News

Gould Academy Names Campus Center for Lieblein Family

Naming of athletic space recognizes the Liebleins’ support of excellence at Gould Academy
Gould Academy has named an important athletic center in the heart of its campus the Lieblein Performance Center for the family of Robert and Kelly Lieblein. This exciting advancement was made possible by a generous gift allowing for improvements and completion of the center this winter. 

Rob and Kelly Lieblein are the parents of Gould alumnae Cassie ’18 and Maddy ’20, who were competitive alpine ski racers at Gould. Cassie is currently skiing Division One at Colby College. Maddy is participating in club soccer and ski patrol at Middlebury College.

More than half of Gould’s student body passes through the center daily as they prepare for, and return from, outdoor activities. Students enter Ordway Hall to visit the dining hall, then proceed to the Performance Center on the lower level to gather their ski gear, get on their bikes or use the tuning or workshop facilities. Coaches' offices and athletic training spaces are conveniently located in the space as well. 

The area features Wintersteiger Easystore ski racks and boot dryers, as well as the home of Speedworks, a dedicated Wintersteiger tuning facility staffed with full-time equipment techs from Sunday River Resort. There is also a classroom for hand-building skis and snowboards in a dedicated workshop, which is one of Gould’s most popular classes.

In addition to the naming of the Performance Center, the coaches' offices were also named “Alera Group Coaches Offices.” Rob Lieblein is the chief development officer of Alera Group, an insurance and financial services firm. The renovation of the coaches' offices provides Gould’s coaches with a place for meetings with students and teams. 

Head of School Tao Smith ’90, P’23 says the Performance Center is a particularly appropriate choice to honor the Lieblein family legacy to Gould and to the community. 

“The generosity of this gift impacts current and future Gould students in a meaningful way,” Smith says. “It gives our students an opportunity to “complete the loop,” learning modern techniques to design and build their own equipment, to world-class tuning and maintenance support, to conference and video review space, to activation and recovery instruction in a dedicated training room staffed by Gould employees. It also makes it easy for athletes to fuel themselves before training or competition, being located on the ground floor of our dining hall. It’s the embodiment of a true full-circle ecosystem, designed to create an unparalleled athletic experience for students at Gould.”

Photos show the Lieblein family, the Lieblein Performance Center being used by student-athletes, and drawings of how the coaches' offices will look once construction is completed.
Back
Private High School for Boys and Girls | Grades 9-12, Postgraduate and Winter Term for Grades 7-8 | Boarding School in the Mountains of Maine

Gould Academy guides students to be creative, courageous and resilient and to lead lives of fulfillment and purpose.