Gonzaga Prep receives nearly $600,000 for new student support center, classrooms

Gonzaga Prep received a $594,000 grant from a national education nonprofit to fund construction of a new student support center and three modern classrooms.

The funding will completely cover the construction and furniture cost of a designated center to house two existing offices at the school: the academic success center and learning resource center.

G-Prep Principal Derek Duchesne described the former as a “tutoring center on steroids,” where kids can access peer and adult tutors, private rooms for studying or meetings, or math and English labs. It’s modeled after university student centers, Duchesne said; the center is open to all and was accessed by 400 kids last semester.

The other center supports neurodivergent students with diagnosed learning differences, Duchesne said, who may seek accommodations in the center like a private test setting or extended testing time. Around 100 G-Prep students qualify to access the center.

Both centers exist on campus, retrofitted into an old classroom and multipurpose room that Duchesne said don’t translate to the intentions of the spaces.

“This now allows us to help leverage the spaces and furniture to support what’s going on in those areas to support our students,” Duchesne said.

The near-$600,000 grant comes from national education-based nonprofit E. L. Wiegand Foundation, which also paid for Gonzaga Prep’s science lab in 2012. G-Prep learned it won the grant in September.

The school announced it received the grant in a news release Tuesday.

They’re also funding the construction of three “next generation” classrooms that provide more flexibility for teaching. New classrooms will have desks easier to arrange into group configurations and move around the room, bigger square footage and an interactive projection panel.

Classrooms will support a more “active” learning style to contrast the “passive” style of days past, Duchesne said, marked by desks arranged in a row pointed toward a lecturer at the head of the classroom.

Duchesne is expecting to have both projects complete by August.

“It’s created a lot of excitement within the institution. This grant has made it possible to greater serve the students,” Duchesne said. “All of this is funneled right back into the individual student experience and how we best support students as they prepare for college and beyond.”