Covenant Classical School

Beyond Baseball: Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the history of the baseball and weight room projects?

  Baseball Field
  In 2019, a Covenant family offered the school a gift to accelerate the addition of athletics infrastructure. As athletes themselves, they recognized the unique ability of sports to develop character, and wanted to help the school invest in the spiritual formation of our student-athletes. Their generosity has been an enormous blessing, but we could not have anticipated the cost increases that the construction industry was about to endure due to the 2020 pandemic and resulting economic uncertainty. In early 2020 – and in anticipation of rising construction costs – Covenant moved quickly to guarantee pricing for the construction of the Upper School addition, and the generosity of our community allowed us to move into the new addition in February 2022. In the meantime, planning continued for the athletics infrastructure projects, but our efforts toward engineering, architecture, and permitting were consistently met with discouraging news, expanded timelines, and escalating costs that quickly surpassed the amount of the original gift. 

  Weight Room
  Around the same time, another school blessed us with several weight machines for use by our student-athletes. Before that, our limited equipment was housed in a too-small classroom in the part of the Upper School that has since been renovated into our newest Science Lab. The only spot large enough to store the new equipment was the Auditorium, and we knew that placing the equipment there could compromise our ability to use that space for other uses. However, the strength and conditioning of our student-athletes was also a high priority, and we conceded that sharing the space was the best temporary option. As we imagined, this decision has enhanced our ability to increase strength and conditioning – but has also decreased our capacity for community gatherings and performances. Because of this, we are eager to reclaim the Auditorium and provide dedicated space for our student-athletes to train.

  Gratitude for Our Community & Building Committee
  Despite the setbacks we have experienced, members of our community have continued to invest generously, raising an additional $291K toward the Cavalier Baseball Field and Weight Room projects. We are humbled by this generosity, especially because progress reports over the last couple of years have nearly always been frustrating and unsatisfying. But between the initial gift and these additional investments, we were able to begin construction, and we are nearing the final stretch of work on Cavalier Baseball Field. Our faithful Building Committee has worked tirelessly to advance these projects for our school, and creative, cost-saving solutions – many offered by members of our community – have allowed us to save as much as possible through value-engineering without sacrificing quality.

• Why is the school seeking to raise additional funds?

  Cavalier Baseball Field will offer our players the opportunity to play in front of a home crowd for the first time in the program's 11 years. With $2.36 million already invested, we are in need of an additional $1.2 million to complete several elements that will enhance the spectator experience and add much-desired functionality to our field, including batting cages, a bullpen, bleachers, a pressbox, lights, a scoreboard, and miscellaneous equipment needed to host practices and home games. We are asking for help to close out this project, and look forward to the added opportunities for gathering as a community that the new field will provide throughout each spring season. 

  In addition, we are hoping to raise an additional $800K to move forward with the construction of the long-desired Weight Room so that we can bless our student-athletes with a space dedicated to their strength and conditioning – and so we can reclaim our Auditorium for lunch, recitations, schoolwide gatherings, community events, and Choir and Theatre performances. Investments made in all of these projects will enhance the day-to-day experience for all of our K-12 students!

• How do these projects fit into the overall campus master plan?

  As our community has grown over the years, so has our ability to dream about our school's future. When the school began with 14 students and six employees in 1999, we could not have imagined the campus we have today! After years of hosting school in rented, temporary spaces, we began the 2009-2010 school year on our current campus with four, brand-new, portable buildings, a playground, and the Cavalier Football Field. We added the current Upper School Building in 2013, and were blessed to move into the addition to the Upper School – complete with 14 new classrooms, a dining hall, and a library – in the spring of 2022.

  Though all of the original campus elements on the Grammar School side of campus have required maintenance and improvements, they have served our school well and, according to the contractors we have partnered with, will continue to serve our mission in the near term as we work toward the long-term master plan for our campus. And while we are continually grateful for the foundation they have provided and will continue to invest in them in the short term, we believe that faithfulness requires us to plan for and move toward permanence. 

  Once we are able to complete the current parking lot and athletics infrastructure projects, our school's leadership will be able to turn the full attention of our master planning work toward the planning for a permanent Grammar School and beyond. Each completed project gets us one step closer to the full master plan that will allow Covenant Classical School to deliver on its mission for generations to come.

• What do the construction plans look like for these two projects?

  Renderings for both projects can be viewed below, but please remember that these two projects are in different stages of completion. While we are in the "Bottom of the Ninth" with construction on Cavalier Baseball Field and expect to wrap up work this spring, our Weight Room project is still in the "Initial Design Phase & Revisions" stage of our school's Project Pathway.