St. Anthony’s Tri-Parish Catholic School Redevelopment

The Client

St. Anthony’s is a small private school in Wyoming that does not receive any federal or state funding. The school planned to build its first new structure in a generation, and the administrators did not have any experience with the design-build process or the specifics of furnishing a new facility.

The Challenge

St. Anthony’s needed a new school building, complete with entirely new furnishings for classrooms, auditoriums, libraries, public spaces and administration offices. The school also needed an interior that would last a very long time, since funding a renovation a few years down the road was unrealistic. Because of the tremendous scale of this project, school administrators needed a reliable partner to help them develop the interior of the school within their budget and within a tight time schedule.

“We were a bit overwhelmed at the daunting task of designing an entire school and all the choices that had to be made,” says Margot Bean, development committee chair for the building of St. Anthony’s new school.

“Being in the situation of a small private school with limited funds, we felt that we had an opportunity for the first time to have everything in the building match and be coordinated,” says Cindy Novotney, principal of St. Anthony’s. “This would be our first and best and last shot to make this school beautiful.”

The Solution

Canter representatives consulted with St. Anthony’s administration on their needs and their vision for the new building. “We had a lot of discussions about best practices and how to most effectively reach the school’s goals while keeping the project on budget and on time,” says Carl Canter, company principal at Canter. “Most important, we listened to them. We took the time to understand what they needed, and we created new interior spaces that help them provide a high-quality, effective learning environment.”

Based on previous experience, the Canter team, led by Wyoming sales rep Michele Abeyta, identified a set of best practices for furnishing the new school, and helped St. Anthony’s implement a variety of unique solutions to the needs of the new facility. Canter drew the products from KI’s line of educational furniture, including Intellect Wave classroom furniture, Enlite tables, Sela lobby seating and True desking, among other items.

“I was here the first day that we had children in the classrooms, and they wandered around with big smiles on their faces,” says Bean. “Every single child was beaming ear to ear … We actually had teachers and parents come and stand in our commons area and cry.”

“When you know this is your shot, you want everything to be exactly the way you envisioned it,” adds Novotney. “I don’t think there’s a single thing we would change.”