Principia Announces $15 Million Gift
Principia School has received an unprecedented $15 million gift from an anonymous donor, the single largest gift from an individual donor family in the institution’s history. This extraordinary investment will provide the lead funding for a new field house on the School campus. “We are humbled and deeply grateful for this amazingly generous gift,” says Principia Head of School Travis Brantingham (US'94, C'98).
The new field house will be named in honor of beloved coach and mentor Bill “Willy K” Simon and will be known as the Simon Field House. Principia anticipates launching the campaign for the new Simon Field House in fall 2019. It will replace Carey Field House, which was built in 1963.
Carey Field House has served the School well but is no longer adequate to meet the needs of today’s students. Since it was built before Title IX, the facilities were only intended for male student-athletes. Today, it is the School’s co-ed varsity gym, and there are not enough locker rooms to support male and female student-athletes, among other building deficiencies. After careful planning and extensive conversations between School leadership and architects, it became clear that it would be more cost-effective to build a new field house rather than renovate Carey Field House.
The anonymous donor believes strongly in the future of Principia, in the pivotal place of athletics in education, and in the qualities of grace, patience, perseverance, and unconditional love that Bill Simon so extraordinarily manifested on a daily basis throughout his nearly six-decade career at Principia.
The donors’ generosity will be transformational to the School campus, and their humble spirit is to be celebrated. “We don’t feel so much like it is our gift,” the donors said in a recent conversation. “Rather, we feel grateful that we can be the channel through which God’s supply is provided.”
See the slideshow below for additional renderings.