Oak Hill Academy dedicates newly renovated gymnasium
The Oak Hill Academy community gathered together on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 in the newly renovated gym to commemorate and dedicate the Dr. Robert H. Harris and Mary Ellen Harris Gymnasium. The late Dr. Harris and his wife, Mary Ellen, who was unable to be present on this day, were long time OHA parents and have been avid supporters of the Oak Hill Academy mission in education since 1988.
Head of School, Mr. Joseph A. Pacelli, began the ceremony with a history of the gym, where he was the first physical education teacher! He then spoke about the Harris family and how they have been so important to contributing to the success of Oak Hill Academy both in the classroom and out. Miss Patrice Murray, PE teacher #3 and current Director of Personnel and Administration, introduced the Cosulich Family.
Within the walls of the gym is the primary focus, Cosulich Court. This state of the art multipurpose floor is home to the Mustang basketball teams as well as all physical education classes each and every day. It is named in honor of the Cosulich family. The late Dr. William Cosulich, former Oak Hill Board of Trustees member, and his wife Mrs. Nancy Shen sent their two boys, William (’96) and Michael (’99) to Oak Hill Academy. Dr. Michael Cosulich got up to thank Mr. Pacelli and Miss Murray for their support as he has used the gym to train over the years with his father as he prepared to play basketball for Oak Hill, Lawrenceville School and the University of Pennsylvania and still uses it today to get some shots up. Dr. Cosulich and Mrs. Shen were avid fixtures at OHA sporting events and Michael knew it meant a lot to his father for it to be named after the family.
Mrs. Christina Larkins, Director of Programs and Enrollment, took the opportunity to thank all of our other donors of the gym renovation project, including Mr. Glenn Misson, Director of Facilities, who was integral in organizing, participating in the complete gym renovation.
In addition, the gym renovation, our Mustangs Moving Forward campaign included various families in different forms of support: The Lambert Family (Myles (’89), Lindsay, Myles (’26), Brooke (’28), Tara (’90) and their parents and grandparents, Myles and Joannie) had the North (Brooke) and South (Myles) bleachers named in their honor. The Repoli/Cicero Family (Rich & Kathy, Christine (Repoli) Cicero (’00), Matty (’30), Grace (’32), Abby (’34) and Missy (’07) sponsored the brand new scoreboard on the east wall. Andrew Ming (’04), and his wife, Sydney Miller-Ming contributed the new Oak Hill Academy logo flag on the west wall along with the “Tuesday Night Dads” contribution of a new American Flag. This group of former OHA fathers were represented by Mr. Joe DiSalvo and his wife, Eileen, parents of three OHA graduates (Caitlin (’04), Joe (’07) and Jenna (’10). They have been playing pick up at Oak Hill since 2000. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Keefe, parents, TJ (’86), and grandparents, Tierney (’24) for donating a new Swim Record Board, which also adorns the east wall.
The Mustangs Stepping Forward campaign was supported by the following families who contributed financially and are recognized on the Donor Wall Plaque: Begley, Beyda, Charabaty, Fu, Geneve, Mirchandani and Stevens families. Outside of the gym, more families’ names are engraved in 50 new pavers leading into the gym from our inner roadway, Soma Street.
8 th graders, Dhilan Mirchandani and Bette Kane, shared their thoughts on the new gym and closed out the ceremony respectively, by handing out “Go Mustangs” bracelets to all present.
Finally, Director of Athletics and longtime basketball coach, Mr. Peter Bruckmann, led the Oak Hill community in their cheer of “OH” . . “A” cheer followed by “Mustangs”!
It was a wonderful morning to join together and show our Mustang Pride and love for Oak Hill Academy.
