On November 9. 2023, Archbishop Riordan held their annual President’s reception. This time, the Riordan community came together to celebrate the Student Life Enhancement Project.
Amidst returning, over 100 alumni and Crusader families entered Riordan’s familiar hallways for a lot of different reasons: to celebrate the official unveiling of the new library and classrooms.
History teacher Brian Kosewic ’16 cheered at the new “Riordan look” stating, “I’m really excited that we have this new space now that people are into, excited about, and it’s fresh. It’s a good place for people to hangout, a lot of beautiful places in the new library”
To start the night, there was an oration, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony by President Tim Reardon, student-led tours, and a blessing for each of the new rooms by Fr. Greg Heidenblut.
Admissions Associate, Sally O’Connell said, “This is a super exciting night, [with] a huge turnout, and to see all the work we’ve done over the summer for you guys, so I am super excited to be here”
But beneath this celebration was the profound envisioning of an improvement to “Riordan”, along with its tedious process.
In preparation for the largest enrollment of 1,150 students this year, Riordan took on a summer-long construction project to further support and adhere to the new student community’s needs.
With a newly rebuilt library, two new classrooms, and a “video production room” used to film the telecast, students such as Alana Radoc Manrique ’24 can have “a bigger space with better lighting, which allows us to create a better show and makes the class much more fun!”
Kosewic ’16 commented, “This has been a long project in the making but it’s been really cool to see the whole community come together. As a telecast alumnus myself. It’s really cool standing in this new state-of-the-art telecast green room.”
Architect of this project, Tony Pantaleoni ’70 stated, “I am tickled pink the school honors me by allowing me to do work for the school here for almost 30 years. We just finished this renovation of the library and extra classrooms and we are happy that you guys are enjoying it.”
Admissions Director Danny Curtin ’08 stated “I’m super excited to be here tonight, I just know that when kids step on campus, they know the facilities match the people and if they go there, they can be the best versions of themselves and achieve all the goals they have for themselves academically, personally, and through extracurriculars.
In the future, Riordan hopes to further improve its campus by working on the cafeteria and parking lot to further refurbish Riordan’s 73-year-old campus.
