Harrington’s ‘Field Goal’

Spring 2003 CCQ Magazine

Casey Peddicord, Editor

Joey Harrington ’97 and the Harrington Foundation have generously committed $250,000 to Central Catholic High School’s Building Their Future Capital Campaign.

Directed toward completion of the athletic fields at Central Catholic and the former Whitaker Middle School in NE Portland, the contribution is structured as a challenge to leverage $800,000 in additional funds needed to complete the projects. 

Central Catholic is grateful to Joey and the Harrington Foundation for providing the impetus to improve the fields. Both fields will be surfaced with synthetic FieldTurf, a well-known, reliable product created to withstand the heavy use and athletic needs of the school and community.  

FieldTurf will actually save the school money that it now pours into ongoing field maintenance.  The new synthetic surface promises to reduce injuries to athletes and provide a reliable, safe surface for thousands of users within Central Catholic and the outside communities who annually hold practices and games on the school’s inner city field and at the Whitaker site. 

These will be the only regulation synthetic surface fields in Portland’s inner Eastside. The school’s 800 students keep the fields in use with PE classes, sports practices, and camps.   Central Catholic teams using the fields are football, men’s and women’s soccer, track and field, and cross-country.

Central Catholic is unique in Portland in sharing its athletic fields at no cost with thousands of users from the community, including Portland Parks and Recreation, Portland Youth Soccer, and the Catholic Youth Organization, to name a few.

After outstanding performances at Central Catholic High School and the University of Oregon, Joey Harrington became the Detroit Lions’ first-round pick in the 2002 NFL draft. Now entering his second year as starting quarterback, Joey continues to shoulder the task of raising the Lions’ fortunes in their new facility at Ford Field.  As always, his charisma and leadership will elevate his play as much as his quarterback skills.  He looks forward to the season under newly appointed Lions head coach Steve Mariucci.  

Stretching to Give

Casey Peddicord, Editor

In a recent discussion about the challenges of running a Capital Campaign and an Annual Appeal simultaneously, I asked a mentor how I could better understand the justification of asking our Central Catholic donors to consider giving to both. We are, after all, asking our donors to really stretch.  Wherein I intrinsically knew it was not only right, but necessary, I really needed to break it down into its components to make sure I could answer questions should I be asked.

My colleague gave this example - (and I am paraphrasing here): “It’s kind of like planning for your child’s college.  You wouldn’t stop paying your utility bills and use that money for your son or daughter’s college fund.”  I liked that analogy because it made sense to me.

I think that, in this scenario, we could liken the college fund to our Capital Campaign and the utility bills to our Annual Appeal.  The Annual Appeal is money for on-going day-to-day operating costs (keeping the lights on.)  The Capital Campaign is more finite, in general, and will fund specific scheduled projects (the new Library, for example.)  We could not survive without our Annual Appeal revenue.  We couldn’t keep the lights on.  And without funds raised in our Capital Campaign, we can’t move forward – providing our students with a facility and tools that will prepare them for successful futures.  This is an exciting point at which we find ourselves.  And it is with confidence that we stretch and ask others to stretch. Our efforts will ensure that Central Catholic’s future will not only be bright because the ‘lights are on’ but because we have given our students so much more.

Stretching to Give

Casey Peddicord, Editor

April 2001 Insignio

In a recent discussion about the challenges of running a Capital Campaign and an Annual Appeal simultaneously, I asked a mentor how I could better understand the justification of asking our Central Catholic donors to consider giving to both. We are, after all, asking our donors to really stretch.  Wherein I intrinsically knew it was not only right, but necessary, I really needed to break it down into its components to make sure I could answer questions should I be asked.

My colleague gave this example - (and I am paraphrasing here): “It’s kind of like planning for your child’s college.  You wouldn’t stop paying your utility bills and use that money for your son or daughter’s college fund.”  I liked that analogy because it made sense to me. I think that, in this scenario, we could liken the college fund to our Capital Campaign and the utility bills to our Annual Appeal.  The Annual Appeal is money for on-going day-to-day operating costs (keeping the lights on.)  The Capital Campaign is more finite, in general, and will fund specific scheduled projects (the new Library, for example.)  We could not survive without our Annual Appeal revenue.  We couldn’t keep the lights on.  And without funds raised in our Capital Campaign, we can’t move forward – providing our students with a facility and tools that will prepare them for successful futures.  This is an exciting point at which we find ourselves.  And it is with confidence that we stretch and ask others to stretch. Our efforts will ensure that Central Catholic’s future will not only be bright because the ‘lights are on’ but because we have given our students so much more.

