GREEN BAY – The multi-million-dollar capital campaign at Notre Dame Academy is finally coming to fruition.
With new synthetic turf coming to the stadium and new tennis courts and academic classrooms getting a facelift, Notre Dame Academy President Tom Kiely — who is retiring at the end of June — said the upgrades are much needed.
“People’s generosity has been amazing, and we’ve been able to get a lot of stuff started and even more in the planning pipeline,” he said. “The funds were largely raised through alumni, but we’ve also had some foundation and business support as well. It’s been an outreach to the entire community.”
Kiely said there are three components to the upgrades.
“It was investing in the students, investing in the campus and investing in the community,” he said. “We did a strategic plan about what parts of the facilities needed to be redone right now. The track and football field are being redone now, and then in early June, we’re going to redo the tennis courts.”
Additionally, Kiely said the front of the building will get a facelift.
“In addition, we’ve upgraded the security at the front entrance and redone sort of the atrium area,” he said. “We started with one model classroom we had redone, and next summer, we’ll redo two science labs and nine other classrooms.”
Kiely said the original financial goal was $7 million, but through the efforts of many, $9.3 million has been raised thus far.
“We’d like to keep working on it to reach $10 million,” he said. “Part of what we also did was create part of it as an investment in our foundation — the Notre Dame Foundation. That foundation provides tuition assistance as well as other operational needs of the school. Part of that is faculty professional development, and there is also a technology aspect. The capital campaign has reached all dimensions of what we were looking for.”
Kiely, who has been the NDA president for five years, said the money raised is a “very good start for what we want to do.”
“Because this building is from 1954, the work never really stops,” he said. “The monies raised will also cover those nine classrooms we’ll redo next summer, but then we’ve got another 30 classrooms behind it.”
The interesting thing about facility upgrades, Kiely said, is that as soon as they are completed and come into use, the deterioration process begins.
“A big part of the capital campaign was upgrading our foundational support for operations, so the next time we need upgrades, we don’t have to keep raising so much money — we’ll have it in the foundation,” he said.
Kiely said the track hadn’t been done since 1986, and the football field (turf) was put in in 2007.
NDA Athletic Director Matt Koenig said the upgrades “are way more” than just athletics, although that is a major piece of what fans will see.
He said before construction began, the football field turf “had to be the oldest in the state.”
“Or, very close to the oldest,” he said. “We were the first school in the area to install turf, and I think the second one in the state. Whoever had the first one, if their field is still down, then they’re the oldest.”
Though Koenig said the capital campaign is not solely about athletics, athletic participation on campus is a big part of what Notre Dame is.
“We have 513 athletes participate in a school of 730,” he said. “But obviously, our physical education classes are also going to reap the benefits of the track and turf. With our new tennis courts being done in June, those were much needed. The capital campaign is about the whole complex and investing in the future.”
Koenig said the projected completion of the football field is Aug. 1, while work on the tennis courts will go into early September.
Koenig said for the last couple of years, the school hasn’t been able to use lanes one and eight of the track due to water issues.
“In the southeast corner of our facility — where the flagpole was — at one time, there was a spring there that became a major water issue,” he said. “I’m not sure of the specifics about why it happened, but basically, water has been going right under the track, causing some areas of the track to bubble up. With the advancements of engineering technology, we’ll be able to fix any drainage issues that caused this.”
Even with the football field, Koenig said you could see a few areas that were sinking a bit.
“Seventeen years is a long time for a turf field, but there’s also a safety component to it,” he said. “A company came in and serviced the football field yearly, and we had gotten approval every year, so it wasn’t unsafe at all. Obviously, the track was still usable, too, but when you’re hosting a track meet and can’t use lanes one and eight because of safety issues, it was time for replacement.”
The Tritons captured the 2024 WIAA Division 3 State football title last fall with a perfect 14-0 record, and now future teams, physical education classes and other sports teams (soccer, lacrosse, track and field) will see the benefits of a new field and track.
More specifically, with the synthetic turf, Koenig said safety was top of mind.
“Our committee and campaign donors definitely took safety into consideration,” he said. “There are variations of turf, but under this new turf, we’re putting in a shock pad that will add a bit more cushion. Unfortunately, injuries are a part of sports, but if there is anything we can do to try and prevent injuries, we’re happy to provide that for our athletes.”
Koenig said the most advanced technology will be used for the woven carpet as well.
“Double that up with the shock pad, and I think it makes for a really safe surface,” he said. “It’s what our student athletes deserve in terms of this committee’s attention to that.”
The Tritons’ first home football game of the 2025 season on the new turf will be on Friday, Aug. 29 against De Pere.
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