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John Bapst Launches $7.5 Million Capital Campaign

Bangor’s John Bapst Memorial High School has launched a $7.5 million capital campaign to construct a new gym, fitness center, dining hall and innovation center. School officials also plan to add $1 million from the campaign to the school’s $1.3 million endowment fund.

Dr. Adrienne Carmack, a board member at the 90-year-old former Catholic high school, said the investment will yield benefits that extend far beyond the school itself.

“This project is important for future of Bapst, it’s good for the future of Bangor, it’s good for the future of the students of Maine and the world,” she said. “So go home and tell your parents and your grandparents and your friends and your neighbors that that really great school John Bapst that you go to, it’s going to be even better.”

Joe Sekera, the school’s former headmaster, oversaw its transition from a Diocesan to a private high school in 1980. He said the school’s current plans would have been unimaginable nearly 40 years ago.

“Unbelievable — I couldn’t dream up something like this,” he said. “The gym speaks for itself. If you’ve ever been down there, it was built in 1928. Its backcourt violation is at the top of the key at the opposite end of the court.”

Nearly $3.5 million has already been raised for the expansion campaign, which is expected to conclude next July. John Bapst has a current enrollment of 470 students, 14 percent of whom are foreign students representing 11 different countries.