Greenwood Lab launches $2.5M science campaign

Greenwood Laboratory School officials are expected to officially launch a multimillion campaign at a PTA meeting tonight. The fundraising goal is $2.5 million by May to build two science labs and purchase equipment, according to a Greenwood news release.

The college preparatory school on the campus of Missouri State University already has received $1.2 million from alumni and friends, including a lead gift from the McQueary family, former owners of McQueary Bros. Drug Co. in Springfield. The family sold the 84-year-old McQueary Bros. to Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company McKesson Corp. for $190 million in spring 2008, according to Springfield Business Journal coverage.

Leading the campaign are chairpersons Rick and Mary McQueary - both 1971 Greenwood graduates - along with committee members and alumni Jeff and Lynn Tynes, Alan and Darla Rosen, and Frank and Cynthia Sharp.

"Students at the Greenwood Laboratory School have been winning science competitions for years," said Rick McQueary, in the release. "The state-of-the-art Science Scholars Lab addition will allow our faculty to maintain the highest level of science curriculum."

Springfield firm Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. is architect of the project, which is anticipated to be complete in 2011, the release said.

MSU College of Education Dean Dennis Kear and College of Natural and Applied Sciences Dean Tammy Jahnke will discuss the impact of these new facilities with parents and alumni at 6 p.m. in the Greenwood cafeteria.

"Our alumni include an engineer who worked on spacecraft for NASA, an internationally-recognized cardiothoracic surgeon, a world leader in nuclear energy, as well as many doctors, dentists, and science-based professionals here in Springfield and across the country," Greenwood Director Janice Duncan said in the release. "What our students will accomplish after studying and working in these new facilities is beyond my imagination, but I know they will be leaders in creating a better world."