Frederica Academy has been engaged in an ambitious expansion plan fueled by an increased demand from area families, an increase in curricular and extracurricular offerings, and an increased need to renovate and construct additional facilities to accommodate the growth in both students and programs over the past five years. That extensive plan has been entirely funded by present and former parents, grandparents, trustees, alumni, and members of our Board of Visitors as well as individual and institutional friends of the school. The over fifteen million dollars raised to date dwarfs all fundraising efforts in the past, has allowed the school to transform the campus into what it has become today, and is truly a testament to the generosity and commitment of our families and friends.

 

Within that initial, expansive vision for the campus master plan, all of the three dozen-plus proposed Gateway Campaign projects have now been completed, and the benefits from those completed projects have vastly exceeded our original expectations. The final new facility articulated in that plan is the creation of a second gymnasium located on the north end of the campus connected to our present gym.

 

The compelling need for this new gym structure is inarguable, as we have applied the same criteria to this gymnasium project that we have to every other project in this long-range construction initiative. Most importantly, does our present facility reasonably support the demands of our present programmatic needs? And in this case, the answer is emphatically, no.

 

In the winter during basketball season, there are presently five different teams vying for a single court space after school, and the size and number of those teams grows proportionally to the growth of school’s enrollment. That single court is for all the practices and all interscholastic games for all five teams, and it has resulted in an entirely untenable schedule for all players/teams unless some teams practice very late at night or very early in the morning. A new gym will also enhance the volleyball player and spectator experience as well. At a school where our students are encouraged to try a variety of extracurricular activities and compete to the best of their abilities, providing regular access to adequate practice space is critical. For a school where community culture is strengthened by parents and students alike attending and interacting at athletic events, providing first-rate spectator accommodations is critical also.

 

This vision for this phase of campus master plan and the vision for this second gym are almost realized. As of mid-October 2025, we have five million dollars pledged or in hand towards the total cost of a gym that will approach seven and a half million dollars. Unlike in the Gateway Campaign where we were funding projects as the money and pledge commitments came in, here we cannot even break ground until all the funds or pledges have combined to total $7.5 million. As a best guess, it will take about twelve months to complete the gym once we break ground, and we were hoping teams would be practicing and playing games during the 2026-2027 basketball seasons. This will only be possible if we reach our goal over the next month or so.

 

The new gym will be the Shuman Gymnasium in honor of Bonney and Billy Shuman for their quarter-of-a-century steadfast generosity and volunteerism to the school. The Shuman Gymnasium will be housed in The Dunn Family Sports Complex, which will be dedicated in memory of Ellen Dunn and Mike Dunn through the generosity of their two sons, Kevin Dunn and Patrick Dunn, and their families.

 

Scott L. Hutchinson

FA Head of School