Capital Campaign

"Philanthropy is sound policy, an honor, a privilege, an incomparable pleasure, and a reward in itself."

- Cotton Mather

Building Futures One Child at a Time

To continue providing an unparalleled academic experience in the next decade, Topeka Collegiate School must improve its facilities in order to reduce overcrowding, provide technological improvements, maintain state-of-the-art security, and enhance academic performance. We are focused on three areas for our future growth:

Constructing a Permanent Middle School

Our accrediting body, The Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) strongly recommends replacing the modular buildings that currently house our middle school. Most of the portable units were already used when we purchased them, and all were moved in 1996 from the old campus to our current one. They have exceeded their useful lives, and are expensive to heat and cool. The cramped classrooms are not conducive to learning and limit middle school enrollment.

We pride ourselves on providing excellent curriculum and inspirational teachers, but we are falling behind when it comes to infrastructure. We must provide a stimulating, comfortable learning environment for our children.

Renovating Existing Building

Although the existing building is solid and built to last, we plan to augment our children's security with a check-in and monitoring area at the front entrance that gives us visual contact with all visitors.

Enhancing Science, Media and Technology

The Existing Science Laboratory for middle school limits the scope and effectiveness of the science curriculum because it lacks sufficient space for authentic science - the interactive, practical work that takes science out of the textbook and reinforces concepts with hands-on skills and experience.

The ideal science environment requires ample space, with separate areas for lectures and labs. It includes enough lab space so that experiments and projects can be set up and left for extended periods rather than dismantled to make way for the next class. It includes waist-high lab counters, natural gas hook-ups and electrical outlets for experiments, and readily accessible running water for safety and clean up. Our current science facility lacks all of these.

Our goal is to stimulate learning by eliminating overcrowding, separating lecture classroom from laboratory, and meeting standards for schools built within the last five years. Students need dedicated, age-appropriate science lecture and laboratory space.

As our children progress, their needs become more sophisticated. Our science laboratory must help nurture their quest for knowledge and their sense of growth and accomplishment.

The Existing Media Center is simply not equipped to stimulate or accommodate middle school students. Because it was designed as a grade school library, it provides virtually no resources for middle school student research. We have no plans to change the traditional library for younger students. They will still have the hands-on experience with books that all children need and enjoy.

For older students, we must provide the tools necessary for them to interact productively with their world in this rapidly changing age of information. The school operates a networked computer system with a large computer lab and computers in every classroom. But those computers are, in most cases, seven to 10 years old, and there is no reserve fund to replace them. There is no wireless connection, so students' access to the Internet is limited and less flexible than they need and deserve.

Technology will be improved by making the entire school wireless, allowing teachers and students greater mobility and flexibility. The computer lab will remain dedicated to computer instruction, but we also plan to mount computers on carts that will travel from classroom to classroom. We will equip classrooms with state-of-the-art, interactive, electronic white boards that give teachers more options for engaging students.