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IC NEWSLETTER -
SPRING 2009 11
Feature
building – it will be an ‘intelligent’ building (energy savings
controls, motion sensors, management systems, insulated
walls, etc.). The design will especially cater to the disabled.
Even more exciting are indoor courts, gymnasium and a
400 seat auditorium accessible to the entire student body.
At the moment, the existing space per net square meter
per student is about 3.78 m². “In the new building, we’re
going have between 7.5m² to 8m² per student,” said Taher.
Moreover, its basement will house the central plant for the
entire school – feeding the campus with the needed air
conditioning, heating and electricity. It will also serve as
the communication hub for all the school buildings.
An underground two level parking for cars and buses and
a drop off and pick up area will drastically decrease the
traffic congestion around the school.
There will, of course, be ample space for play areas.
Architects met in December and the schematic design is
underway. If things goas planned, groundbreak is scheduled
for June 2010 and the building completed in 2012.
Fundraising
The project, including the additional facilities, is estimated
to cost $30 million dollars. Not a small sum by any means
but well worth it to create a generation which is “well
educated, well informed, and well brought up in a healthy
environment,” said Taher.
The good news is that the amount is doable. The on-going
fundraising is part of the overall Capital Campaign that was
started last year with the overall target of raising $55m. IC’s
Board of Trustees and the Development office have been
hard at work spreading the word and getting pledges.
“We have already raised $11m in commitment from the
Board members,” said Moufid Beydoun, the Vice President
for Alumni and Development. “We have been touring Arab
countries and will soon do similar tours in the US to get
pledges and commitments.”
Role of alumni, parents and friends
It’s all about alumni, parents and friends. They have built
and kept IC going for the past 118 years and it is up to
them to keep it going for another century.
Over the next few months, the board of trustees and
IC’s development office will be reaching out to alumni,
parents and friends asking them to help in the Capital
Campaign, and more specifically building the urgently
needed elementary school. The board is depending on
its alumni, which have responded heartily in the past, to
come through its construction program that will transform
the whole campus and serve student needs for the many
years to come.
Potential donors will be presented with an enviable
position of having their names etched forever at IC – most
likely through naming opportunities.
Today’s Rockefeller Hall, Sage Hall and Thomson Hall were
naming opportunities early last century. More recently, naming
opportunities produced the Issam Fares Hall, The Marwan and
Carole Marshi Multipurpose Room, the Rami Merhi Biology Lab
and the Occidental PetroleumvScience Lab.
“These buildings will remain long after we’ve gone,” said
Beydoun. “And will serve generations to come.”