The 50th annual Spartan Spectacular Auction was held on Feb 10 and raised over $1.1 million going towards the tuition gap and the school’s future projects otherwise known as the Spartan Fund.
“[The amount given] shows that people really love this school,” Fr. Ronny O’Dwyer S.J. said. “And they believe in what we’re doing,”
The school not only surpassed their goals for money, with them making over $100,000 more than their goal, but with attendance as well. The event sold out seating and featured a record number of alumni attendees.
“I was awestruck,” Director of Special Events Becky Lane said. “They were so happy and generous, it was just very much like Spartan country.”
The first place the money will be going is to the Spartan Fund. The Spartan Fund includes the tuition gap, which is scholarships. The scholarships benefit every kid because everyone is on some form of scholarship. What the school charges in tuition is lower than what it costs from the school. So, there is a gap to be filled by the auction.
The other money that comes with this also benefits the Spartan Fund by helping out with other special projects around the school, like the baseball fields and future renovations revolving around the strategic vision. The Spartan Fund is approaching $3 million.
“As I like to say, no margin, no mission,” Fr. O’Dwyer said. “If we don’t have a good profit margin, we can’t do what we do.”
An auction item was presented 20 minutes before the auction started with Benji Molina, Yadier Molina’s brother, offering a tour of the Spanish broadcasting booth and a meet and greet with him. This time instead of going up to the booth and just seeing the regular Cardinals announcers, you go over to the Spanish booth and meet with Benji. He’ll take a photo with the winner, and will give a baseball signed by himself, Yadier Molina and Jose Oquendo to the winner.
“You never want to say no to people who are trying to help with a fundraising opportunity,” Director of Alumni Engagement Patrick Morris said. “But I just went to full logistics mode, thinking if we can even pull this off.”
The most expensive item sold was the $27,500 New York City trip with Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan. This year, the winner flies in a private jet to meet Cardinal Dolan for St. Patrick’s Day mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and front row seats at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“Those are two really key items that you have a hope and expectation of how the room will react and bid on certain things,” Morris said. “But you can’t obviously control it or know exactly how it’s going to play out at the moment.”
The dogs sold out too, with the shitzu selling for $3,750 and the Golden Doodle selling for $4,500.
The amount raised at the auction has increased around $100,000 every year since 2018, and the administration is looking to continue this pattern.
“It’s just more confirmation to me that the best is yet to come at De Smet,” Fr. O’Dwyer said. “People are jumping on board. They want to be part of this new chapter of the strategic plan and they’re excited about it. Everyone wants to do what they can to make it possible.”
