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The Feast of the Archangels is always a notable event at the
Mount but this year it had much greater significance than usual. This day marked the groundbreaking and blessing
of the site for The DJ Sokol Learning for
Life Building. Many guests were in attendance
including school board members, donors, families and friends. Of special note
was the presence of Peggy Sokol the mother of DJ Sokol ‘99 in whose memory the
building is named.
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| Archbishop Lucas Blesses The Building Site |
Because of a larger crowd for this year’s special events the
feast day Mass was held in the Gymnasium instead of the Chapel. Archbishop George Lucas was the celebrant for
the Eucharist. During the service the
Archbishop also mandated 6 students as extraordinary ministers of the
Eucharist. They were juniors Zach Cairney, Jean-Marie Djidjoho, Joe Coldiron,
Patrick Halpin, Drew Goddard, and Michael Ecker.
After Mass everyone proceeded to the construction site. For the blessing the students stood along an outline
of the school as the Archbishop sprinkled holy water at the future entrance. Students then were each given vials of holy
water and dispersed to sprinkle holy water throughout the site. The student kept the vials as mementos of
the occasion.
In the evening a large crowd again gathered at the
construction site this time for a ground breaking ceremony. Numerous talks were giving noting the school
history and thanking supporters past and present for making Mount Michael the
great school that it is. Peggy Sokol was
presented with a framed rendition of the architects drawing of The DJ Sokol
Learning for Life Building. Many of DJ’s
classmates from 1999 posed with Mrs. Sokol for a photograph.
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| Formal Ground Breaking Ceremony |
Ten individuals partook of the formal ground breaking
ceremony representing various parts of the Mount Michael community. They were Andrew Collins ’01, President of
the Alumni Assoc.; Greg Steiren ’01 of BCDM, Todd Rohweder, School Board
President; Michael Fischer ’16, Student Council President; Dr. David Peters, Head
of School; Peggy Sokol, Abbot Michael ’68, Fr. Daniel Hendrickson ’89, President
of Creighton University; Jim Classe ’84 of Prochaska & Associates, and John
Levy representing DJ’s class of 1999.
At the conclusion of the formal ceremony students, faculty and families broke out their shovels to turn a little dirt!
The current construction timeline calls for finalized plans
by the end of October with construction bids going out in November. Some preliminary ground work might be done
this fall but the actual construction start is slated for March. The goal is for completion for the 2017-2018
school year. The Architects for The DJ
Sokol Learning for Life Building are Prochaska & Associates and BCDM.
