After a long summer of renovation starting in June, The Skinner Chapel is once again ready for use.  Originally, the chapel was only for the Priests in the Jesuit residence, and it looked quite different. It was a mismatched area, with different chairs and  inconsistent furnishing. It had been renovated once before, but for the most part it was just replacing furniture, so it was due for an update to accommodate for student use The chapel ceiling was lifted to create a more open atmosphere and pushed the back wall further back, making the chapel much more spacious. Chairs were swapped for pews to be able to accommodate more people.

“Probably the biggest feature is the back wall,” said Fr. Tom Neitzke, SJ.

The previous wall was made completely out of brick, while  the new wall is made up of multiple 350 pound slabs of white granite, that had to be hand installed on top of one another.  Another new addition is the rebuilt altar and the new ambo and table, made by one of Prep’s own maintenance men, Joe Robbins.

Even though most of the construction went quite well, there was one hitch, which actually turned out to be more of a blessing than a curse. One of the walls contained asbestos and had to be removed by a separate company, which set the construction back by two weeks. But upon removing the asbestos, the construction company found that there was nothing behind the asbestos, so the ceiling could be raised higher.

In total, the complete renovation cost around $400,000. This was made possible by one of Prep’s alumni from the Class of 1933, who recently passed away, leaving a sum of money to the school, part of which was used to do this.