Central Catholic Embarks Upon the Largest Campaign in School History

Building Their Future Case Statement

April 2001 Insignio

Central Catholic High School was the dream of Archbishop Edward D. Howard, D.D., and one of the first projects he undertook when he arrived in Portland in 1926.

When Central Catholic High School was dedicated May 9th of 1939, it not only celebrated building a new physical structure, but also recognized the beginning of something more profound: a commitment to building a future for the secondary Catholic education of boys. The $50,000 building, located in the geographic heart of Portland, opened that fall with about 125 freshmen and sophomores. Responding to the needs of its community, the school became co-educational in 1980 and today enrollment numbers 800 young men and women. Tuition was $50 a year in 1939 and has grown to today’s figure of $5,225. The original faculty of six now numbers 72.   

Sixty-one years and 10,000 graduates later, Central Catholic stands at the threshold of the 21^st century – poised to advance its mission of “educating the whole person within the Catholic community.”

To accomplish this, we must renovate the facilities built between 1939 and 1946, and construct additional facilities to ensure the continued excellent learning environment that has been our tradition.  To do so, we embark on the Building Their Future Capital Campaign.  Over the next five years, we hope to raise an estimated $12.9 million dollars:  $10.4 million for capital improvements and new facilities, and $2.5 million to build the principal of the endowment fund. 

The tangible results of the first phase will be the addition of 42,518 square feet: 18,605 square feet of remodeled space, and 23,913 square feet of new construction. Paramount will be the improvements to our infrastructure:

Replacing the original 1939 boilers with a modern, efficient heating and cooling system

Constructing a 5,414-square-foot library

Constructing a 1,944-square-foot chapel

Renovating the science labs and adding a new biology lab

Weatherizing the athletic fields

Constructing a 2,436-square-foot music facility

Constructing a new computer center, counseling center and Development office

Expanding the drama wing, and renovating the visual and ceramics art areas

Renovating the front entrance and adding a ramp

Increasing endowment funds, which will be directed toward student assistance, continued education and training for faculty, and facility maintenance 

Five new classrooms will address one of our most critical needs:  more space to adequately serve our students.

The new library will allow several classes to use it concurrently, while providing room for supplementary technology resources.  The addition of 2,312 square feet will encourage more students to use the library. Vital to the essence of our community, the new Chapel will provide a larger place to gather and to celebrate our faith as well as allow space for religion classes to share prayer experience.

The last renovation of the current science department was in 1977.  In the Building Their Future Capital Campaign, our plans advance the state of our science facilities so that they not only adequately accommodate the 26 science classes taught each year, but also offer our students the highest technology available.

Over the years, Central Catholic’s Fine Arts department has grown in both the variety of its class offerings and the number of students who participate.  Currently, the department includes Drama, Art, and Music (the latter two occupy two rooms in the area that was once the boys’ shower and dressing room).  Sheer resourcefulness on the part of faculty and administration has made it possible to conduct classes under these crowded and inadequate conditions.  Expansion and renovation plans in this area will create a larger, lighter space for the visual arts, and will relocate the music department into its own 2,436-square- foot wing – complete with two separate practice rooms, office, and storage space.

Throughout Central Catholic’s history, we have been blessed with a phenomenal staff of committed, talented, and caring teachers – truly a gift to our school and its students.  Building Their Future means being able to give our students and faculty the resources they need to flourish. With the addition of $2.5 million in the endowment fund, we can offer more students the opportunity for an excellent education through increased tuition assistance, provide the faculty with continued education and training, and assist in building maintenance funding. In keeping with the school’s mission, we foster growth in our students, physically, spiritually, socially, and academically. The Building Their Future Capital Campaign will allow us to better foster these elements we hold dear. It will ensure that we continue developing and expanding our programs while maintaining the tradition of excellence that has nurtured over six decades of outstanding citizens, leaders, and entrepreneurs.

Glenn Pelikan ‘53– Alumni Profile

Fall 2003 CCQ Magazine

Casey Peddicord, Editor

 “Pay attention to the basics in how you live your life and how you perform your life’s work.  Live so that you may die with the same sense of goodness you felt as a child.”  Glenn Pelikan ‘53 

The class message in the 1953 yearbook reads, “Send forth thy spirit and they shall be created:  and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.  Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful: and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. 

