St. Bede Academy once again will board students, though this time the population will not be limited to just young men.

Academy officials broke ground Monday on a 4,000-square foot addition to an existing structure on campus. The renovated building, near the St. Bede Abbey Press, will board female students, beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.

The academy began boarding students again at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, housing four female students and eight male students in leased residences off campus. St. Bede was a boys' boarding school from 1892 to 1981.

"St. Bede Academy is responding to a renewed interest in providing opportunities for boarding students on a small scale, and so we are providing housing on campus for this purpose. We hope that the boarding students will profit by living on campus because they will thus be able to participate more fully in the activities of the academy," the Rev. Claude Peifer said, in a press release.

Ted Struck, superintendent, said the return of boarding students to campus was the next logical step, particularly from a financial point of view.

"Leased housing has two major drawbacks: first, it greatly limits our ability to increase the academy’s boarding population and secondly, we lose income to lease costs," he said.

The girls dormitory will be the first of two buildings constructed on campus, in an attempt to increase the number of boarding students from 12 to around 30. The new dormitory will accommodate 16 female students and a resident manager.

The building will include four bedrooms with two bathrooms in "semi-private pod-style suites." The resident manager will have an apartment. During summer, the facility will be available for retreats or reunions.

Pigati Builders of La Salle and Basalay Cary & Alstadt Architects of Ottawa will be handling construction and architectural services. The total cost is estimated at $500,000 and will be funded through private donations and revenue from the boarding students.

The second building will be a boys dormitory and also will house 16 students. No timeline has yet been announced for that project. The boys are currently housed at the former St. Hyacinth's rectory in La Salle, where they will continue to be boarded through the end of a three-year lease.

Director of Development Paula Endress said at the end of that lease, the Academy would like to bring the boys back to campus as well.

"We hope that some of our boarding-school alumni who have fond memories of their years at St. Bede will enable their children to profit by the opportunity to enjoy a similar academic and living experience in a 21st-century context," said Peifer.