Tim and Amie Connelly P’17,’19 have established the first endowed chair in St. Sebastian’s history: the Tim and Amie Connelly Distinguished Chair in Classics. Two of the Connellys’ sons—Nicholas ’17 and Matthew ’19—had wonderful experiences as students and their oldest son, Ryan, is an honorary Arrow. “As a family, we’re so grateful to St. Sebastian’s and how the school transformed our sons into men, both in the classrooms and on the athletic fields,” shared Amie. 

The Connellys wanted to give back to St. Sebastian’s in a way that captured both of their sons’ experiences and after giving it considerable thought, decided to focus their campaign gift on the exceptional faculty. “We wanted to recognize in some way the special sauce that is St. Sebastian’s,” said Tim, who joined the Board of Trustees this year. “While there’s a lot of great things about the school, we kept coming back to how impressed we were with the faculty.” 

Although both boys had enjoyed courses and teachers across the departments, they landed on the Classics Department, with chair Sean Albertson serving as the catalyst for tipping them in this direction. “Sean was the mentor-advisor for Matthew and he was the head of the department that Nicholas loved,” noted Tim. At the Faculty-Trustee Dinner on November 7, Tim took the podium to announce the Tim and Amie Connelly Distinguished Chair in Classics, recognizing Sean, the first chair to hold the title and the entire department for their outstanding contributions. 

The Connellys believe that endowed chairs are a strategic way to strengthen an academic institution and hope their gift to the Spirit & People Campaign paves the way for additional gifts of this type. “We wanted to do something that might serve as an example for others who are so inspired by certain teachers or mentors or academic experiences,” noted Tim. “It’s a vision that gets at the heart of the sustainability of this wonderful school.” The new conference room on the second floor of the West Campus Center will also be named the Connelly Family Conference Room.