The school’s HK$500 million (US$64 million) campus redevelopment plan, which could span 22 years, includes adding facilities it does not have, such as an indoor swimming pool, a standard-size basketball court, and a student hostel.

There will also be an activities hub for uniformed groups and extracurricular activity teams, an innovation hub for design and technology lessons, and a performing arts centre.

“I think it’s time to redevelop our campus since it has been almost 60 years since the last major campus construction,” Ching says.

“When I was a student, teachers only had chalks and blackboards to teach. New facilities will help our students develop and also prepare them for challenges in the 22nd century.”

The school was founded in 1875 by six religious brothers from the Catholic De La Salle order who started schools across the world.

They took over and renamed the former St Saviour’s College in Central, before moving a number of times as enrolment grew. The school settled at its Kennedy Road location after its campus in Glenealy, in the Mid Levels, was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1918.

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Over the decades, the school has produced many prominent individuals, including the late physics Nobel laureate Professor Charles Kuen Kao, veteran football commentator Peter Wong Hing-kwei, Canto-pop star and former Olympic swimmer Alex Fong Lik-sun and banker David Li Kwok-po.

The school has about 1,000 students in Form One to Form Six, with an average class size of 33, and a staff of more than 110. It produces top scorers in public examinations regularly and is also known for its students’ achievements in sports.

Although the school has no standard-sized basketball court or swimming pool, many of its students bagged medals regularly in interschool swimming and basketball competitions.

The Kennedy Road campus has two buildings that are almost a century old and were declared statutory monuments in 2000, as well as a “new hall” and “new building” built nearly 60 years ago with classrooms, a library and a canteen.

As part of the “Vision 22” upgrading, the three-storey “new hall” building will be torn down. A new eight-storey building will come up, housing the pool and a dormitory.

Three staff rooms located in the historic buildings will move to a larger, new faculty hub. The historic North and West blocks will not be touched, given their protected status. They feature colonial architectural influences such as semicircular arches, with classrooms that have wooden floors and high ceilings. A statue of St John Baptist De La Salle – the founder of the De La Salle Brothers – has a prominent spot atop one of the old buildings.

Billy Tam Hon-wah, the architect behind the “Vision 22” blueprints, expects the mix of old and new buildings and designs from different periods to give St Joseph’s College an interesting feel that will reflect its history and keep memories alive as well.

Tam, who has worked on other projects involving historic buildings, says the team will consult the Antiquities and Monuments Office to make sure the school’s oldest buildings are protected during the redevelopment.

The school hopes to raise most of the funds from alumni donations.

Principal Ching says the school has a strong connection with its old boys, whose “unconditional support” has helped it maintain high standards in academics and extracurricular activities.

“Some old boys come back to teach and hold experience-sharing sessions with current students. When our students benefit, they also return to help the school after they graduate,” he says.

“I am very confident about the college’s future as long as this tradition carries on.”

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Among the old boys involved in the redevelopment project is Michael Yen, 50, who owns a marketing company and, like the principal, was a boy scout.

St Joseph’s established Hong Kong’s first scout group in 1913, which is why its members refer to themselves as “Firstians”. Belonging to the group made for some of Yen’s strongest memories of his schooldays.

“Scout activities were scheduled on Saturdays, and on those days I’d come to school even earlier than other days to play football and attend the scout patrol meetings. I’d stay all the way until 7pm or 8pm when the school gates closed,” he recalls.

Gordon Yau, 34, from the Form Five class of 2002 was a “basketball fanatic” even though there was no standard-sized court on campus.

The hours he spent playing basketball every day at the sports ground developed his lifelong interest in sports and led him to a job in public relations at a sports company.

“I lived in Yuen Long but usually arrived in school as early as 6.45am to play basketball before class, and I’d stay after school until 6pm,” Yau, who has volunteered to lead the public relations efforts for the “Vision 22” project, recalls.

Unlike in the past, principal Ching says, fewer students stay back after school these days for extracurricular activities. Most of them head for home or go to tuition centres.

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“That’s probably because parents now are more concerned about their children’s academic performance,” he adds. “But I think education is not just about academic results, other aspects matter too.”

Architect Tam hopes the new facilities will not only benefit students, but also help bring them together to create memories that last for life.

“I hope they will have memorable moments to remember even 30 years after graduation.”

Also enthusiastic about the plans is the student union president, Wong, who is in Form Five.

“The boys of St Joseph’s are multifaceted, pursuing not just academics and sports, but also the arts and music. With the new redevelopment plans, the school’s aim of developing all-rounder students will be strengthened,” he says.