Sonia West steps down as the Blessed Sacrament advancement director, remains school accountant

Friday, Nov. 13, 2015

SANDY — Sonia West has been a part of Blessed Sacrament School since the early 1990s, when her two daughters were enrolled as students. She became the school’s accountant in 2002 and the advancement director in 2006.

West, a certified public accountant, now has stepped down as advancement director but will stay on part-time as the accountant. 

“Sonia has been a blessing; she was always so cooperative in anything you asked her to do in terms of finances; she was solely responsible for many of the grants that were given to the school by going out and promoting the school,” said Monsignor Robert Servatius, Blessed Sacrament Parish pastor.  

Brigitte Klement is the new advancement director. She has done advancement volunteer work for several years and knows the importance of enrollment, said West. Klement has two children enrolled at the Madeleine Choir School; a daughter in eighth grade and a son in the third grade.

“Brigitte is new to Blessed Sacrament School, but not to what the Catholic school mission is about,” West said. “She has gone on school tours with me and heard about its history and the importance we stress on community and our STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Yet we don’t leave art and music behind.” 

As advancement director, West’s first priority was writing grants even though it was new to her, she said. “I remember writing my first grant just like it was yesterday – it was Breck’s Flowers; we got 200 tulip bulbs and we had a planting party. They are still coming up.” 

Throughout the years, West received almost $700,000 in grants for Blessed Sacrament School; she has recorded them in a scrapbook with newspaper articles about the school. 

“I had been on the finance committee and the school board and I kept hearing ‘What is advancement doing?’ and ‘There’s no money for Catholic schools,’ and I wanted to prove that Catholic schools can get grants and articles could be published so the community would know what advancement was doing,” West said.

Writing grants is challenging, “but I enjoy it,” West said. 

The first big grant she wrote was for the Center for Science and the Arts; the grant came from the ALSAM Foundation.  She also received a grant from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation to outfit the inside of the science center with desks and science and music equipment.

“Our STEM and art programs flourished, and we expanded the [extended day program] center,” she said. “Before that we had art on a cart and music on a cart and the teachers traveled to the classrooms.” 

“Sonia went far and above what a typical advancement director does,” said Marcy Mullholand, assistant principal and art teacher. “She has a great loyalty and love for this school and was the powerhouse behind many of the programs that have made us such a successful school. She is willing to roll up her sleeves and do whatever it takes to showcase the students and the school. In doing so she and I recognized that art was a great vehicle for promotion; she came to me with ideas and I would help her express her visions through art. We worked on many curriculum and social justice projects together.”

As part of the school’s mission West and Mullholand teamed up three years ago to focus on hunger. The school raised $4,762.60 and put together more than 18,500 meals for impoverished children.

Last year they focused on literacy, and this year they are focusing on poverty. 

“We have a social justice timeline and every month we feature a different project,” West said. “Poverty does not just mean a lack of food, it also means a lack of education, clean water, medical attention and a lack of clothing.” 

Student social-justice projects have included making place mats for the Carmelite nuns, the Ronald McDonald House and the Fisher House; collecting donations for life straws that filter unclean drinking water and making African dresses, which will all be sent to Africa; and making dolls for children in Operation Smile in South America. 

The school’s Grandparents’ Day, which West organizes, has grown from 60 participants to more than 200, who fly in from all over the United States, she said. 

“I love that part of this job,” West said. “Advancement includes communication, public relations, marketing, working events and we have even done endowments; now we can look at the future and see where the school wants to go.”