Retired English teacher Rose “Mama G” Gilbert, 95, has made yet another generous donation to Palisades Charter High School.
Gilbert’s $500,000 donation will go towards upgrading the school’s aging gymnasium, which includes two indoor basketball courts, weight room, fitness center, offices and locker rooms and showers, said David Riccardi, PaliHi’s director of operations.
In March, the community honored Gilbert at her retirement party in the newly renovated Mercer Hall. These renovations were made possible by a $1-million donation from Gilbert, who retired in late January after a 63-year teaching career.
Gilbert, who inherited millions from her late husband Sam, also donated $3.1 to fund construction of the Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center, named for her late daughter, and has contributed generously to other projects on campus. Her facility donations total nearly $5 million, in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars she has given to students via scholarships.
“The gymnasium has not been updated for decades,” Riccardi said, adding that the first part of the project will include cleaning the gym’s industrial-sized air handlers and ducts. “These ducts have not pushed clean air into the facility for at least 25 years.”
“Improved air flow will also lower average temperatures in the gym by 20 degrees,” said Riccardi, who noted that in warm weather, temperatures in the gym facility are uncomfortably high. In the weight room, for example, temperatures can average 80 to 100 degrees. “These improvements will help our athletes in their training.”
Russ Howard, PaliHi’s assistant principal, said, “When you walk into the gym it looks like nothing has been done for years. The athletes don’t complain, but they should. These improvements will let these kids play in something they can be proud of.”
Soundproof paneling, a new ceiling and state-of-the-art scoreboards inside the main basketball court will be installed, Riccardi said. “We also plan on renovating the weight room and fitness center with new carpeting, paint and equipment.”
He said, “$500,000 might seem like a lot of money, but it goes quickly when renovating a facility this size, which has been neglected for so long.” He also plans to upgrade the gym’s showers with dividers to give “the kids some privacy. These showers look like something out of a prison movie.”
Riccardi added, “We still need a lot more money to bring things into the modern era.” This includes adding a sports medicine room in the facility that can help athletes with injuries.
“I visited Birmingham High School and could not believe how beautiful it was,” said Gilbert, who was part of Pali’s original faculty when the school opened in 1961. “We need to modernize these gyms—our kids deserve it. They have not done anything to the gyms since the 1960s.”
People need to take pride in their school and help, she added. When asked about her many generous donations to the school, a smiling Gilbert said: “I can’t take it with me.”
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