By Haley Cafarella | Correspondent

Clergy, school and diocesan officials, alumni, prominent members of the community and seniors in St. Rose High School, Belmar, were on hand Dec. 2 as the school officially unveiled the renovated and newly equipped Ottilie R. King Memorial Library.

Robert C. King, an alumnus, and his wife, Cynthia – who donated $150,000 for the renovations – cut the ribbon on the library, which boasts new computers, 3D printers and other technology. The library, which hadn’t seen any renovations since the 1960s when it was first constructed, is named in memory of King’s late mother, who was a volunteer at the library for 40 years. 

The ceremony began with a blessing from Msgr. Edward Arnister, pastor of St. Rose Parish, and a live feed presentation by students of the school’s daily morning show, St. Rose Live. The library is named in memory of King’s mother, who volunteered at the library for 40 years.

“I’m of one of 15 children. Our entire family was educated in the Catholic education system,” said King. “This library is a great way to memorialize my mother and an opportunity to upgrade the facilities.”

The library is also a positive reflection of the Diocese as a whole, said JoAnn Tier, diocesan superintendent of schools, because it shows that Catholic schools are moving in the right direction to having the best faith- and technology-based education possible at the high school and elementary school level. 

“I see this [library] as being on the cutting edge,” Tier said. “It is right on for what we are trying to accomplish at St. Rose and other schools.”

To read more about the library’s new technology, check back to TrenonMonitor.com, when St. Rose High School’s library project is included in a detailed report on Technology in Catholic Schools in The Monitor’s annual Catholic Schools Week issue Jan. 26.