Brookfield Academy hits fundraising goal

Brookfield Academy has raised the $12.5 million needed to fund construction of its new high school, Patriots Hall, a school spokeswoman said.

Fundraising unofficially began in fall of 2005 and launched publicly the following year. By September 2006, $8.4 million had been raised.

The effort is the largest fundraising campaign in the school's 46-year history, Head of School Bob Solsrud said in May. The academy had collected $11.7 million as of May 28, and Solsrud said an anonymous donor had pledged to give $500,000 when the $12 million mark had been reached.

A school spokeswoman declined to give further details about the fundraising effort at this time, but said the independent college preparatory school will publish a news release Friday.

Construction on Patriots Hall, which began last fall, is expected to be completed in January. The new building will impact all students at the academy, effectively doubling the school's total space, Solsrud said. The current high school will become the middle school, and the current middle school will become home to third-, fourth- and fifth-graders.

High school students will make the move to Patriots Hall in January 2010, Solsrud said, allowing seniors to spend one semester in the new building before graduating. The rest of the school will take up residence in their new buildings in September 2010.