Bolles parents Hope Fender and Dana E. Fender – who matched Frank R. Sanchez’s historic $5 million gift to fund the Center for Innovation last fall – stopped by the Bolles Lower School Whitehurst Campus May 20 to speak with Grade 2 students about the building’s construction alongside Stellar representatives who have given first and second graders daily updates on the project throughout the school year.

These Bulldogs had a unique, front-row seat to watch the Frank R. Sanchez & Hope and Dana E. Fender Center for Innovation go from massive mounds of dirt to a nearly complete, three-story structure. They were eager to meet the Fenders and celebrate the new building, where they will eventually attend classes when they enter upper school.

Hope Fender read “Someone Builds the Dream” by Lisa Wheeler and Loren Long to the Class of 2034 before turning it over to the Stellar team to answer questions ranging from how elevator shafts are installed to the process of applying stucco. The Stellar representatives also shared how math is used every day in the construction industry, including the fact that an entire building can be made completely of triangles!

Thank you again to the Fenders and Stellar for making the Sanchez Fender CFI construction a learning opportunity for the entire School community! #BollesFamily