Lourdes University to Close

By DOUG DONNELLY

Advance Editor

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Lourdes University will close at the end of the current school year, joining Siena Heights University as a nearby school to shut its doors.

The news came particularly hard to Whiteford graduate Travis Pant, an assistant baseball coach at employee at Lourdes.

"It breaks my heart," Pant said. "I fell in love with the school, everything about it. It's hard to tell the kids on the current baseball team that it's over after this season. Some of these guys will never play baseball again."

Siena Heights University announced last summer that it was shutting its doors after the current school year, which ends in less than less than 90 days. Students, staff and the community are now preparing for the end of that institution. The announcement by Lourdes was equally shocking for students and staff, like Pant.

"I graduated from this university and it has given me so much in the nine years I have spent on this campus," he said. "Honestly, if it wasn't for Lourdes, I probably don't finish college. It was a nice fit for me, especially coming from a place like Whiteford. It was a small community, which I liked."

He immediately began talking to members of the baseball team. Some of the student athletes he recruited to Lourdes.

"Having to have some of the conversations I had to have with 18-22-year-old young men is something I never want to experience again," he said.

The start to the Grey Wolves baseball season is just days away. Blissfield graduate Brenden Holland is in his final year of eligibility and is due to graduate this spring.

"On one hand I saw it coming due to all the other small colleges going through the same struggles but on the other hand I was shocked that the decision was made so suddenly," Holland said.

He's had a great experience at Lourdes, he said.

"My experience at Lourdes has been a blast," he said. "I've made so many great memories with my teammates, and I think the people are the biggest reason for my experience there."

Lourdes was founded in 1958 as Lourdes Junior College and operated by the Rochester Franciscans. In 1973 the college became independently incorporated and men were admitted starting in 1975. It became a four-year college in 1981. In 2010, Lourdes launched its first intercollegiate athletic season. Within the last two years, the university added five new majors and three minors.

The college currently lists more than 20 male, female and coed sports and had plans for a flag football program before the announcement was made.

Whiteford graduate, Baylee Baldwin, played college basketball at Lourdes. She was stunned by the news last week.

"I was definitely shocked, you hear about schools closing certain departments when there isn't enough attraction but you never think it'll happen to you or your school," she said. "No one ever wants to hear your school is closing after spending so much time there and making so many memories, but my heart goes out to all current students and staff especially with the short time frame they have to make such a drastic decision on their next steps to their career."

Baldwin called the school amazing.

"I made so many lifelong friends and had the ability to continue my athletic career so close to home," she said. "The professors I had were all fantastic and memorable, and it makes me sad knowing they do not have somewhere to return too this quickly in the year. They made my experience special, and they all truly cared about each student."