More Than Just a Gym, "The Nest" Is a Decades-Long Dream Come to Life
The building marks a new chapter for St. Michael Indian School.
The unveiling of St. Michael Indian School’s new gym on May 14, 2026 was the realization of a vision nearly 100 years in the making.
The school already had a modest gym, built in 1933, but for many decades it was too small to host official games or serve the needs of multiple PE classes and sporting events. And because St. Michael’s middle and high school students compete with other regional schools in sports like basketball and volleyball, their teams would have to travel just to host home games.
“At the end of the day it’s about the kids. Athletics can be the heart of a school, but it’s truly a big piece of high school education,” said Director of Advancement Renee Tsinnie. “It’s important to make sure that we can offer different opportunities, because we’ve had students - mostly girls - that have gone on to play at collegiate levels.”
But any new gym would have to accommodate students at all grades, and not just high school athletes.
“There’s all these levels all the way up through middle school where they need that indoor safe playtime,” Tsinnie said. “And then you add on the health curriculum, and then you add on athletics or sports, and when we’re hosting a home game, that can take a gym out of play starting after lunchtime all the way to the evenings. There’s a lot of scheduling that needs to happen, collaboration between the different departments and athletics and the classrooms.”
From the beginning, school president Dot Teso made the new gym her priority.
“It’s one of the things when I first took the job that everybody [said]: ‘We need a gym. We need a gym,’” she recalls. “I always go to God…so I was at Adoration and I remember it so distinctly, like ‘you know what Lord, I can’t do this. This is big and I’m going to need some help.’ And that feeling just came: ‘It’s gonna be fine.’”
Within a few months, she was having dinner with a major school donor, who told her he would make a huge financial contribution to the project, and connect her with other donors who also wanted to contribute.
Don and Denise Stablein briefly taught at St. Michael Indian School years ago and eventually became major donors to the school, visiting often from their home in Maryland. During his remarks at the ceremony, Don noted the importance of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who founded the school, and the “impressive” community of the school’s students, staff, and supporters.
“That’s something that keeps us coming back. And the nice thing about it is, you know, the commitment thing started like a long time ago with the Sisters showing us how to express that virtue. And I hope that this gym helps the school continue [after] 125 years.”
After the ribbon cutting, the ceremony continued inside with a traditional Navajo blessing from local medicine man Ricky Reeder, followed by a Catholic blessing from Bishop James S. Wall which specifically noted the righteousness of athletic endeavors:
“God has given us our physical powers in order that we may serve Him joyously, help one another, and by discipline, in accord with the law of God, make our body fit for every good work. God therefore approves recreation for the relaxation of the mind and the exercise of the body.”
Bishop Wall also expressed his desire to attend a home game at the new gym, joking with the crowd that “every visiting team is going to be intimidated the second they walk into this building. Go Cardinals!”
The school’s logo is prominently painted in the middle of the polished wood floor. The gym, now affectionately called “The Nest”, is large enough to host regulation basketball games and multiple volleyball matches. Each team will have locker rooms, and there are more than enough bleachers to accommodate spectators, including those who require ADA-compliant seating.
St. Michael also plans to host events like graduations and academic awards ceremonies in the gym, and to begin developing athletic programs and leagues beginning at the elementary level.
Many alumni are now part of the school staff and development teams, and have worked for years to complete the gym project.
“I’m deeply honored to stand before you,” said board chair Derrick Terry, “because the last time that any big, significant change has happened here on the grounds in St. Michaels was over 75 years ago. Can you imagine? 75 years ago. There hasn’t been a huge capital improvement that happened until today.”
Terry, who graduated from the school in 1993, whose wife is an alumna, and whose children all were or are St. Michael students, thanked the local community for their perseverance and patience.
“To our students, you know, this place is a place for you. Use it well. Compete with integrity. Support one another. To the community, thank you for believing in this school and what it stands for. [We have] gratitude to God, whose teachings will always guide us in what we do.”
Teso and Tsinnie both noted that the gym is only the first step in the school’s capital campaign. For their next projects, they’d like to install outdoor facilities for track and field, baseball, and softball, an early education building for kindergarten and pre-K students, and a scholarship endowment.
But for now, the students and staff at St. Michael Indian School are proud to savor the new gym and the years of effort that led toward its opening.
“It’s just so fulfilling to be able to know that these children will have a home, a place that they’re proud of, a school that will be here for many, many years,” said Tsinnie. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful building that was designed with so many elements of the area and the culture and the people that it serves. I couldn’t be more proud of all of the hard work that every individual put into it to make it happen.”