HTC celebrates expansion kick off

WEST POINT – The Holy Trinity Catholic system got a heavenly blessing from Dennis Menke Wednesday – a beautiful sunny, late spring day to kick off the HTC Elementary expansion project.
“This is all due credit to Dennis and God, and maybe not necessarily in that order,”  Ann Menke, chairman of the expansion project and Dennis’ daughter, said with a chuckle.
“He had a way of directing.”
Wednesday morning's mass and “groundbreaking” was less of a groundbreaking and more of a celebration with hats and shovels. The foundation work on the new $6.3 million expansion is already completed as the district needs to get the addition open by August 2027.
“Everything is on schedule, as far as construction goes. We have a hard start because we have 48 3-year-olds that need to be in this kindergarten by August of 2027,” Menke said.
The addition will be on the east side of 4th Street from the sidewalk back to the current elementary gymnasium and will include 11 new classrooms, a multipurpose room, a music room, storage, restrooms, office spaces, a conference room, and a staff common area.
Menke said the system is at 83% of the fundraising goal in contributions and donations. They were at about 64% just seven weeks ago.
A large picture of Dennis Menke stood behind the dignitaries at the groundbreaking. The patriarch of the Menke family spearheaded efforts to get the new elementary built in 2019 at a cost of $6 million. That brings the total infrastructure investment in West Point to just over $12 million since the first campaign began in 2017.
Menke said she never had a doubt that the community would support the project, but credited the success of the campaign to her father.
“Dad did the hard work. He was rolling boulders uphill to convince people that this would be ok. Our enrollment was dropping when we built the grade school, and as soon as we put that in place, it just went crazy,” she said.

“And I remember during COVID, we were really exploding and Dad was like, we need to get this project going, and I was like ‘Dad are you sure this isn’t a COVID blip?' I didn’t have the faith.
“He said 'Annie, if we do this, we’ll need it' - and we do. There’s over 300 kids just here in West Point and that school was built for 200.
She said she believes family is growing in value again and people are having greater choice, both of which are contributing to increased enrollment in the system.
“I do think our young people are sticking around and they’re having more babies. There are more moms and dads choosing to be full-time moms and dads. So we’re seeing things around family that are coming back into vogue and I just love that,” she said.
HTC K-12 Principal and Chief Academic Officer Craig Huebner said the attendance and energy around Wednesday’s celebration shows the importance of faith-based educational programming in southeast Iowa.
“This is exactly what we needed to get it going. Ann just announced we’re at $5.2 million and we’ve got a little ways to go, but we’ve come along way since January,” he said.
Holy Trinity has seen more than $12 million in infrastructure investment from the surrounding communities since 2017 when the capital campaign for the first construction began. Huebner said that’s ingrained in the system.
“I think it’s just that belief, and that want, to have faith-based schools in this community and keep those strong,” he said.
“Most of the people here are graduates of the system in some way. Half of my staff is graduates. You go through this system and it instills something in you to come back and give back.”
He said he hopes the project is completed substantially within the next 12 months.