Better Together Stories: Imagining What Comes Next, Together

Sometimes families come to St. Benedict’s looking for one thing and discover something much bigger.

For the Judge family, that journey began nearly five years ago when Alex and Ryan Judge were looking for a preschool experience for their oldest daughter, Andie. Friends, neighbors and other St. Benedict’s families spoke highly of the school, especially its strong sense of community and the ways their children were thriving academically and socially.

The Judges decided to start small, enrolling Andie in a short preschool day.

What they found was much more than they expected.

“We didn’t really intend to find our forever school,” Alex said. “We were really just looking for a preschool, but we fell in love with it.”

Nearly five years later, Andie is now in 1st Grade, her younger sister, Sydney, is in Kindergarten, and St. Benedict’s has become an important part of their family’s story.

For Alex, there is not one defining experience that made St. Benedict’s special.

“There is no one big moment or experience, which is sort of the point,” she said. “It’s all of them.”

It is watching her daughters grow in independence and confidence. It is seeing their love of learning develop. It is hearing them talk excitedly about their school day and knowing they are surrounded by adults who care for, challenge and nurture them.

“The community of St. B’s is something truly special,” Alex said. “The teachers, faculty and parents truly care and wrap their arms around each family every day.”

Now, the Judges are watching the school they love prepare for its next chapter.

As supporters of the Imagine Campaign, their family is helping make that future possible.

“It’s unbelievably exciting,” Alex said. “It also feels really special to be a part of it. To see our girls growing along with the school.”

For Alex, that excitement extends beyond what the campaign may mean for her own daughters. She also thinks about the families who will come to St. Benedict’s years from now and the opportunities they will have because of the work happening today.

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That same focus on both the present and future is what makes the Imagine Campaign especially meaningful for Stephanie Alvarez, St. Benedict’s Director of Development and a current parent.

“Knowing that I have a hand in shaping the future of St. Benedict’s and getting to partner with so many families to make that future possible” has been one of the most meaningful parts of the campaign, Stephanie said.

As a parent, she is also excited to see the school’s physical spaces continue to grow alongside the student experience.

“St. Benedict’s is such a loving and special place, and I’m excited that our facilities will grow to support and enhance that experience for our children,” she said. “After so many years of planning and dreaming, it’s especially exciting to know we are now so close to seeing students’ feet on the new property.”

Throughout the campaign, Stephanie says the generosity of the St. Benedict’s community

has been especially inspiring. Families whose children have already graduated, families whose children may graduate before experiencing everything the campaign makes possible, and families with younger students are all helping move the same vision forward.

That collective investment is about more than what any one family receives from St. Benedict’s. It is about preserving what families already love about the school while creating new opportunities for the students who will come next.

For the Judges, that means helping build upon a place that has given their daughters confidence, a love of learning and a community where they feel known and cared for. For Stephanie, it means helping St. Benedict’s continue dreaming about what might be possible 5, 10 and 15 years from now.

And together, those perspectives tell a larger story about this moment in St. Benedict’s history: families investing not only in the school their children experience today, but in the St. Benedict’s that future generations will one day call their own.

That is what it means to imagine what comes next, together.

Want to learn more about the future of St. Benedict’s and the Imagine Campaign? Visit stbs.org/imagine-campaign to explore the vision and learn how our community is helping bring it to life.