All Classrooms Air-Conditioned at St. Rita High School

CHICAGO — St. Rita High School announced that its sprawling 37-acre campus now features completely air-conditioned classrooms.

The $1 million project began last spring and concluded on Thursday, August 15 in time for Freshmen Orientation — the largest incoming class of students in five years.

“We take pride in providing an Augustinian education for our students; and this upgrade to our beautiful campus will ensure our Ritamen can make the most of it,” President Deacon John Donahue shared. “As a growing institution, it is our top priority to ensure our classrooms are an effective learning environment for our students.”

On the heels of this major cooling upgrade, St. Rita administration is also in the process of developing a strategic plan, which includes a master facility plan.

“We have so much momentum at a critical time for St. Rita High School,” Deacon John Donahue stated. “This was a large undertaking for our facilities team. Accomplishing this for our students and faculty while we are planning for our bright future has us all feeling excited about more positive changes to come.” 

St. Rita, originally located at 63rd Street & Claremont Avenue, moved to the campus on 77th Street & Western Avenue in 1990 and took over the Quigley South building which was constructed in 1961 for Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary. 

“It has always been a goal of ours to get these rooms air conditioned, and it feels particularly great to reach this goal as we celebrate 35 years on this campus,” Fr. Tom McCarthy, O.S.A. ‘83, Director of Community Relations shared. “Now the whole building is cooled.”