Louisville’s West End School will break ground Tuesday on a new athletic center, which will be the school’s first new construction project since it opened in 2005.Congressman John Yarmuth and Mayor Greg Fischer will attend the ceremony this week to celebrate with West End School, which is a free, private college-preparatory boarding school for at-risk boys.This year, the school extended services to offer day school to kindergarten and pre-K students.Board chair Paul Perconti says the school has raised $1 million so far, which is half the cost to build the new Darrell Griffith Athletic Center, but he remains confident that raising the rest of the funds won’t be an issue.“Our school would like us to be in that gym at this time next year. I don’t know if that’s feasible. It just depends on how fast we move,” Perconti says.Darrell Griffith is a former U of L and professional basketball star and Perconti says he’s an example for the West End School and all of Louisville. Further an athletic center is a much needed addition to the school, he says.“Our boys play 25 games a year and never have a home game. They practice outside whether it’s rain or cold,” Perconti says.The project is expected to be completed in 2014.
