"Noblesse Oblige" is the motto of Maryknoll School, meaning "To whom much is given, much is expected."

Today marks a historic return on expectations for the 81-year-old Catholic school in lower Manoa, as Maryknoll caps its first-ever capital campaign, which is funding the first new building for the school's campus in more than 30 years.

The small private school has been constructing a two-story community center/gymnasium since November to serve students who lack indoor facilities for schoolwide assemblies and sports such as volleyball and basketball.

The capstone contribution — a $3 million gift — was made by the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, after which the new gym is being named.

Maryknoll said the Ching Foundation donation, being recognized in a ceremony today, was the largest received and roughly completes a $12 million fundraising goal for the project.

"It's quite an accomplishment," said Al Wong, a local attorney who is chairman of Maryknoll's board of directors and co-director of the capital campaign.

The cost of the project was originally estimated at $8 million but has since risen to $21 million. Despite the new higher price, Wong said the school decided not to increase the $12 million target for the capital campaign.

"We didn't want to raise the goal and people feel like 'hey, they're moving the target,' " Wong said.

Some of the project may have to be financed with debt, Wong said. Still, school officials are proud of the campaign, particularly considering that Maryknoll didn't even have an organized alumni association until 1999 and had not previously tried to raise money for large capital spending projects.

Established in 1967 by local developer Clarence T.C. Ching, the Ching Foundation has contributed millions of dollars to Catholic organizations such as Saint Louis School, Chaminade University and Saint Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii.

Yvonne Morris, Maryknoll development director, said reaching out to alumni raised roughly $2 million, which she said was impressive for the school.

"For the alumni, it's an incredible feat because they've never been asked to give like this before," she said.

ATHLETES GET OWN GYM

For most Hawai'i high schools, a gym and assembly hall are standard facilities. But for Maryknoll — started in 1927 by six Maryknoll Sisters in a one-story, wooden building — it has been a dream for generations of students used to gathering outside for big events and playing "home" games at rival schools.

"The first time I went to talk to the alumni, they said, 'Oh, we've been hearing about (plans for) a gym since the 1950s,' " Wong said. "It's going to be a great contribution to the school."

The new center is scheduled to open in May 2009.

The project moved from more than an idea about a decade ago when Maryknoll board members, under the direction of the Rev. Frank Diffley, hammered out a strategic plan to achieve the long-held dream.

The plan involved the capital campaign, acquiring land adjacent to the school and hiring a school president and a development director with strong fundraising experience.

The school's first president, Michael Baker, was hired in 1997 and reported to a board of directors, which was a departure from Maryknoll's prior governing structure in which school principals reported to the pastor of Sacred Heart Church, who in turn reported to the superintendent of diocesan Catholic schools and the bishop of the Honolulu diocese.

Baker, who retired in June, said the school was spending an "inordinate amount of money" renting gym facilities and busing students to practices and off-campus "home" games.

"It was always laughable having homecoming at Damien gymnasium or Mid-Pac gymnasium," Baker said.

Maryknoll, because it participates in three athletic leagues, fields more teams in some sports than other schools with more facilities.

Like other O'ahu private schools, Maryknoll is a member of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu for grades 7 to 12. But the school also participates in the Christian Schools Athletic League that allows fifth- and sixth-graders to represent the school in volleyball and basketball, and the Catholic School League, which provides more opportunities for fifth- to eighth-grade students.

Baker said the new center will elevate school pride, allowing Maryknoll to hang banners in its own gym and display school trophies, of which 90 percent are in storage because of a lack of display space.

TOP-NOTCH FACILITIES

Major uses of the gym will be for volleyball and basketball, but other athletic and nonathletic activities will find a new home in the facility, which will be anything but a spartan home for the Spartans.

The center is being built on a part of Maryknoll's grade school campus, which is separated from the high school campus by about two blocks and sits below the well-appointed Punahou School.

Included in the 35,000-square-foot center will be an NBA-regulation basketball court that can be converted to two high school basketball courts or three volleyball courts.

Other features include 85 underground parking stalls; two classrooms that can be used for martial arts, hula and gymnastics; athletic offices; a food concession; an alumni suite; a 3,000-square-foot fitness center; laundry facilities; locker rooms and team rooms.

One of the team rooms also serves as a changing room for theatrical performances, while the main hall will accommodate performing arts and assemblies.

Baker said the center will serve as a focal point for the separate campuses, allowing the school, which has 1,400 students, to assemble the entire student body indoors on campus for the first time in modern history.

"This is a dream for the whole Maryknoll community," he said. "It's going to change the life of the school when it's all said and done."