BK2020 Vision Campaign

In conjunction with the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan, Bishop Kelly launched the second capital campaign effort in the school’s 60-year history in 2014: the BK2020 Vision Campaign. BK2020 Vision was designed to raise funds to meet the objectives outlined in the 5-year strategic plan, and to advance our mission to educate and develop the whole student in the Catholic tradition – Spirit, Mind and Body. The mission of the BK2020 Vision Campaign is twofold: to accommodate our continued strong enrollment growth, and to best serve the growing spiritual, academic, and co-curricular needs of our BK students.

The ongoing need to develop our facilities and programs due to the rising demand for a Bishop Kelly education is greater than ever.  Our vision for Bishop Kelly by the year 2020 positioned us to take the next steps in meeting the needs of our current and future students, and enabled us to stay ahead of the ever-changing demands in the classroom, work force, community, and beyond.  Below you will learn more about what we accomplished.

Contact Bishop Kelly Today!

There is great flexibility in how to support Bishop Kelly High School. Please contact Tommy Steiner, BK Vice President of Philanthropy at 208.947.1325 or tsteiner@bk.org to learn more about how to get involved at BK. Thanks and Go Knights!

What was accomplished through the BK2020 Vision Campaign?

Completed BK2020 Vision Projects

The East Classroom Wing was completed prior to the Fall 2015-16 School Year and is the new “home” for our Social Studies Department. Seven classrooms were built within the East Classroom wing and has played a critical role in accommodating our recent enrollment growth over the past 5 years. The new academic space includes our new BK Student Art Gallery where our talented arts students are able to display their works. Finally, shared seating in the hallway is to encourage small group collaboration, and additional areas for our students to build community and camaraderie. We are blessed to have such tremendous support from our community.

The Fraser Library expansion was completed prior to the Fall 2015-16 School Year and is the “center” of the School. Tom and Joan Cooney generously donated one of the single largest gifts in the history of the school, and chose to name the library after Father Donald Fraser. The expansion project doubled the size of the library to accommodate a computer lab area and increased volume of books, added small quiet study spaces for individual or group work, and shared seating to enable academic and social collaboration. Fraser Library has quickly become a favorite location among our student body. Thank you, Tom and Joan Cooney, for your incredibly generous support of Bishop Kelly and our students!

The Harrison Tennis Complex was completed prior to the Fall 2015-16 School Year and is considered one of the premier outdoor tennis complex in the Treasure Valley. The Harrison Tennis Complex includes eight (8) named, championship courts and is the new home for our BK Tennis program. BK Tennis has a rich championship history accumulating 17 State Titles. Twenty-eight generous Bishop Kelly families came together to make this vision a reality. Thank you and Go BK!

The East Parking Lot expansion was completed in conjunction with the Harrison Tennis Complex. The expansion provides easy access to Allumbaugh Road and parking between the baseball complex and tennis complex. The parking lot is critical to accommodating the various after school activities and community events offered on-campus.

The LaMott Family Performance Training Center renovation was completed in 2015 and has been a “game-changer” in how we train our student-athletes for practice and competition. The premier training center also serves our facility needs for weight training and physical education, and includes indoor turf running lanes for agilities, plyometrics, functional movements, and anaerobic exercise. We are blessed to be able to offer first-class training facilities for current and future student-athletes, which is not possible without our incredibly generous community.

The BK Lacrosse Wall was completed in 2016 and is a critical training tool for our BK Boys and Girls Lacrosse programs to practice 365 days a year. One Bishop Kelly family chose to step up and generously fund the cost to construct the lacrosse wall with a gift to the BK2020 Vision Campaign. The BK Lacrosse Wall features a mural of the BK Crest and boys and girls lacrosse athletes in Kelly Gold and Black. Thank you for your investment in our school and lacrosse program. Go Knights!

