BRIDGEPORT—A major new chapter began at Kolbe Cathedral Preparatory School on October 24, with the ribbon cutting on the new Louis V. Gerstner III Center for Students and Families.
The center will be home to many support and enrichment programs for Kolbe’s students and their families, including a student success center, weight and exercise rooms and classrooms. In addition, it will serve as the home base for the school’s Marian Work Study program and the St. Joseph Parenting Center.
According to Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, the Gerstner Center will be a beacon of hope to all the people Kolbe Prep serves.
“For nearly 50 years, Kolbe Cathedral Prep has provided more than just an education that is excellent to inner city youth,” the bishop said. “It has offered opportunities for young women and men—many who come from challenging circumstances of life— to break the cycle of poverty and to realize their full human potential, educated in an environment that emphasizes their dignity and gifts as the children of God … Today we celebrate a new chapter in that mission, one that is filled with great promise and hope.”
The Gerstner Center’s renovation was made possible by Gerstner Philanthropies. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., its founder and chair, was present for the ribbon cutting. The mission of quality education is close to his heart, especially because it was also close to the heart of his son: Louis V. Gerstner III, the center’s namesake.
According to Gerstner, his son Louis graduated from Princeton and spent a few years in the financial sector before becoming chair of Gerstner Philanthropies. And while the foundation supports many different programs, Louis almost immediately gravitated toward helping young people in Catholic schools.
“He wanted to be in the classroom seeing these students as they learned, as they played, as they prayed,” Gerstner said of his son. “He never wanted to be anywhere else. And he was a beacon for our activity in Catholic education.”
Louis tragically died 11 years ago, but Gerstner believes his legacy lives on through the building that now bears his son’s name.
“If he were here, he would love Kolbe,” Gerstner said. “Louis would see the opportunity, and he would embrace the challenges. And that’s my message to all of you today: there’s much to be done here. There’s much to be proud of, but we need to see the opportunity that’s still ahead of us, and we need to embrace the challenges to get it done.”
According to Camille Figluizzi, Kolbe’s principal, the ribbon cutting on the Gerstner Center was a long time coming, but everything happens in God’s perfect time.
“This new space represents so much more than bricks and mortar,” she said. “It’s a symbol of hope, possibility, commitment to each and every student who walks through these doors. Mr. Gerstner, it is your vision—along with the bishop’s—and your willingness to invest in the education of these beautiful young minds that have transformed not only the physical environment that we stand outside today, but also the way we view ourselves and our potential.”
Stacie Stueber, the diocese’s interim superintendent of schools, reflected on what the new Gerstner Center would be able to provide to Kolbe’s students—as well as to the surrounding community.
“I imagine students engaging in active discussions in their new classroom spaces, young people working collaboratively with their classmates, or the teaching staff as they develop projects and explore internship opportunities,” Stueber said. “I see bonds being built with their mentors and families attending workshops that will empower them with the skills to better navigate the challenges of raising a family. It brings about a great feeling of renewal when a whole community comes together from within Kolbe, from within the Diocese of Bridgeport, from within the city of Bridgeport, and from outside the city limits, all to continue the gift of Catholic education.”
Gerstner also spoke truthfully about the state of Catholic education today in the United States, as well as the challenges Catholic schools are facing. Over the past 30 years, thousands of Catholic grammar and high schools have shut their doors. The number of students in those Catholic schools has also drastically decreased—from six million students 30 years ago to just 1.5 million today.
And yet, despite that somewhat grim picture, Kolbe Cathedral Preparatory School is helping change the narrative about what Gerstner called Catholic education’s “death spiral.” Many of Kolbe’s students and their families face continued difficulties like poverty, but the school’s graduation rate is an impressive 100 percent. Many of its students go on to study at prestigious universities, including Harvard and Yale. Just last year, the bishop noted, three Kolbe graduates chose to attend the University of Notre Dame—one of the country’s most selective Catholic universities.
All of this is, according to the bishop, proof of the power of Catholic education.
“This center is a beacon of hope for our students, families, and their community,” he said. “But it’s also a symbol of the power of faith-based education, of what can be achieved when we dare to believe in the potential and dignity of every human person.”
By Rose Brennan