Friends of Sarah McCausland

Nov. 13th, would have been Sarah McCausland's 22nd birthday. On Jan. 31st, it will have been three years since her light was taken from this earth.

Sarah was an incredible, eccentric breath of fresh air. From a young age, she was witty, brilliant, motivated, talented, and had just the right amount of defiance and sass. She had a distinctly unique relationship with all who had the blessing of knowing her. She played innumerable instruments, and had a gorgeous voice. She was religiously involved in the various theatre departments in our community, and was an active member of her church. She taught herself how to make homemade skincare products, how to speak Icelandic, how to knit, and the list goes on... Sarah would have done so many incredible things had she been given the chance.

In January of 2014, Sarah and her friends were walking along the side of the road in New York, where she was a freshman at Bard College, when a drunk driver hit the group of young women . Both Sarah and her friend Lina did not survive. This tragedy is something her family and friends have had to cope with for three years now, but from this horror comes a sliver of hope...


In the names of both Sarah and a fellow New Trier student Mary Catherine Hayes, who passed away from liver cancer in 2013, we are building a brand new Black Box Theatre at New Trier for all future students to develop their creativity and passion for the arts, as both Sarah and MC were able to do at New Trier. The Raise the Stage campaign was given a daunting task - to raise 1 million dollars by June of 2017. While it's only been two years since the start of the campaign, we have been able to raise a staggering amount of money, but we need your help! To complete the furnishing for the theatre, we need roughly $300,000. If we are able to raise 6k before 3/31/2017, "Friends of Sarah" will be listed on the beautiful donor wall at the entry to the theatre.

Please consider donating, as every dollar counts. We thank you so much for your kindness and compassion as we do our best to commemorate the incredible life of our Sarah!


Lina and Sarah.















The Black Box Kickoff Concert Team at the day of our first fundraising event!

Sarah, we love and miss you so much.