By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Carrabassett Valley Academy announced Monday the gift of $1 million to its fund-raising campaign for a new campus.

The total construction cost isn’t exactly clear, the school’s director of development, Kate Webber Punderson, said Tuesday. But, she said, the academy is about two-thirds through its fund-raising efforts for a new dormitory. According to Rick Bisson, the school’s public relations director, the new campus campaign has raised more than $4 million so far, including the latest gift.

The $1 million was granted by the American Foundation directed by Louise Murfey of Wellington, Fla., and her son Spencer Murfey III of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. It was presented to the academy in memory of Spencer L. Murfey Jr., who died in November 2003. Spencer Murfey III is the son of Spencer Murfey Jr. and a 1989 alumnus of the academy.

“For two decades the Murfey family has generously supported the academy,” said headmaster John Ritzo in a press release.

“The Murfeys have given close to $2.1 million over the years. They’re absolutely wonderful people who really want to see the school build the new campus and see it be a legacy to Spencer,” said Ritzo in an interview Tuesday.

In recognition for their donation, one of the new dormitories will be named in honor of the elder Spencer.

Neither of the Murfeys were available for comment Wednesday.

This is the second $1 million donation the academy has received. In 2003, the school received its largest single donation at the time from an anonymous donor who, according to Bisson, is the parent of an alumnus.

The school’s current campus on Route 27 is just east of the Sugarloaf ski resort entrance, and it has buildings on both sides of the road. The school has outgrown its current academic and administrative buildings, according to a fund-raising presentation posted on the school’s Web site. Bisson said the headmaster’s office was moved into a former conference room in the administrative building when the space it occupied was needed for housing.

The “location directly off busy Route 27 severely detracts from the residential environment of the school. It is impossible to create a true campus-like’ feel when it is a hazard for students to simply cross the road to go to class,” according the presentation.

In 2000, the academy acquired an additional 22 acres, nearly tripling the school’s land holdings. The Murfeys contributed to the land purchase as well, Ritzo said.

Considered the first step in creating a new campus, a $1.2 million state-of-the-art training and recreation facility – the Anti-Gravity Center – was opened in February 2001. The center was a joint effort of the academy and the town of Carrabassett Valley. In October 2003, a new $250,000 soccer field was dedicated on the new land behind the current campus. The next step, said Bisson, is new dormitories. Plans, created by Auburn architects Harriman Associates, also include another building that will house academic space, administrative offices, a library and dining hall.

Since 1982, the academy has provided educational and training opportunities to world-class athletes, including current snowboardcross world champion Seth Westcott and olympians Bode Miller and Kirsten Clark. Today, the school caters to 115 students, 35 percent of whom do not live in the dorms. Current buildings provide housing for 78 students. The new dormitory will provide housing for 108 students and include nine faculty apartments, according to Punderson.

She said the school anticipates growing with the new construction, increasing the population to a total of 125 in the next five to 10 years.

The academy is in “pre-construction mode,” said Punderson, and timing for new construction will depend on fund-raising results. It expects to raise all needed funding before breaking ground, she said.

“It could be this summer, that’d be a best case scenario, or it could be next summer,” she said.