Barstow Announces Third Major Gift in 2021-2022
The Barstow School is pleased to announce a $1 million gift from the Graves Family Foundation. Faculty and staff, students and student-athletes will benefit from the latest in a series of transformational gifts made to the school this year.
“With this gift from the Graves Family Foundation, Barstow will build upon the tradition of excellence that began in 1884,” President Shane Foster said. “We are grateful for the confidence it shows in our school’s bright future. As demand for a Barstow education continues to rise, gifts like this allow us to serve our families with a world-class faculty, innovative programs and modern academic and athletic facilities.”
Barstow will mark sixty years on its State Line Road campus in south Kansas City in May. The Graves Family Foundation gift will be used to improve and enhance the Knights baseball field and to create a state-of-the-art faculty resource center and lounge.
“Outstanding faculty and staff members help make Barstow the best independent school in the region,” said Greg Graves, former chairman and CEO of Burns and McDonnell and current Barstow trustee. “To attract talented employees and enroll families who want the very best education for their children, you need world-class facilities and resources. The Graves Family Foundation believes there is no better time to invest in education and our community.”
Jennifer Dreiling, Vice President Advancement, said, "We are truly touched by the generosity of the Graves Family Foundation. Our students, families, faculty and staff will benefit so greatly from this gift that honors Barstow's mission to give symmetrical development to mind, body, and character."
In September, Dan and Cassidy Towriss made a $2 million gift to IDEA Space KC, Barstow’s STEAM learning center that will open in Leawood this summer. In December, Barstow announced an anonymous $7.5 million transformational gift, the single largest donation in school history, sparking a groundswell of philanthropic support for the school and more than 750 students from 70 ZIP codes in Kansas and Missouri.
