After seeing campus needs at School of Science and Math reunion, donor makes record gift
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics is getting a new academic commons area and renovated dorms at its Durham campus thanks to a record $7.5 million gift from an alumnus.
The donation is the largest ever in the school’s history and is tied for the third largest gift to a public high school in the United States, according to the school.
“This gift is really going to be transformational for our school,” Chancellor Todd Roberts said. “Our school is an older facility that is a beautiful historic facility, but certainly in need of some renovations. This gift is catalyzing our ability to begin that work.”
The nation’s first public, residential STEM high school opened in 1980 in the decommissioned Watts Hospital in Durham. Part of the UNC System, NCSSM serves hundreds of high school juniors and seniors from across the state each year. A second campus in Morganton is set to open in 2022.
Anonymous donor saw campus needs
The anonymous donor told the school he was inspired to give back after returning for a class reunion. He said he was impressed by the academic innovations like the Peter T. Haughton Fabrication Lab, but also surprised at how the buildings and dorms hadn’t changed since he was there in the 1990s.
The $7.5 million gift will go toward a new three-story academic commons that will be built onto Bryan Hall and include a renovated dining area, student study spaces and large multi-purpose rooms for presentations and lectures. The total cost is estimated at $12 million, and the first phase of construction will begin in summer 2021.
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The money will also help fund the renovation of the seven residence halls on the Durham campus over the next five years.
Most of the dorms are adapted from the patient wards of the historic hospital, and some halls are more than 100 years old. The renovations of the first hall are set to begin this summer.
The total cost of the project is expected to be about $8.5 million. With this donation, the school needs to raise an additional $4.5 million to complete the dormitory renovations.
Educating ‘thinkers, makers, doers and leaders’
These facility upgrades are part of the more than $50 million in basic repairs and renovations needed on the Durham campus, according to NCSSM.
Roberts said the school is relying on financial support from the state in the next biennium budget. And he hopes other alumni and supporters are inspired to donate toward these projects to help the school serve the next generation of “thinkers, makers, doers and leaders.”
“It is humbling to be part of a place that has sent so many amazing people like you out into the world,” Roberts told the donor. “And so gratifying to see how much you want to ensure the opportunities that you had, or even better ones, are there for future students.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 8:00 AM with the headline "After seeing campus needs at School of Science and Math reunion, donor makes record gift."
