What does it mean to grow? Growth can mean a wide array of things for many different people: a new home, a new family member, two inches.
But for Judge Memorial, growth is finding a new place to call home. For years, Judge has been itching for the construction of a new campus. The original plan to move started in 1989 when the administration decided that the Judge Memorial campus should be moved to what was then known as “South High School” on State Street, which is now home to the Salt Lake Community College campus. Given that the current campus was built with the intention to sit on the property that is now St. Ann’s Catholic Church and Middle School, it would make sense that Judge would want to eventually make the move over there.
Simply and most honestly put, the current state of the Judge campus isn’t as pristine as it once was. Additionally, the growing student body has made it evident that a new campus is a necessity. To fully understand the motives and future of this daunting project, I sat down with Principal Lambert for an interview.
“The location of the new campus is going to be where the current St Ann’s campus is located. St Ann’s Elementary School will remain intact and that will continue to be an elementary school. Then we’ll be building a middle school and high school behind that,” Lambert said when asked about the location of the new school.
The construction of this new campus is designed to be student and environmentally friendly. The property for the new school being located at 450 E 2100 S places it just down the street from a TRAX station and a two minute walk from a bus stop. Easy access to the school will be paramount for freshmen and sophomores who need an affordable and convenient way to commute to school.
Judge Memorial’s aging facilities, which range from 40 to 90 years old, and the adjacent Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church “are inadequate,” the diocese’s superintendent Mark Longe wrote, “and renovations are cost prohibitive.”
Lambert elaborated on the motives to move campuses, saying, “The energy waste that we have right now is significant, as you can imagine. The dance studio is a 1936 building. The gymnasium is a 1954, this building is a 1960, and the auditorium is a 1989. And so there is a lot of energy waste that’s occurring all the time.” When asked about what he wants to change the most in the new building Lambert left it short at two words – “Energy efficient.”
But for the school, being energy efficient goes deeper than being eco-friendly. It means being student-energy efficient by placing classes frequently taken together in close proximity, putting physical education classes in and around the gymnasium, creating a central counseling hub for students to pass through during the day, and overall creating more space.
In the same way that the current campus has served Judge students for more than 100 years, Lambert wants to ensure that the new campus can provide a learning environment for years to come. “…all those things that will, I think, create an even better learning environment.”
The new building is projected to hold approximately 1600 students in total: 800 high school students, 400 middle school students, and 400 elementary school students. With a current enrollment of 600 high school students, there is plenty of room for growth in the new building. In terms of attracting new students, Lambert said the new campus will open doorways for incoming pupils in many sectors of high school life. However, although capacity for student body growth is an additional bonus to the new campus, the focus of the move centers around improving the school itself.
“I think there’s going to be ways that we’ll be able to incorporate academic support, social support, and athletic support,” he said. “So far, I think we’ve come up with a building that’s very modern and at the same time still honors the past.” For Judge, a school is an ecosystem that flourishes with a bigger student population as more kids means more engagement across the board. More activities, more sports, and more friendships are all a result of a growing student population. The new school, and specifically its location, could put Judge in the forefront of parents and students alike looking for a new school to call their own.
When it comes to the hefty financial blockade of 130 million dollars that sits in the way of the construction of this new school, Judge is currently sitting in what Lambert referred to as the “silent phase” of their capital campaign. “We’ve started our capital campaign…it’s not necessarily just wide open in the public, as we’re trying to get some kind of key commitments put in place right now.” The majority of the money needed to construct the new building would come from selling our current building. The 7.7 acres of the Judge campus, located in East Bench near the University of Utah, is of high interest to residential and commercial developers amid the city’s latest construction boom.
Both Mr. Lambert and the diocese have made it clear that the campus will not be moved if there is a projected accumulated debt that carries over to future students. The last thing Judge wants is for the move to hinder future clubs and spike tuition in response to the cost of the new building.
Projected construction time is just over three years: eight months worth of schematic planning and two and a half years worth of construction. Construction will take place while students are in the current building meaning the official move will be made over the summer, thereby preventing two and a half years of learning in temporary classrooms. Principal Lambert emphasized the importance of construction during the school year saying, “…so there won’t be a time when we’re in temporary classrooms. And that’s one of the beauties of being able to move to a new location is that the build can be happening simultaneously while we’re learning in this building.”
The final nail that Lambert wanted to hammer home was the idea of longevity.
“I would love to be able to hand that to this next generation and be able to say, this building’s going to serve you, it’s going to serve you for a long time.”
He wants this new campus to fuel the generations of our future for years to come. The new school will transform what it means to be a Judge Bulldog and allow our future to grow and branch off into new horizons. A school is built to last a long time, fostering an environment of flourishing students in the same way the current campus has done through the last century.
