40th Annual Saint Ignatius Christmas Concert

Join us on Sunday, December 8th at Severance Music Center for an evening with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, a special holiday tradition for our Saint Ignatius community!

Saint Ignatius High School

Why I Give

Each person has their own reason to give back to Saint Ignatius High School. Discover why giving is important to our alumni, parents and friends.

I wanted to do something for Saint Ignatius that exemplified the value I received from my education here.

Pat Macoska ’69
Donor and architect of the organ in St. Mary’s Chapel
Pat Macoska ’69<br>Donor and architect of the organ in St. Mary’s Chapel image

Giving the Gift of Music

For Pat Macoska ’69, building a musical instrument for Saint Ignatius High School was more than a pipe dream. In 2015, he completed the magnificent pipe organ residing in St. Mary of the Assumption Chapel.

“I wanted to do something for Saint Ignatius that exemplified the value I received from my education here.”

It is fitting, then, that his gift combined both of his career tracks: architecture and music.

“As a kid, I was always interested in how things worked, so I took a keen interest in the organ as a freshman at Saint Ignatius,” he explains. He credits the Jesuit learning model of textbook theory combined with critical thinking and reasoning skills for providing the basis for success in school as well as in his professional life. “The emphasis at Saint Ignatius is not only on learning, but also on having a love of learning, of being inquisitive, of developing interests in new things. That has served me well in all that I’ve done.”

In 1968, during his junior year retreat, Macoska met Fr. Jim Serrick, S.J. who was building a pipe organ for the retreat house. It was an experience Macoska never forgot. And when the pipe organ at Gesu parish in Detroit was recently decommissioned, Fr. Serrick made several ranks of pipes available for the project at Saint Ignatius. Macoska used his training in architecture to design how the organ would fit into the space in an aesthetically pleasing way. He used his knowledge of music to select and arrange the 1,230 pipes so they would speak to the congregation as well as beautify the chapel. “It was a challenge to build the organ in Michigan when it was going to be installed in Cleveland. But amazingly it was assembled in two weeks by four people once it arrived on campus,” he explains.

Macoska’s advice to the Saint Ignatius students of today? Invent careers out of activities you love.

  • Chris Schraff ’65

    While still in college, Chris served on the Saint Ignatius Alumni Council. "I couldn't contribute financially at that point, but it made me aware of students in need. When I was successful as a professional, I started making annual contributions and funding a life insurance policy for the school as part of my estate plan."

  • Martin J. Stock ’80

    Imagine endowing a scholarship at Saint Ignatius while you're still paying your own children's tuition. Sounds like a leap of faith… or insanity? Marty Stock '80 has done just that. Marty has been in the advertising business for 27 years and is now director of account management for Draftfcb (formerly Foote, Cone & Belding), one of the oldest ad agencies in the country.

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