond those provided through public funding.
Upon making the gift, David Genest and Marguerite Herlihy, children of Gerard and Gertrude Genest, told the Sanford Schools Legacy Foundation that their parents would be pleased with the inclusion of the new Performing Arts Center in the high school plan as they both enjoyed attending the theater.
The Gerard and Gertrude Genest Charitable Trust was established to provide support to organizations that serve and educate the youth of Sanford and Springvale.
“This is an amazing gift to the Legacy Foundation.,” said Kendra Williams, a foundation board member. “We have really just started fundraising efforts and this gets us off to a great start. The Genest Family has been in Sanford for generations and they understand the importance of this project. We are very grateful for their support.”
The foundation is in the early stages of a capital campaign to raise $2 million for the infrastructure and equipment at the new high schools, regional technical center, athletic facilities and performing arts center, said foundation board Chairman Alan Lampert.
“We’ve raised in excess of $375,000 in pledges and outstanding ‘asks’ already out there with large corporations,” said Lampert. “We really just started the campaign.”
What’s not covered by state and local construction funds? Things like, but not limited to, score boards and other athletic equipment and a host of other items.
“We have to raise money to put those up,” said Lampert of the scoreboards. As well, there are some new labs going in, like an auto collision lab, that Sanford has never before had, and it must be equipped. There’s a need to for a CNC machine for one of the programs, and the Performing Arts Center will need equipment and technology.
“The plan is to achieve that $2 million goal by opening day,” said Lampert. “We’re looking at two- and three-year pledges. It’s not as if we have to have it on the table this fall, but have the pledges in place.”
The foundation has utlined a number of opportunities for naming rights for various aspects of the school from the $500,000 level to the $25,000 level.
Lampert said the foundation board has given people associated with a number of corporations tours of the facility, which is under construction on a tract of land that runs between lower Main Street and Route 4.
“When they see what we’re talking about it changes the conversation,” said Lampert of the vast new education facility. “The size and scope of the project is staggering.”
The building itself encompasses seven acres.
The new school is being built for 1,800 students — Sanford’s own 1,100 to 1,200 students and the remainder from the seven other school districts that send students to the regional technical center. It sports four educational “pathways” — business and marketing, science and technology, arts and communications, and health and human services.
Lampert said the new school is a “once in a generation” opportunity.
“This is a game changer on how education is delivered to the city of Sanford, and to all the outlying members who send children to Sanford Regional Tech Center,” Lampert said.
For more information, visit www.sanfordschoolslegacyfoundation.org.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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