Schools
Victory Light Replica to Be Key Part of New JCA Quad
Efforts are under way to raise the $500,000 needed for the project, which could be completed next year, officials said.
Joliet Catholic Academy has launched a $500,000 fundraising campaign to add a Heritage Quad to the school's Larkin Avenue campus, the centerpiece of which will be a replica of the old "victory light" tower.
The victory light -- the original of which remains on the former Joliet Catholic High School building on Broadway Street, the predecessor to the existing campus built in 1990 -- remains an integral part of JCA's image and is included in some of the logos the school still uses today.
The Heritage Quad will salute that past by putting the 35-foot victory light replica upon a pedestal, the key feature of the prominent campus addition that not only will recognize JCA's past graduates and teachers, but honor the school’s history and tradition, according to the school's Web site.
"The Heritage Quad remembers and celebrates St. Francis Academy, De LaSalle High School, and Joliet Catholic High School," all of which are former schools that merged over the years to create JCA, the Web site said. "(It will also) honor the religious communities whose faith founded these schools: the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, the De La Salle Christian Brothers, and the Order of Carmelites of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Province."
Naming rights for the victory light will be sold for $100,000, and $10,000 donors are being sought for each of the three heritage walls. There will also be 16 windows, 19 benches and 300 pavers to be sold for naming rights, the Web site said.
Principal Jeff Budz told the Joliet Herald News the project could be completed by summer 2014, depending on how quickly money is raised.
He also said alumni were the ones who pushed for the school's heritage to be celebrated.
The Heritage Quad will salute that past by putting the 35-foot victory light replica upon a pedestal, the key feature of the prominent campus addition that not only will recognize JCA's past graduates and teachers, but honor the school’s history and tradition, according to the school's Web site.
"The Heritage Quad remembers and celebrates St. Francis Academy, De LaSalle High School, and Joliet Catholic High School," all of which are former schools that merged over the years to create JCA, the Web site said. "(It will also) honor the religious communities whose faith founded these schools: the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, the De La Salle Christian Brothers, and the Order of Carmelites of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Province."
Naming rights for the victory light will be sold for $100,000, and $10,000 donors are being sought for each of the three heritage walls. There will also be 16 windows, 19 benches and 300 pavers to be sold for naming rights, the Web site said.
Principal Jeff Budz told the Joliet Herald News the project could be completed by summer 2014, depending on how quickly money is raised.
He also said alumni were the ones who pushed for the school's heritage to be celebrated.
“We heard there needs to be more of an honoring of our tradition and the spirituality of the schools that came before us,” Budz said in the Herald News article. "We heard that loud and clear."
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