The Father Wilson Science and Technology Wing was a focus effort of the multi-year capital campaign. The lead donor anonymously gave a $1 million gift and wished to name the new wing after the late Father “Reg” Wilson to honor the many accomplishments he achieved on behalf of Bishop Kelly. Father Wilson served as Bishop Kelly’s principal and spiritual director, served on the BK Board of Governance and BK Foundation Board, and was responsible for establishing the Bishop Kelly Foundation in 1976. Without his leadership, the school would have closed it’s doors in the mid 1970s. The new science and technology wing was ready in-time for the first day of the 2018-19 school year on August 20, 2018 and we welcomed 840 students – a record for Bishop Kelly! The new Father Wilson Science and Technology Wing includes:

• 12 state of the art teaching labs
• 5 independent research labs
• 5 materials labs
• new Student Commons including a mural done by BK Alumnus, Colin Pfeiffer ’04 – serving as a welcoming, shared space for students and faculty
• new Senior Hall with over 250 lockers
• Extra-wide hallway to accommodate flexible seating for small group work, study or quiet time before and after school, and to build community and camaraderie

The Father Wilson Science and Technology Wing is the new “home” for our Sciences (Chemistry, Biology, Physics), Computer Science, Engineering, and Robotics Departments. The teaching labs are designed to be fully flexible spaces with the ability to reconfigure each room for a faculty lecture, students’ lab experiments, independent learning to dive deeper into topics that interest students, and student led research projects. This standalone wing will also be available for widespread community use, particularly for STEM education, summer camps, adult education, and community meetings. Finally, the addition of the Father Wilson Science and Technology wing has not only strengthened our science and technology curriculum, but also ensures we are able to accommodate current and future families who wish to seek a Bishop Kelly education. Without this new wing, we would have had to “turn away” families who believe in Catholic Education. It was an incredible community effort to make this all happen.

The Kitchen remodel was identified as a focus area to help accommodate the strong enrollment growth that BK is experiencing. The 56-year old kitchen was built to serve 400 students in 1964, and was due for a much needed upgrade and remodel. Updates to all equipment, the hood, roof, electrical, and physical layout was completed to better serve our students, reduce wait times, improve efficiencies in food prep and quality, and improve traffic flow. The kitchen remodel was completed in October 2019.

Our goal was to invest in upgrades to our “Reg” gym to best serve our Performing Arts students and programs. We installed new auditorium-style, flexible telescopic seating; sound/lighting/acoustics upgrades; and did updates and cleaned up “look and feel” of the “Reg”. We are thrilled to be able to showcase our incredibly talented actors, actresses, and musicians in this newly renovated performing arts space! The many upgrades and enhancements were completed August 2019.

Our Lady’s Garden Outdoor Spiritual Space is considered one of the many gems on campus, and enriches our Catholic identity. BK Horticulture students designed an outdoor spiritual garden located between the BK Greenhouse and the Harrison Tennis Complex to serve as a quiet, prayerful space for students and faculty. The garden includes trees, plants, walking paths, and hedge enclosure; an amphitheatre to accommodate an outdoor classroom; also a Beatitudes Walk, Rosary Walk, and Blessed Mary Grotto. This space was completed prior to the 2019-2020 school year, and was blessed and dedicated at the annual, 2019 Welcome Back BBQ celebrated with our community.

Continuing to invest in our Athletic Infrastructure to ensure we have safe and effective facilities for our student-athletes to prepare, train, and compete is always of great importance at Bishop Kelly. We believe offering fun and rewarding activities are a critical component of the high school experience at BK. As a school, we planned and prioritized the many needs of our athletic programs and student-athletes. The Softball field, Soccer/Lacrosse field, and Ysursa Field emerged as our highest need areas.

• Softball Field: new Varsity dugouts with storage and BK team changing room, and new backstop
• Chuck Irvine Field: LED field lights; bleachers; sound system
• Ysursa Field: New guest services building (ticket office, restrooms, spirit store, concessions) and the Lachiondo Family Plaza gathering space

From the onset, Bishop Kelly Foundation Endowment Growth was identified as an important component of the BK2020 Vision.  Growing the Bishop Kelly Foundation endowment is critical to the long-term success of the school and students, and directly supports every current and future Bishop Kelly family. Each year, the Foundation “spins off” an unrestricted operating grant from its endowment, protecting the corpus so that this non-tuition revenue stream continues in perpetuity. This support enables us to keep tuition among the lowest in the northwest region, and ensures Bishop Kelly remains accessible for all who wish to seek a Catholic education. Over $3 million was raised for the endowment through the BK2020 Vision Campaign from 2015-2021. The endowment grew from $8.8 million in 2014, to over $15 million in 2021. Today, the BK Foundation endowment is over $17 million.

Below you will see current images of the recently completed projects of the BK2020 Vision Campaign.