Major Gift Announcement: William H. Pitt Foundation
Belen Jesuit is excited to announce that The William H. Pitt Foundation, Inc., of Palm Beach, Florida, has pledged $420,000 to the For the Greater Glory Campaign in order to advance the vision and direction of the school. This seven-year commitment will go towards six scholarships for qualified students that help drive our diversity efforts at Belen Jesuit.
Each grant includes tuition, books, and school fees and is subject to maintaining high academic and disciplinary standards.
Mr. Pitt, who died in 2000, was a philanthropist and real estate magnate of Greenwich, CT., and Palm Beach, FL. He established the foundation in 1985 in honor of his son in order to benefit deserving youth, primarily through education.
“This is the first all-boys school for both middle and high school for which we have made a grant,” said Mrs. Pauline Baker Pitt, Foundation president. “Bill was devoted to Christian education and reaching out to the less fortunate. Belen and this program fall directly into the sights of his interests and our giving program.”
The pledge will help fund the St. Peter Claver, S.J. Scholarship which was established to ensure that our school population is more reflective of the community we live in. Belen Jesuit’s population is largely Hispanic and the school’s strategic plan, which was released in August 2017, calls for us to look at our diversity in terms of socioeconomic and race so we can represent a more diverse student population. This is a step forward in fulfilling the vision established by that plan.
“We are thankful, the families are thankful and we are all excited about our partnership with The William H. Pitt Foundation,” said Father Willie. “It is very important that we take active measures to increase our diversity on campus. This outreach program is at the heart of our mission as a Catholic school.”
Every gift received helps us in fulfilling the challenges set forth in the Strategic Plan (Strengthening our Catholic-Jesuit Identity, Academic Excellence, Forming Well-Rounded Men and Enhancing our Brotherhood) and we plan on announcing many more leadership level gifts in the coming months.
We continue to strive for greatness and need your help in achieving our goal. If you would like to contribute to the vision of the school, please contact Phil Fernandez ’94 at ffernandez@belenjesuit.org or call him at 305-804-7683.
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.