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Sydney Cromwell
Campaign co-chair Barbara Coleman speaks at the CMS groundbreaking. Photos by Sydney Cromwell.
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Mayor Scott McBrayer speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony.
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Sydney Cromwell
Students unveil the total raised in CMS’s capital campaign.
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Sydney Cromwell
Students unveil the total raised in CMS’s capital campaign.
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Sydney Cromwell
The Creative Montessori School has named its campus in honor of founder Barbara R. Spitzer.
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CMS Executive Director Greg Smith presents a picture to founder Barbara Spitzer.
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Sixth grade students hold the shovels for the groundbreaking.
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Sydney Cromwell
Sixth grade students hold the shovels for the groundbreaking.
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Several people essential to the capital campaign were chosen to participate in the groundbreaking of Phase I of the campus master plan.
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Sydney Cromwell
Several people essential to the capital campaign were chosen to participate in the groundbreaking of Phase I of the campus master plan.
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Sydney Cromwell
Several people essential to the capital campaign were chosen to participate in the groundbreaking of Phase I of the campus master plan.
At a groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 3, Creative Montessori School announced that it had raised $2,825,000 in a capital campaign to build a preschool building, dining hall, administrative building and community room. The school’s original fundraising goal was $2.35 million.
Campaign co-chair and CMS parent Brooke Coleman said the success of the campaign was due to 100 percent donation commitments from the CMS staff and board members, as well as around 200 other donors. Several organizations, including the Hugh Kaul Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, also donated. Students raised a total of $1,655.
CMS finished its campaign about six months ahead of schedule, Coleman said, due to a lot of work from staff, board members and involved parents and alumni.
Mayor Scott McBrayer, City Chief of Staff J.J. Bischoff and Ward 1 Representative Britt Thames were at the groundbreaking. The mayor expressed his support of the project to the crowd and thanked CMS for choosing to stay in Homewood.
“The city of Homewood has always attracted good quality people,” McBrayer said. “What an influence you have on young people. Don’t forget it and don’t take it for granted.”
CMS currently has over 200 students from around the area. The school was started in 1968, and one of the founders, Barbara Spitzer, was at the groundbreaking. Coleman and Executive Director Greg Smith both thanked her for her continued support of the Montessori School. The location has been named the Barbara R. Spitzer Campus in her honor.
The students at CMS were gathered in yellow hard hats to watch the groundbreaking, and sixth grade students were chosen to hand the golden shovels to those participating in the ceremony.
To learn more about Creative Montessori School, visit cmskids.org.
