A private boarding school in Texas received a $17 million donation to build a state-of-the-art natatorium set to open in the fall of 2025.
Fresh off of record-high finishes at Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) Championships in February, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School is slated to bring the only 50-meter natatorium in the conference to its Austin campus. The $17 million donation, gifted by the Still Water Foundation, is the largest in school history and among the largest gifts to any independent school in Texas.
“As the popularity of water polo and competitive swimming continues to increase, this world-class swim center will differentiate St. Stephen’s, as we will be among a handful of independent schools in the country with a 50-meter natatorium,” said Chris Gunnin, St. Stephen’s Head of School.
The Myrtha 50-meter by 25-yard pool will allow St. Stephen’s to host meets year-round throughout both short-course and long-course season while also giving the water polo program more space for practice and games. The pool designs are completed and the permitting process is underway.
The Spartans’ hope is that the new facility, combined with their recent success, will attract top athletes to their program.
This past season, the St. Stephen’s boys and girls swimming teams earned runner-up SPC finishes in 4A and 3A, respectively, marking their best placements ever at the conference meet. Even when the Spartans had Coby Carrozza, current University of Texas Longhorns junior and 2022 world champion in the men’s 800-meter freestyle relay, they only finished 6th during his season in 2019. This year, senior Logan Walker led the way with wins in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke in his last high school meet before joining Carrozza at Texas next season.
St. Stephen’s swimming program experienced significant growth in a short period of time with the arrival of Carrozza & Co. In 2019, the Spartans sent nine boys and 10 girls to SPCs, up from just two boys and five girls in 2015. Historically, there have been low-to-no entry standards at SPCs. This past season, 11 boys and seven girls competed at the conference championships.
Carrozza’s dad, Paul, used to coach at St. Stephen’s, but Thomas Andrew now leads both the swimming and water polo programs.
The Spartans haven’t made any final decisions on programming yet as to whether they’ll start their own club program or partner with an existing one. But they are exploring potential partnerships with established local clubs to offer year-round swimming options for the school’s boarding students.
“As St. Stephen’s prepares for its 75th anniversary and embarks on the most ambitious comprehensive campaign in its history, it is Still Water’s great pleasure to make a gift of this significance,” said Ellen Osborne Ray, the executive director of the Still Water Foundation and former Board of Trustees Executive Chair at St. Stephen’s. “As an institution that has often needed to ‘make due’ over the years regarding facilities, St. Stephen’s made a compelling case for what a swim center of this caliber would mean for the entire school community – from recruitment and retention of students from around the world, potential local partnerships, to an enhanced space for community gatherings. We hope this gift will be used as a challenge to inspire and encourage alumni, parents and friends to join us in investing in St. Stephen’s to ensure the future of this special place.”
Still Water is an Austin-based foundation that focuses on funding arts, education, environmental issues, spirituality, and social services in Texas.
LUCKY THEM – We still won 3A boys swimming w. no pool.
Full Meet Results
3A Girls Champion: Awty
3A Girls Runner-up: St. Stephen’s
4A Girls Champion: St. John’s
4A Girls Runner-up: Duchesne
3A Boys Champion: Cistercian
3A Boys Runner-up: Greenhill
4A Boys Champion: St. Mark’s
4A Boys Runner-up: St. Stephen’s
The fact that a league with 19 schools (some of which are all boys or all girls) needed to split into two classifications was an odd choice to me. But makes more sense once you sort of understand the SPC and what they’re trying to sell people on.
Tuition is almost 40K per year (without boarding). I hope they are giving out swimming scholarships.
Great for the sport to see this stuff happening. 👏
Tom is the man
Man, I wish my school received a 17 million dollar gift to build a pool.
Nevertheless maybe I will swim at this pool one day!