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St. Stephen's to use $17 million gift to build campus natatorium

Rick Cantu, Austin American-Statesman
·1 min read
An artist's rendering of the planned natatorium on the campus of St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Southwest Austin, planned to be ready for the 2025-26 school year. It's being built off a $17 million gift from the Still Water Foundation, the largest such gift in the school's 75-year history.
An artist's rendering of the planned natatorium on the campus of St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Southwest Austin, planned to be ready for the 2025-26 school year. It's being built off a $17 million gift from the Still Water Foundation, the largest such gift in the school's 75-year history.

St. Stephen's Episcopal School will use a $17 million gift to build a natatorium, said Chris Gunnin, the head of school for St. Stephens.

The gift is the largest in the history of the school, Gunnin said. It was provided by the Still Water Foundation, a private family foundation that primarily funds organizations in Texas focused on the arts, education, the environment, spirituality and social services.

Gunnin said the gift "will strengthen St. Stephen's' ability to continue building on our reputation ofeducating the holistic mind, body, and spirit of each student. We are profoundly grateful.”

Slated to open in the fall of 2025, the 50-by-20 meter pool will dramatically enhance the aquatic program at St. Stephen's, he said. It will be located adjacent to the school's tennis academy, which overlooks the Hill Country and the Colorado River.

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The gift will allow St. Stephen’s to host year–round short- and long-course meets, expand water polo practiceand game space, and explore partnerships with community club programs. This will be the only school in the Southwest Preparatory Conference with such a facility, Gunnin said.

An artist's rendering of what the inside could look like in the planned natatorium at St. Stephen's. When it's ready, it will dramatically alter the school's ability to hold swimming practices and host meets throughout the year. It should be ready by the fall of 2025.
An artist's rendering of what the inside could look like in the planned natatorium at St. Stephen's. When it's ready, it will dramatically alter the school's ability to hold swimming practices and host meets throughout the year. It should be ready by the fall of 2025.

“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, executive director of Still Water Foundation and former St. Stephen's executive chair.

St. Stephen's, located in West Austin, is a coed boarding school for grades 8-12, and day school for grades 6-12. Located on 370 acres of land, the school was founded in 1950 and educates roughly 700 students.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: St. Stephen's to benefit from large gift to build campus natatorium