Topping Off Ceremony for New Facility for the Donald R. Tapia School of Business

January 27, 2011

University President Arthur F. Kirk, Jr., greeted students, alumni, faculty, staff, guests, and contractors at a traditional “topping off” ceremony for the building that will house the Donald R. Tapia School of Business. Celebrants were told about the custom of “topping off” a building, which takes place when construction work reaches the stage where the highest beam can be put into place. The crew members sign their names to the beam, and then celebrate briefly before it is installed. Saint Leo University’s vice president of business affairs, Frank Mezzanini, worked with Creative Contractors to add the special Saint Leo spirit to the time-honored tradition.

Members of the campus community, including students, were invited to add their names to the 22-foot-long steel beam throughout the week, and a Benedictine cross was affixed to the Beam’s midsection. On Thursday, with a crowd assembled, School of Business Dean Michael Nastanski congratulated all on the milestone in what he said will be “the most technologically rich, learning-centered facility in the nation.”

The final signatures were inscribed during the ceremony by Dr. Kirk and his wife Beverly; Dean Nastanski; Trustee Emeritus Dwaine Gullett; and Camille Hernandez, representing her husband, Trustee and Alumnus Dr. David Hernandez ’84. Father Stephan Brown, S.V.D., (pictured) blessed the beam, which was hoisted into the air with a Saint Leo banner and an American flag hanging vertically from the length of steel.