Jesuit High School has opened the public phase of a $100 million fundraising campaign after already raising $69 million, leaving the Tampa school $31 million short of the largest campaign goal in its history.
The “Excelsior!” campaign will support financial aid, faculty and staff, student programs and an expansion underway at Jesuit’s Himes Avenue campus. President Fr. Vincent Giacabazi, S.J., announced the campaign Aug. 29 before more than 600 supporters at the school’s annual President’s Dinner at the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street.
About 30% of Jesuit students receive financial aid each year. The school, which enrolls approximately 860 boys, committed more than $2.5 million to financial aid for the 2025-26 school year, according to its website. Tuition for 2026-27 is $23,920.
Jesuit already supports financial aid through annual fundraising and a collection of endowments whose investment returns fund tuition assistance. The principal remains invested so the funds can provide aid over time, and Excelsior is intended to strengthen financial aid while directing additional money toward faculty, academic programs, service and faith formation.
The $100 million campaign follows a decade of major capital investment in Jesuit’s Himes Avenue campus. The school launched its “For Greater Glory” campaign with a $35 million target in 2015 and expanded it to $50 million before the campaign ended in 2019. That money supported the first phase of Jesuit’s campus master plan and later helped finance the Antinori Center for the Arts, completed in 2023.
Jesuit moved into Phase III in May, breaking ground on the Jenkins Science Center and Schellman Student Activities Center, which will include the Leal Family Dining Hall. Two $5 million donations from Carole and Richard “Steve” Jenkins ’75 and Lauren and Chris Schellman are the largest individual gifts in Jesuit’s history, while Stacey and Ron Leal have contributed more than $1.2 million to Jesuit over time.
Creative Contractors is building the new facilities, designed by PBK Architects, with completion scheduled for fall 2027. The science center will add laboratories and collaborative spaces for STEM education, while the student activities center and dining hall will provide space for student gatherings, informal learning and other activities outside the classroom.
The expansion addresses only part of what Jesuit now intends to finance. Its 2022 strategic plan called for greater investment in faculty recruitment and retention, curriculum, student programming and financial aid in addition to continued improvements to the campus.
Jesuit did not disclose how the $69 million raised toward Excelsior is divided among those priorities, nor did it provide a deadline for raising the remaining $31 million.
