Saint Francis Xavier breaks ground for expansion

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Father Robert Moriarty, pastor of Saint Francis Xavier Parish, speaks during the ceremonial groundbreaking. He is joined on the stage by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake, and other dignitaries.

KEARNS - On Dec. 3, the feast day of its patron saint, Saint Francis Xavier Regional School held a groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion that will add 12,000 square feet to the facility.

"We serve 270 students at present, and we have simply run out of room to meet their educational, social, and spiritual needs," said St. Francis Principal Patrick Reeder in a press release.

St. Francis' student body is comprised of students in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school, which is the only west-side school except Saint Andrew in Riverton, also hosts an after-school program. An ideal student population would be about 310, Reeder said.

The expansion will bring a new library, science lab, two classrooms, a room for Extended Day Care, additional bathrooms, a music room, a multipurpose room, and faculty offices to the school.

"It will give us the space we have needed since the school began," Reeder added during an interview at the press conference. "It just gives us room to breathe and gives us room to better educate students."

Nancy Essary, who was St. Francis' principal until this school year, attended the groundbreaking. She began the process for the expansion about eight years ago with a feasibility study, she said. "I felt we needed space for our programs," she said.

The expansion was funded by grants from the McCarthey and Eccles foundations as well as from private donors such as Fazio Farms. Essary said she tried four times to secure one grant before finally being successful.

"We refused to let them say no," she said. "We just kept pushing and never gave up."

It was nice to see the groundbreaking finally happen, she added. "The kids here deserve it."

"This event marks a historic moment in the life of the school and parish community," Father Robert Moriarty, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish, said in the press release. "When completed, this project will provide space for our students to continue their educational growth. We have been raising money to fund this expansion for the last eight years, so we are certainly overjoyed to finally break ground. This is a very proud moment in the life of our community."