The sounds of cheering filled the morning air in the Saint Stephen’s Palm Courtyard on Friday, as Mrs. Jan Pullen, Head of School, officially announced that the Challenge for Excellence goal has been reached.

Saint Stephen’s parents, teachers and students have been funding for this project for the completion of new athletic facilities. Because this was a matching challenge, the $2 million raised by the Saint Stephen’s community was matched by the Moore family’s generous donation of a similar $2 million.

Pullen said she is overwhelmed by how the Saint Stephen’s community came together for a school project everyone believes in.

“With [the] excitement from our families, it allowed us to get to that $4.4 million, which is where we are today,” she said.

“I’m thrilled that we’ve accomplished another goal that will further strengthen our outstanding school. It is another piece to the puzzle to create opportunities for our kids to have great facilities,” she said.

President of the Board of Trustees Mr. Jay Tallman said the funding will provide a much-needed asset in the school community.

“The school has built a reputation for academics over the years, but one of the missing pieces has been the athletic facilities,” he said.

“We needed to bring that up to the same level as academics, and this matching gift was an important catalyst to raise the necessary money. I’m relieved because throughout the campaign it was very touch and go, but in the end our school community came together,” Tallman said.

While the $2 million goal plus more has been achieved, it was also announced Friday that there is now a second matching challenge. In order to have enough money for the athletic field project, $50,000 needs to be raised by the end of the year.

Pullen said, “This project is a long way from being done. We now have this $50,000 that we need to get for this next match. Our dreams have come true and now we have to let it get finished.”

Pullen added she was confident that the school could easily achieve this new goal.

“I’m absolutely optimistic about [this challenge] and I think we can reach it by [this week]. I was very optimistic about the first goal, and that happened,” she said.

Saint Stephen’s senior class has played an integral role in the funding of the new athletic fields and as a class gift, donated $5,000 towards the project.

Senior class president Gabrielle Woodruff said she was involved in the decision of what the senior class gift would be.

“In years past, [the senior class] has always bought one specific gift, whereas this year we were able to put it towards a project that will positively influence the entire school,” she said.

Pullen emphasized how significant this donation was and said, “This is a huge gift and is probably one of the biggest class gifts ever.”

The money that went towards funding the athletic fields from the senior class came mainly from prom last year and the senior car wash held last month. Woodruff said that even though the new athletic complex won’t directly benefit the seniors, their gift will go to a good cause.

“Even though the senior class won’t be able to use the new complexes, it really is a good investment for the future of our school, and I think every senior will be happy to visit as an alum one day and be able to say they helped make the new athletic fields possible,” she said.

It is going to be a while until any shovels go into the ground for this project. However, Pullen said she knows that the goal will be reached and the future looks bright for the new athletic facilities.

“We’ll be ready to go into the ground in March and then we should be ready to move on there by August or September of next year,” she said.