Seniors, go forth confidently to live the ideals you formed at Central Catholic High School, conscious of the truth that by Him and with Him and in Him you can do all things.” 

I first heard about Glenn Pelikan from retired Central Catholic Development Director, John Shepard.  John had been making lead gift committee phone calls, and told me about one committee member who, despite the fact that he was on kidney dialysis three days a week, still wanted to make calls.  John could barely express how much this man impressed him.  I wanted to meet Glenn myself, so, on September 23, he met me in the Central Catholic library for an interview

When Glenn attended Central Catholic, life was very different than it is now.  “When I went to school, what was in the movies, on TV and radio, and taught in school were all giving the same message – the ethics were similar,” he recalls.  Glenn’s parents were devout Catholics, and moved to Oregon from Chicago when Glenn was 11 years old. He attended St. Rose elementary school from 6^th to 8^th grade. Because a Catholic education was important to his parents, Glenn was sent to Central Catholic –  the natural choice for a boy living in Northeast Portland. 

Glenn was a good student naturally, and that was fortunate because if Glenn had to rely on the time he spent on homework – he wouldn’t have made it.  “For perhaps half of my high school years, I worked from 3:30 in the afternoon until midnight at Waddles on Sandy Boulevard or a late shift at Davidson’s Bakery.”

He remembers some of the Central Catholic teachers who made a lasting impression on him - Sister Justitia, Father Saalfeld, Father Emmett Harrington, and Father Juliano.  “I remember that Sister Justitia was very good at what she did, and she encouraged me,” Glenn remembers. 

Following his inclination toward Science, Glenn went to the University of Portland, and studied general engineering.  After switching to study Electrical Engineering at Oregon State University, Glenn decided to go back to the University of Portland and earn a degree in Physics there.  At the same time, he worked swing shift at a relatively new company, Tektronix.

For the next  forty years, Glenn worked in Medical Device Research and Development.  I asked him how he balanced working in the field of Science with his belief in God.  “There is no conflict.  The more you know Science, the more you believe.”  He continues, “There have been events that confirmed my belief in God.  Both as a child and as a teenager I occasionally felt His presence in a special way.  I cannot explain or even describe the experience; one simply feels it and is positive it happened. His most recent experiences have been in Medjugorje, “ …a most remarkable place.”

Glenn battled a failing kidney for two-plus years, and received a kidney transplant in February 2003.  He says he feels much better and has renewed energy; he spends most of his time reading about the Constitutional Convention of 1787, (as described by the debates and in the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers,) and researching the history and practice of tort law in the United States.  Perhaps most reflective of his interests, Glenn was instrumental in beginning a vocations committee at his parish, St. Rose on Alameda.  His passion, shared with his Pastor Fr. Richard Huneger, extends to exploring the possibility of setting up a 24-hour adoration center close to the church.  “I want to spend my time this way –involved in the church, increasing awareness of the vocational call, and just giving back.” Glenn has responded to the directives issued in his graduation yearbook 50 years ago.  In his own modest way, he continues to live according to the values that were reinforced during his education at Central Catholic – to live as a Christian witness in service to others.

Capital Campaign Summary

Casey Peddicord, Editor

Final Insignio - Dec. 2002

“We want to provide the best in school facilities for the best of tomorrow’s church and community leaders – we will achieve this by offering the best in quality Catholic education.” Father Timothy Murphy ’58, President

For the past twenty-six months, Central Catholic High School has been making history. In April 2000, with the support of our alumni, parents, past parents, faculty, and friends, we moved into the public phase of our $12.9 million Capital Campaign. 

We asked you for BOTH AND. We asked you to stretch. We asked you to continue your support of the Annual Appeal AND to make a significant pledge to the Capital Campaign. AND, we asked that you do this during a National economic downturn, in a state with the highest unemployment rate in the country and in a community where seemingly every Catholic institution was (and is) in the midst of a capital campaign. 

With your determination, sacrifice, and vision, we made our goal s all along the way; every Challenge grant was met. We are anticipating groundbreaking for the outdoor, new construction in early February, followed by summer remodel work inside the school.  It’s your devotion and spirit that has carried this school for the past 63 years and it’s because of you that we succeeded. Generations of students will enjoy an excellent Catholic education because of you.

 It is with the deepest gratitude that we say Thank you.