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The Franciscan University of Steubenville community celebrated the start of a massive building project Friday as well as completion of Phase 1 of the new Trinity Health System field.
Micky Pohl, board of trustee emeritus and chair of the Rebuild My Church Capital Campaign, told the crowd that had assembled for the ceremonies, "We have to do a bit more."
"We surpassed our $75 million goal surprisingly quickly," Pohl said. "But now we're in a different economy: A recession is upon us, the cost of everything is increasing. But with your help, we can and will reach our new targets."
Pohl described it as the "most ambitious capital campaign in our history."
"This ... will allow us to get to the next level with new programs, new scholarships and new resources," Pohl said. "We must be financially prudent, but when we meet God we do not want him to tell us we were too timid or we didn't trust him enough."
The celebration began at Trinity Health System Field, where the Carapellotti family joined the Rev. Dave Pivonka, TOR, president of the university, in cutting the ribbon.
Before that, though, Pivonka announced the new fieldhouse would carry their name, "a sign of our great gratitude to the Carapellotti family and the 75-year friendship and the support they've given Franciscan University of Steubenville. "
He said the Carapellotti family exemplifies that love and sacrifice, "supporting the school in many ways, since its beginning."
Pivonka said Trinity Health System Field reminded the crowd Franciscan's student athletes "are playing for something greater than themselves."
"It's not just about winning, although winning's important," he said. "It's not just about competition, but competition is important. Ultimately, it's about giving glory to God that has given us a great many blessings."
Trinity Marketing Director Laurie Labishak said it seemed like a natural partnership.
"We work with Franciscan on a variety of programs, including the nursing program and we have a clinic here on campus," she said. "It was a natural partnership of two large Catholic entities in the community."
Officials say the $50 million Christ the Teacher Academic Building and Conference Center, to be built by Egan Plaza, will include more than 110,000 square feet of learning space, "making it the largest building on campus."
With two wings -- one targeting academic needs, the other spiritual needs -- it's the first new academic building built on campus in two decades. University officials say it will help Franciscan respond to ever-increasing enrollment gains and allow them to expand business, engineering and nursing programs. There will be a new welcome center for admissions, new boardroom, a conference center, tiered lecture hall, state-of-the-art nursing skills lab and eight specialized engineering laboratories.